---
url: /technical/file-manager.md
description: >-
  The File Manager browses the instance filesystem - the shared directory where
  CSVs awaiting load, images used in Cards, exported files and Packages all
  live.
---

# File Manager

The **File Manager** browses the instance filesystem: the directory on the server that MODLR uses for files rather than data. It's reached from **File Manager** in the Gateway's primary menu, or from a model's own page.

Everything that isn't a Cube value tends to pass through here - source CSVs waiting to be loaded, images displayed in Cards, files written out by an export Process, and [Packages](/technical/packages) created for deployment.

![The File Manager, annotated to show the breadcrumb of the current path, the directory listing, the file actions and the Upload File control](/file-manager.png)

The breadcrumb shows the directory you're currently in, and **Home**, the up arrow and the refresh control move around it. **Add Folder** creates a subdirectory, and selecting a file exposes **Download** and **Delete**.

## What lives here

| Content | How it gets there |
| :--- | :--- |
| Source data files | Uploaded by hand, or delivered by [FTP](/technical/ftp) or a Process |
| Images used in Cards | Uploaded here, then referenced by path from the [Image component](/card-guides/image) |
| Files written by a Process | Created by the `datasource.*` file functions during a run |
| Packages | Written to the model's root directory when a [Package](/technical/packages) is created |

## Uploading a file

Navigate to the destination folder first, because files land in whichever directory you're currently browsing. Then click **Upload File** to open the **Upload Files** dialog.

![The Upload Files dialog, with a drop area for selecting files and the Upload Files and Close buttons](/file-manager-upload-files.png)

Drag files onto the drop area, or click it to choose them, then click **Upload Files**. Each upload has two limits:

* **20 MB** maximum per file
* **10 files** maximum at once

For files over 20 MB, or for more than 10 files, use [FTP](/technical/ftp) instead.

Uploaded files are addressed by their path relative to the home directory. An image uploaded into an `images` folder is referenced from a Card's Image component as `images/your-image-here.png`, not as a full URL.

Manual upload isn't only a setup step. Where data has no automated feed behind it, uploading by hand is a perfectly normal way to keep it current - a user updates the file and uploads the new version to the same directory, and a Process pointed at that path reads whatever is there on its next run. Anything uploaded this way lives in the same filesystem as everything else, so it's equally reachable over [FTP](/technical/ftp) and from a Process.

## Reaching the same files elsewhere

The File Manager is one of three ways into the same filesystem, and which you use depends on whether a person or a system is doing the work:

* **The File Manager** - browsing, manual uploads and updates, and checking what a Process actually produced.
* **[FTP](/technical/ftp)** - scheduled or automated delivery from another system. Each instance ships with a **MODLR Filesystem** datasource pointing at the `filesystem` folder, which is the FTP server's default directory - so a CSV dropped by FTP is immediately readable by a Process. Note that FTP ports are closed by default and must be opened by support.
* **Process functions** - reading and writing files during a run, via [`datasource.files`](/process-functions/datasource-files), [`datasource.readFile`](/process-functions/datasource-readFile), [`datasource.csvRead`](/process-functions/csv-reader#datasource-csvread), [`datasource.directoryCreate`](/process-functions/datasource-directorycreate) and the rest of the [Datasource Functions](/process-functions/datasource-functions).

::: tip Loading a file once it's uploaded
Uploading a file doesn't load it. See [Loading a Flat File](/technical/flat-file-load) for reading a CSV into Dimensions and Cubes, and [Reading Excel Files](/technical/reading-excel-files) for `.xlsx` sources.
:::

## Related

* [Accessing Files via FTP](/technical/ftp) - automated file delivery into the same filesystem
* [Datasource Functions](/process-functions/datasource-functions) - reading and writing files from a Process
* [Packages](/technical/packages) - the export format written to the model's root directory
* [Navigation within MODLR](/technical/navigation-within-modlr) - where the File Manager sits in the Gateway