Learn Remote Files Browser
in a few minutes.

Getting started

Remote Files Browser opens a web folder list, the plain page that is often titled Index of, as a clean file manager. There is no account to make and nothing to set up.

1. Add Remote Files Browser to Chrome. It is free and needs no account. It needs Chrome 110 or newer.

   Coming soon to Chrome

2. Open the extension. Click its icon in the Chrome toolbar. A tab opens with the home page.

3. Paste a folder address. Paste the address of a web folder into New connection and press Open. If you leave out https://, it is added for you. An IP number, localhost or an address with a port, such as 192.168.1.10:8000/files, uses plain http://.

4. Allow the website. Chrome asks once if Remote Files Browser may use that website. Choose Allow. The extension uses it only to read the file list and to download what you select.

Your connections

Every address you open is saved on the home page as a connection, so you can come back with one click.

• Up to 12 connections. The one you used last moves to the top and keeps its name. Each card shows the name you gave it, the IP or host in small text, and the folder path.
• Name it and edit it. Use the pencil icon to give a connection a name and to change its IP, port or path. A wrong address is refused with a message.
• Remove it with the × icon on its card.
• Pick up where you stopped. When you open the extension again, it opens the last folder you used. Press Home first and it starts on the home page instead.

Browse a folder

Open a folder and it looks like the folders on your computer: folders first, then files, each with an icon that shows its type.

List and grid

The list shows name, type, size and the date changed. The grid shows cards, and picture files show a small preview (JPG, PNG, GIF, WebP, SVG, BMP and AVIF). Switch with the two buttons at the top right. Your choice is remembered. If a picture cannot load, its icon is shown instead.

Find things

• Search the folder you are in. Type a part of a name in the search box. The bar tells you how many items there are and how many match.
• Sort by name, type, size or date. Names sort the natural way, so file2 comes before file10.
• Hidden files are names that start with a dot, such as .gitignore. You can show or hide them in Settings.

Move around

• The buttons at the top are Home, Back, Forward, Up one folder and Refresh.
• The path bar shows where you are. Every folder in it is a link, so you can jump to any parent folder. Copy path copies the full address of the folder you are in.
• Back and Forward work like Chrome: Alt+← and Alt+→ (⌘+[ and ⌘+] on a Mac), the side buttons of a mouse, and touchpad swipes. When you go Back, Forward or Up, the list returns to the same spot.

Open a file

Press the Open icon, or double-click a file, to open it in a normal Chrome tab. Some servers show a page such as index.html instead of a list. Those files are marked Home page, have no Open button and are never opened as a web page inside the extension. They still download as the original file.

Select and download

Download one file, a few files or a whole folder. Nothing starts until you press a button.

One file

Press the download icon on its row. The file is saved with its real name, through Chrome's own download manager.

Several items

Tick the boxes, or press Space on an item, then press Download. Select all is a button, and also Ctrl+A. A counter shows how many items are selected, with a Clear button.

A whole folder

Press the download icon on a folder, or select items and press Download. Then choose one of two ways.

Watch the progress

A small panel shows what is happening. First it finds the files and counts them. Then it shows how much is done, a bar, the name of the file it is saving and a Cancel button. At the end it says Done. After a single file or a ZIP is saved, Show in folder opens its place.

The blue bar on web pages

When you look at a web page that is a folder list, a blue bar can offer to open that folder in Remote Files Browser.

• Press Open this path in Remote Files and that folder opens in the extension, in the open tab if there is one.
• Cancel removes the bar and puts the page back as it was. The bar comes back when the page is loaded again.
• The page is moved down a little, so the bar never covers it.
• The bar shows only on real folder list pages, never on ordinary web pages. To decide, the extension reads only the page title and the link texts. It does this on your computer and sends nothing anywhere.
• If you have not allowed that website yet, its address is filled in on the home page, and you press Open to allow it.

Where the bar appears

Open Settings and look at Web pages. You have three choices:

• Only on my saved connections. This is the usual choice. The bar appears on folder pages of the websites in Your connections.
• On every website. Chrome asks for access to all websites. The pages are only checked on your computer, to see if they are folder lists.
• Never. No bar is added to any web page.

Folders with an index.html

Many servers show a folder's own page instead of a file list when the folder has an index.html. Remote Files Browser still lists the folder.

1. It tries the real list first, then WebDAV, which is the server's own answer to the question: what is inside?

2. If that does not work, it reads the page as plain text. It never shows the page and never runs it. It follows every file the page uses: links, scripts, styles and pictures.

3. It also checks a short list of common names, such as README.md, src and assets. Every name is checked with the server, so only things that really exist are shown. Secret files such as .env are not on the list.

If nothing is found, the extension says so, and offers Open this page in a tab.

Keyboard and mouse

Everything can be done with the keyboard. Shortcuts do not get in the way while you type in a box. Press ? at any time to see this list inside the extension.

The Back and Forward buttons of a mouse, and touchpad swipes, work too.

Settings

Open Settings with the gear icon on the home page, or at the right end of the toolbar. Changes are saved on your computer and take effect at once.

• Appearance: Same as my computer, Light or Dark. The first one follows your computer and changes by itself when it does.
• Files: show or hide hidden files. They are shown unless you turn this off.
• Web pages: where the blue bar appears.
• Saved data: how many connections are saved, and Remove all saved connections, with a question first.
• About us: the name, the version, a short note about privacy and a link to rocuo.com.

Privacy and permissions

Everything happens on your computer, inside Chrome. Remote Files Browser has no server of its own, so nothing is sent to Rocuo or to anyone else.

• We never see your server address, your IP address, your files, your passwords or what you download.
• Chrome connects straight to the website you type, the same as opening it in a tab.
• Pages and scripts of a website are only read as text. They are never shown or run inside the extension.
• Your saved connections and settings stay in this browser. There are no ads, no analytics and no tracking.

What the extension asks Chrome for

Downloads Asked

Saves the files and ZIP files you choose.

Storage Asked

Remembers your saved connections, your view and your settings on this device.

Scripting Asked

Adds the optional blue bar, only on the websites you chose in Settings.

Website access On request

Chrome asks for one website at a time, after you press Open. It is used only to read the file list and to download the files you select.

Tabs and history Not asked

The extension does not ask to see your open tabs or your browsing history.

Read the privacy policy

Good to know

These are the honest limits of version 1.0.0.

• It reads standard folder list pages. A site that builds its list with JavaScript is read as plain text only, because scripts are never run.
• In a folder with its own index.html, a file that nothing points to and that has an unusual name cannot be found. Servers do not share that.
• A ZIP file is built in memory. For a folder of several gigabytes, use Save into a folder.
• Chrome may refuse a system folder such as Desktop, Documents or Downloads itself in the folder window. Choose or make a folder inside it.
• Sites that need a login work only if you are already signed in, in the same Chrome profile.

Need help?

Most problems have a short fix, and we are glad to help with the rest.