Using the File Manager

Accessing the File Manager

Open your server panel and click the "Files" tab.

The file manager shows your server directory with a breadcrumb trail starting at "root". The up-arrow goes to the parent folder, and any crumb in the trail jumps straight to it.

Click a folder’s name to go into it. Click anywhere else on a row to select it — the row’s action buttons only appear once it is selected.

What you will not see, and why

Some things are not shown in the listing at all. They are hidden rather than locked, so there is nothing there to click on and nothing to break.

• Executables and native libraries.
• Shell and PowerShell scripts (.sh, .ps1). Like executables, they are treated as platform-managed.
• Platform-managed files, such as steam_appid.txt and the Windrose Plus configuration files.
• A few folders, for the same reason: steamapps, MonoBleedingEdge and 7DaysToDieServer_Data.
• GameGrid's own working folders and keys inside your server folder, such as .gamegrid, the live map's access key and exchange folder in platform-managed-config on a 7 Days to Die server, Enshrouded's GameGrid folder, GameGrid's PalDefender key (GameGridEconomy.json in PalDefender's RESTAPI/Tokens folder) on a Palworld server the GameGrid Bridge's key (bridge.json in BepInEx/gamegrid) on a Valheim server and the Windrose Plus dashboard's session key (dashboard_session.key in windrose_plus_data) on a Windrose server. Your own PalDefender keys and the rest of those folders stay visible.

Nothing you need is inside them. Your saves, logs, configuration and mods all live in folders you can see.

The same rule applies over FTP and SFTP. You can list those files there, but you cannot upload over them or overwrite them.

Passwords inside your server's own configuration files (server.properties, serverDZ.cfg, PalWorldSettings.ini, serverconfig.xml and the like) show as •••••••• to a member who is not allowed to change the server's settings, and that member cannot open or download a ZIP or other archive from the file manager, whatever the file is called, because an archive can hold those files. A member who can change settings sees the real values. On a 7 Days to Die server the GameGrid key for the live map (the gridgametools_ entry in serveradmin.xml) shows as •••••••• to everyone, over FTP and SFTP too, and GameGrid keeps the real key when you save that file.

The file manager refuses a name that has a ~ followed by a digit, such as SERVER~1.XML: that is a Windows short name that can stand for another file, so use the full file or folder name. On a 7 Days to Die server serveradmin.xml cannot be copied or renamed to another file name; moving it to another folder under the same name works. Over FTP and SFTP the same file cannot be renamed to another file name either, and GameGrid does not serve it when it is larger than 8 MiB. A Customer API key without the settings:write scope (or whose owner cannot change the server's settings), and a GameGrid support session, cannot copy or rename a ZIP or other archive to a name that is not an archive's, such as .txt. Only a member who can change the server's settings can make a ZIP in the file manager, and so can a key with the settings:write scope whose owner can; a member who cannot, and a GameGrid support session, are refused. The ZIP holds the files as that member sees them, and the GameGrid key for the live map is hidden in every ZIP.

platform-managed-config holds the settings GameGrid applies at every start. You can open and download what you see there, but not change, add or delete anything: change those settings on the Settings page.

Copy, cut and paste follow the same rule. A paste that would put a file on one of those names (or give it an executable extension such as .dll) is refused, and a file on one of the platform's own names (such as instance-meta.json) cannot be cut away or deleted. Folders of ordinary files, including mod folders that hold .dll files, can still be copied, renamed and deleted.

A folder that holds one of GameGrid's own keys, such as BepInEx on a Valheim server or PalDefender's folder on a Palworld server, cannot be copied, cut or renamed as a whole, so the key never ends up somewhere it can be seen. Copy or move the folders inside it instead (BepInEx/plugins, BepInEx/config). You can still delete it: GameGrid writes its key again at the next start.

Uploading Files

Click the "Upload" button in the toolbar and pick a file. It lands in the folder you are currently viewing, one file at a time.

The upload goes through the panel itself, which limits it to 1.4 MB and says so before it sends a larger file. A larger file — a modpack, a world archive, a server jar — has to go over FTP or SFTP instead.

Connecting over FTP or SFTP

Your host, port, username and password are on the Overview tab, with Show and Reset buttons for the password.

The same username and password work on both. They only appear for members who can change the server's settings (the account owner, administrators and server managers), because the password opens every file of the server, its passwords included. Other members, a read-only member for example, see a note that says so instead. Resetting the password needs the same right.

#### While a restore runs, FTP and SFTP are read-only

While a backup restore or a Vault load is replacing your server's files, uploads, deletes, renames and new folders over FTP or SFTP are refused with "A restore is running on this server; try again when it has finished." An upload that was already running when the restore started is stopped. You can still list and download files. Once the restore has finished, uploads work again; upload the stopped file again.

#### Too many wrong passwords blocks your address for six hours

To stop password guessing, five failed logins from the same internet address within an hour block that address at the firewall of the machine your server runs on, for six hours. The block covers everything on that machine, so while it lasts that address cannot connect over FTP or SFTP, and cannot join the game servers there either. Logging in successfully before the fifth failure means the earlier failures do not count.

If you are blocked after mistyping, either wait six hours or open a support ticket: support can lift the block straight away. Then copy the password from the Overview tab (Show) rather than typing it.

Upload the file there, then come back to the Files tab to move, unzip or edit it.

Creating Folders

Type the folder name in the "New folder..." box in the toolbar, then press Enter or click "New Folder". The button stays greyed out until you have typed something.

The folder is created in the folder you are currently viewing.

File Actions

Click a row to select it. Its actions appear on the right — which ones depends on what the row is.

Paste is offered on folders only. To move something into the folder you are already looking at, go up one level and paste onto it from there.

Editing Config Files

Stop your server before editing a config file it owns. Many games rewrite their configuration when they shut down, which silently discards whatever you typed while it was running.

Select the file and click "Open". The editor shows the file’s full path, a character and byte count, and an "Unsaved changes" marker while you have edits pending. Save writes it back with the file’s own line endings and any byte order mark it started with, so a file that used Windows-style (CRLF) line breaks is not turned into a Unix-style one by editing it. The byte count is the size that will be saved. Close warns you if you have not saved.

What can be edited

Text files up to 1 MB, in these types:

• Configuration and data: .cfg, .conf, .ini, .properties, .json, .xml, .yaml, .yml, .toml
• Text and logs: .txt, .log, .md, .csv
• Code: .js, .ts, .lua, .py, .html, .css, .scss

A file with no extension at all is editable if it is small enough.

If there is no "Open" button on a row, the file is too large or is not one of those types. Download it, edit it locally and upload it again, or use SFTP.

Saving while the server is starting or stopping

If you save while your server is starting, stopping or restarting, the edit is held and written once the server settles. The editor still says Saved and your change is not lost, but it will not be on disk until the server has finished what it is doing. If you need the change immediately, wait for the server to reach Online or Offline before you save.