Using File Manager in cPanel - The Basics

Once you have signed up with Cheap Host, one of your first tasks might be to upload files to your new hosting space. There are 2 main options for this:

SFTP or FTP - Secure File Transfer Protocol or FTP File Transfer Protocol

File Manager - This is inbuilt file manager within cPanel

How to Upload Files in File Manager

Firstly put all your files in a folder on your local machine. Next create a .zip on your local machine so that you can upload all files in one go.

Then you will need to login to cPanel via the Client Area or using your login details (can be found in your ‘New Account Information’ email).

Go to Files ---> File Manager

Then navigate to your chosen directory - in most cases this will be public_html

Then simply select ‘Upload’ from the top menu bar and then ‘Select File’ from your local machine. Now you can choose your .zip file and select ok.

You will then see a progress bar on the left middle of the screen to show you the progress of the upload.

Once the file has successfully uploaded the progress bar will display green and show 100%

Underneath the progress bar you will see a hyperlink which will take you back to the directory you have uploaded to.

You will now see your .zip file in said directory. Now, simply select the .zip file (using left mouse button) and then click ‘Extract’ from the top menu.

You will now see the extracted files in the same name folder as the .zip file. Next you will need to double click the extracted folder.

Next click ‘Select All’ from the top menu - you will now see everything selected.

Click ‘Move’ from the top menu --> now choose public_html for example

You have now successfully uploaded all your files into the public_html directory of cPanel.

Finally you might want to delete the empty extracted folder and original .zip file. To do this you can highlight each and click ‘delete from the top menu. Or, alternatively you can select one with your mouse and then whilst holding down the CTRL button (windows) you can select multiple files and/or folders.

You can also click a folder or file --> right click and select ‘delete’

How to Edit Files in cPanel

If you want to edit files from within cPanel simply select the chosen file

You can now either right click with the mouse and click ‘Edit’

Or you can select the chosen file and click ‘Edit’ from the menu at the top the screen.

How to Copy Files in cPanel

If you wanr to copy files in cPanel you can select a single file or folder, or multiple files or folders.

Then you can either right click with the mouse and click ‘Copy’

Or you can select your chosen file(s)/folder(s) and then click ‘Copy’ using the top menu

From here simply Enter the file path where you want to copy file(s)/folder(s) in the dialgoue box thay is displayed and click ‘Copy File(s)’.

How to Compress Files in cPanel

If you want to make a .zip files from within cPanel simply select your chosen folder

You can then either right click and select ‘Compress’

Or you can select the chosen folder and click ‘Compress’ using the menu at the top of the screen.