Files

The Files.com web interface makes uploading, downloading, and other common file level actions easy.

Upon successful login, you will be presented with the folders and files that you have been granted permission to access.

Users with only access to their "home" folder will be automatically placed within that folder.

Users with access to multiple folder locations will be placed into the highest level intersection folder, allowing them to navigate to all folders that they have been given permission to access.

Administrators will always be placed into the top-level folder of the site.

There are two ways to upload files using the Files.com interface, either by clicking the Upload button, or by dragging and dropping files directly into the web interface.

Uploading via the Upload button

To begin an upload, click the Upload button.

A dialog will appear prompting you to select one or more files to upload. To select a file, move the cursor over the file, then click it. To select multiple files, hold down the Command (⌘) key if on a Mac, or the Ctrl key if on a PC, then click on each file. You can also select one or more folders to upload.

During an upload, the Files.com interface will display the upload progress for all files currently being uploaded. The file progress display also shows file sizes, upload speed and allows you to cancel ongoing uploads by clicking on the red X.

When the files are finished uploading, they will be listed in the file browser.

Uploading via Drag and Drop

First, use the web interface to navigate into the folder you want to upload to. Then, simply click and drag the files and/or folders from your computer onto your browser window until “Drop files or folders to upload” text appears in the browser window. Let go of your mouse button and the files and/or folders will begin uploading.

Once the upload begins, the upload progress display will allow you to monitor the transfer in real-time just as it did when using the Upload button.

By uploading through Drag and Drop, you can also preserve the entire folder structure including empty folders. This is particularly useful when you want to have some pre-defined folder structure while onboarding your users or partners. To do this, simply create the folder structure on your local computer and Drag and Drop the entire folder to each of your partner's home folder using your browser. Please note that, empty folders within your folder structure can only be preserved and uploaded through Drag and Drop. Empty folders are not preserved when uploading the folder structure using "Upload" button.

Uploading Huge Files

Files.com supports any file size but the application, client, or method used to upload may not.

Older web browsers and 32bit applications were limited to a maximum file size of 2GB. While newer web browsers and 64bit applications do not have this limitation, you may still be restricted by operating system limitations or by physical limitations, such as available disk space.

Transferring huge files can take a long time. If your application or client is interrupted during the transfer then you may be forced to restart the transfer from the beginning, depending on the capabilities of the application or client being used.

We recommend using the Files.com CLI App for uploading huge files as it is designed for scale, speed, and reliability. The Files.com CLI App can upload a huge file in about half the time of SFTP and FTP(S).

Applications and clients that use the SFTP and FTP(S) protocols are very reliable at uploading huge files, but these protocols are also the slowest.

Web browsers are faster at uploading than SFTP and FTP(S) but are less reliable especially when other tabs are open and being used for other tasks.

If you must use a web browser to upload a huge file, then make sure that no other tabs are open and do not use the browser for any other tasks until the transfer has completed. This will minimize your chances of web browser issues, caused on other web pages, of affecting the success of your upload.

Web browser uploads have been verified to work with file sizes up to 640GB, although larger sizes should also work. If your web browser fails to transfer huge files, please use an alternative method such as the Files.com CLI App.

File Overwrites

When using the web interface, if you upload a file with the same name as a file that already exists in your destination folder, Files.com will automatically append a number to the name of the file being uploaded to avoid a naming conflict.

You can change this default behavior via the setting at Settings > Files > Overwrite behavior. If you change this setting to Allow files to be overwritten, but ask first, you will instead be alerted that "A file by this name already exists." and asked if you would like to cancel the upload or overwrite the file. The alert will appear in the upload progress display.

The Overwrite behavior setting only applies to uploads performed using the web interface, and will not affect uploads done via other methods such as FTP, SFTP, WebDAV, or the Desktop App.

Downloading Files

To download a single file, simply navigate to the folder where the file is located and click the download button that appears when moving your mouse cursor over the file you want to download. The file will immediately start downloading.

You can also download an entire folder using the download button that appears when moving your mouse cursor over a folder. This will download a zip file containing the folder and all the files and subfolders within it. {/ For more info on downloading and managing folders, please click here. /}

Downloading multiple files and folders at once is easy with Files.com. To do so, just check the checkbox next to each file and/or folder you want to download. Then click the Download button. All of the selected files/folders will be downloaded in a single zip file.

Moving Files

Files.com offers multiple ways to move files between folders via the web interface. The first method uses drag and drop, and allows you to move a single file or folder into another folder. To use this method, just click and hold on the file or folder you want to move, and drag it onto the destination folder. Once the destination folder is highlighted, let go of the mouse button and the file or folder will be moved.

Files.com also allows you to move multiple files and/or folders at once. To use this method, first check the checkbox next to each file and/or folder you want to move, and then click the Move button.

