Contents
The Folders Pane contains the "tree view" of the folders that you can navigate. Folders are used to organize and categorize your files.
Folders display is called "tree view" because the folders hierarchy is represented like tree branches, with subfolders placed below and indented with regard to their parent items. The Folders Pane uses the same graphic representation that can be found in many modern operating systems.
Basic Operations
Opening (Expanding) a Folder
In order to open a folder and expand its subfolders, click the plus icon (
) in front of the folder name. If the plus icon is not present, the folder does not contain any subfolders.
See the "On Request Loading" section below if you require more information about the loading process in CKFinder.
Closing (Collapsing) a Folder
In order to close a folder and hide (collapse) its subfolders, click the minus icon (
) in front of the folder name.
Selecting a Folder
In order to select a folder and make it the "current folder" in CKFinder, click the folder name or its icon. The selected folder will be highlighted with a different background color.
Advanced Operations
Advanced operations can be performed on a folder by using its Context Menu. Depending on the circumstances, the following options may be available:
- New Subfolder – creates a new subfolder in this parent folder.
- Rename – changes the name of the folder.
- Copy Files from Basket – copies the files that were placed in the Basket to the selected folder.
- Move Files from Basket – moves the files that were placed in the Basket to the selected folder.
- Delete – permanently removes the folder.
Note: Some context menu options may be disabled (and thus grayed out), depending on CKFinder settings enforced by your system administrator.
Creating Folders
In order to create a child folder inside an existing folder, choose the New Subfolder option from the context menu of the parent folder. Type the name of the new folder in the dialog window that will be displayed. Once you give the new folder a name and close the dialog window, the folder will be created.
Not all characters can be used in folder and file names due to limitations of the systems where CKFinder runs. Among the characters that cannot be used in folders and files names are: \ / : * ? " < > and |.
Renaming Folders
To rename a folder, just click the "Rename" option in the context menu. A dialog box, containing the current folder name, will appear, asking for the new folder name. Just type it and confirm.
Not all characters can be used in folder and files names due to limitations in the systems where CKFinder runs. For instance, the following characters cannot be used on folders and files names: \ / : * ? " < > |
Attention: by renaming a folder, links or media insertions available in other pages, which point to files or folders inside the renamed folder, will be "broken", therefore not available anymore. So, be careful when using this feature.
Deleting Folders
To delete a folder, including its contents, just click the "Delete" option in the context menu. A confirmation message will appear to ensure that this operation is desired.
Attention: by deleting a folder, links or media insertions available in other pages, which point to files or folders inside the deleted folder, will be "broken", therefore not available anymore. So, be careful when using this feature.
"Under Request" Loading
The most important difference between CKFinder and the folders tree found in operating systems, is that, in CKFinder, the folders are loaded "under request". It means that it doesn't load the entire folders tree at startup, but loads a small subset of them when "opening" the folder. This is a requirement on advanced web applications like CKFinder.
To indicate that folders are being loaded, the "Loading..." label may appear when opening a folder:
The label will automatically disappear once the folders load is completed. Once loaded, the label should not appear anymore for that folder.