File Manager Tutorial

"Where is everything?"

The files on your server are laid out much the same way that they are in a game's folder on your computer. For convenience, we'll call the first area you see in the File Manager the 'main directory' (I hope you aren't too confused if your server also contains a folder named main or Main.) From there, going into any folder is considered going down a level. Conversely, the main directory is considered the top. As our infrastructure runs on Linux machines, we use the old UNIX conventions for relative locations. A single period/full stop . means 'the current folder, right here', and two .. mean 'up one level, closer to the main directory'.

Navigating and selecting what we want

There are two main areas you can click or tap to interact with files in the File Manager. Clicking most of the row, on or around the file name, size, or date, will cancel any other selection and highlight that file only. Doing so to a folder will navigate into that folder. To the left of the file name and icon is the check box. This little box is how we select more than one file at once, and also how we select a folder without going into it. Unlike many check boxes seen on computer interfaces, you don't need to click the inside of the box to use it; the square area around it will do just as well. The last thing to cover is the selection options below the list. Just below the last file, to the left of the row, are a drop-down list and a button. These allow you to change your current selection in the following ways: selecting all of the files and folders in the current folder, none of them, or switching the selection to everything you do not have selected.

What we can do here

Actions you would normally expect to see as part of a file browser are represented: you can create, move, modify, and delete files and folders as much as you want.

When you have no files selected, you have two options: Upload and Create Folder.

Bringing data in

Create Folder does as the name suggests (name and create a new sub-directory at the current location,) while Upload brings up a dialog box for drag-and-drop copying of files from your computer to the server. You may also click the Choose files button below to bring up a more traditional Open File dialog, or one of the service names to left to transfer files from one of those cloud storage services. Unlike in version 1, nothing needs to be zipped for upload, and folders transfer with their layouts intact.

Once we've selected something, a lot of new options appear!

Shuffling it around

You can pull any of your server's files back to your own computer with the Download button. If you need to set some of your files aside for a time, you can pack them into a .zip file using the Zip button. This command works on multiple files, and respects folder layouts should you choose a folder with subdirectories. Zipping is necessary if you want to download multiple files at once or complete folders. Move and Copy do exactly as they are labeled, but only work one folder at a time. That is to say, you can only choose to move or copy a file or files into a folder within the current location (no deeper,) or one level up using ...

Tossing it out

You can, of course, delete any of the files residing on your server. Should you do so, the file is gone for good. We do not have any means of recovering a deleted file. Our system lacks any kind of trash can or recycle bin functionality. This bears repeating: Once deleted, a file is gone forever. Please make frequent backups, and be as careful as you can when working on your server.

For more information on some of the specific features of the File Manager, see the related articles below.