There are several ways to manage files on the server where your website is hosted: FTP, the WordPress file management plugin, or the built-in file explorer in cPanel.
In this article, we will review the options for managing files using cPanel.
Why do you need to deal with website files?
If you have a website with a management system such as WordPress, you probably perform most of the website operations through the system's admin interface, and in most cases you do not need to directly handle the files on the website. However, sometimes it is necessary to make changes or delete files. For example:
- Manual WordPress upgrade: This hardly ever happens, but sometimes there is a problem with updating WordPress and you need to update the folders manually.
- Rolling back WordPress to a previous version: You can roll back using a plugin, but this does not always work. Sometimes it is necessary to roll back to a previous version of WordPress due to a malfunction, and to do so you need to access the files themselves.
- Making changes to the htaccess file: For example, to create redirects to Google or various security settings.
- Renaming the plugins folder: If your WordPress site is not loading or there is a conflict between plugins, you may need to rename the plugins folder to disable all plugins on the site at once and gradually check where the problem is.
- Deleting files: Unnecessary files, exceeding server storage space, or old backups - it's a good idea to check the situation from time to time and delete files that are no longer needed.
- Handling malfunctions or hacks: Malfunctions or hacks to the site usually require access to file management.
- Checking logs on the storage server: In the event of a malfunction or hack on the website.
- Compressing and downloading files to your computer.
File management using cPanel
cPanel's file manager provides you with a complete interface for managing your website files, directly in your browser. After logging into the storage server, click on File Manager to enter the file explorer. If you do not see the corresponding icon, try searching for File Manager in the search field.
After clicking on File Manager, you will see the file management screen. In most hosting services, the entry point for file management will not be the website folder itself, but the main storage folder, which contains other elements besides the website files. In most cases, you will need to click on Public HTML to access the website files.
Actions you can perform on files in cPanel
You can perform a variety of actions on the files on the site using the buttons at the top of the screen.- Create a new file or folder (using the +File and +Folder buttons).
- Copy or move files from folder to folder (using drag and drop or the COPY or MOVE buttons).
- Uploading files - Upload.
- Download files.
- Deleting files - Delete (files are usually moved to the recycle bin and not deleted immediately, unless you instruct the system otherwise).
- Restore files.
- Rename a file - Rename.
- Editing file content - Edit.
- Editing file content using an HTML editor - HTML Editor button.
- Changing file permissions - Permissions.
- View file content without changing it - View.
- Compress files into an archive file such as ZIP or open an archive file - Compress button and Extract button.
We recommend that you exercise extreme caution when using the file manager in cPanel, and do not perform any actions unless you are sure of what you are doing. In any case, if you made a mistake that caused a malfunction on the site, you can restore the site using one of the daily backups that Linux hosting performs for you automatically.