Next, select the destination folder from the list of folders that appears. You can type in the search box to narrow down the folder list, and click the folder icon next to a folder to view its subfolders. Finally, click a folder’s name to select it, and click the Move button to initiate the move.

You can also move a single file or folder into another folder by clicking the ellipsis (...) button that appears when hovering your cursor over a file, clicking Move, and selecting the destination when prompted.

Copying Files

Files.com allows you to make copies of the files and folders on your site while retaining the original versions in place. To copy a single file or folder, simply hover your mouse over it, click the ellipsis button that appears, and then click Copy.

Next, select the destination folder from the list of folders that appears. You can type in the search box to narrow down the folder list, and click the folder icon next to a folder to view its subfolders. Finally, click a folder’s name to select it, and then click the Copy button to perform the copy.

To copy multiple files or folders to another folder, first check the checkbox next to each file and/or folder you want to copy, click the Copy button, and then select the destination when prompted.

Deleting Files

To delete a single file or folder, simply hover your mouse cursor over it, click the ellipsis button that appears, and then click Delete. After confirming that you want to delete the file or folder, it will be removed from the list of files and deleted.

To delete multiple files and/or folders, first check the checkbox next to each file and/or folder you want to delete, and then click the Delete button.

After confirming that you want to delete the files and/or folders, they will be removed from the list of files and are deleted.

Files.com will save backups of files that are deleted, and retain such backups for the period of time you specify at Settings > Files > Keep deleted files for _ days. To restore files that were deleted within your backup retention period, please submit a Support Request and we'd be happy to assist.

Requesting Files

The Files.com web interface can also be used to alert users when an important file needs to be uploaded. Once a File Request is configured, it will display a message with built-in upload functionality to the users and groups you have selected.

To configure a new file request, click the Request File button at the top of the Files.com interface.

Once clicked, a new form will appear in the file listing display. Enter the file name you are requesting in the first field and then select the users and/or groups to whom you would like to direct the request. You can make multiple selections by opening the select menu multiple times.

Once you have the files and users selected, click the Create Request button.

To upload a requested file, either click on the file name in the File Request, or drag and drop the file onto the File Request.

Renaming Files

To rename a file, open the file menu by hovering over the file you would like to rename, then click on the ellipsis. Select the Rename File option.

This will bring up the file rename form:

Type in your new file name and click the Save button to finish editing.

Previewing Files

The Files.com web interface provides preview functionality for many common file types, allowing you to view files directly in the browser.

To preview a file, click on the file name you would like to view.

The preview will open as an overlay on the main interface.

If you need to perform a standard action on the file, you can access the file actions menu directly from the preview window for all file types.

New files types are always being added to our File Preview compatibility list. Check here often to see what has been added.

Previewing Videos

When previewing video files, use the controls at the bottom of the player to access all the common playback functionality provided by your browser:

• Speed up or slow down the playback, changing the speed from 0.5x to 2x.
• Play/pause the video preview.
• Change the volume level.
• Use the progress bar to jump to different parts of the video.
• Switch to full-screen mode to eliminate distractions.

Some browsers support Picture in Picture playback. Right-click on the video window to bring up the context menu with that option.

Searching Files

You can easily search for files and folders directly in the Files.com web interface.

First, click the search form at the top-left side of the interface:

Search results will auto-suggest as you type.

By default, the Files.com search will look for your file in all available folders. You can limit the search to look only in the folder you are currently viewing by clicking the Search This Folder tag in the results.

From the results, you can also:

• Preview File: If available, this will open a preview of the file for immediate viewing.
• Visit Folder: This will open the folder in its native location.

The Files.com search function currently considers both file and folder names for matches. It does not search file contents, though full text search may be on the product road map in the future.

Priority Coloring

Files.com provides several ways to organize your files and folders to better match your workflow. Priority Coloring is one of the simplest ways to quickly communicate the information that is important to you and your users.

In the above example, the user has set the file's Priority Color to Red.

You can access Priority Coloring by hovering over the file or folder you would like to update and clicking the ellipsis to bring up the file menu. Then click on Priority Color. This will expand the menu and display the available colors.

Select a color, and the entire row will be shaded to match your selection:

You can remove the Priority Color by selecting the circle with the cross through it.

Type Column available for Admins

The Type column is available in the web UI while browsing Folders and Files. The type column provides Admins a quick reference for the storage location or integration settings on folders and for files it provides the file type information.

With the flexibility of Files.com, Admins can configure folders with storage locations in one of the many cloud storage locations or map them to a Remote Server. Remote Servers can be configured as Remote Server Sync or Remote Server Mount. As a quick reference for Admins, they can now see the icon representing the Cloud Location or the type of Remote Server for the Folder.