How to Use cPanel File Manager: Upload, Extract, Edit and Set Permissions

File Manager is cPanel’s built-in file browser. It lets you upload, move, edit and delete your website files directly in your web browser, without installing an FTP program. For most everyday jobs, such as uploading a website ZIP, editing wp-config.php or fixing permissions, it is the quickest tool.

Open File Manager

1. Log in to your FimuroHost client area at https://app.fimurohost.com.
2. Go to Services and select your cPanel Hosting plan.
3. Click Login to cPanel. cPanel opens in a new tab, already signed in.
4. In the Files section, click File Manager. It opens in a new tab.

Where your website files go

Show hidden files (.htaccess and others)

Files whose names start with a dot, such as .htaccess and .user.ini, are hidden by default. Click Settings at the top right, tick Show Hidden Files (dotfiles) and click Save.

Upload files

1. Open the destination folder, for example public_html, by double-clicking it in the list.
2. Click Upload in the toolbar.
3. Drag files onto the page or click Select File. Tick Overwrite existing files if you are replacing files.
4. Wait for each progress bar to turn green, then click Go Back to “/home/username/public_html”.

File Manager uploads single files, not folders. To upload a whole website, compress it into a .zip file on your computer, upload the ZIP and extract it on the server. For very large uploads (several hundred MB or more), FTP/SFTP is more reliable.

Extract a ZIP file

1. Right-click the .zip file (or select it) and choose Extract.
2. Check the target folder in the box, for example /public_html, and click Extract Files.
3. Close the results window and click Reload.
4. If the files ended up inside an extra folder (for example public_html/mysite/), open it, click Select All, then Move and enter /public_html as the destination.
5. Delete the ZIP file afterwards to save space and avoid exposing a copy of your site.

To make a ZIP of files on the server (for example before a big change), select them and click Compress, then choose Zip Archive.

Edit a file

1. Select the file and click Edit (the code editor). Click Edit again in the pop-up to confirm the character encoding (leave it as utf-8).
2. Make your change and click Save Changes.

Always download a copy first (Download button) so you can undo a mistake. The editor cannot open files larger than about 1 MB; download those and edit them on your computer.

File and folder permissions

Permissions control who can read, change and run files. The Permissions column shows a three-digit number. To change it, select the item, click Permissions, set the number and click Change Permissions.

Never use 777. It lets any process on the server change the file and, on most cPanel servers, PHP refuses to run files or folders that are writable by everyone, which causes 500 Internal Server Error.

Delete and restore

By default Delete moves items to the Trash (a .trash folder in your home directory), and you can bring them back with View Trash » Restore. Trashed files still use disk space until you click Empty Trash. If you tick Skip the trash and permanently delete the files, they cannot be recovered except from a backup.

Common problems

• “403 Forbidden” after uploading: there is no index.html or index.php in the folder, or permissions are wrong. Check both.
• Upload fails near your disk limit: check Disk Usage and delete old backups or files.
• Changes do not show on the site: clear your browser cache and any caching plugin, and make sure you edited the file in the right document root.

Need help?

If anything in this guide does not match what you see, or you get stuck, open a support ticket (choose the Support department) or message us on WhatsApp at 01818160926. Tell us your domain name and what you have tried so far, and never send your password in a ticket or chat.