Files website: download a folder or folders
 

I've uploaded a folder containing many small files to a parent folder listed in the Files component of my Fastmail account.

I created a website for the parent folder. The following parameters were selected:-
Publish as: Website
Password: Yes, it has one
Website options: [checked] List of folders if no index.html

When I tested the website the name of the child folder is present but I cannot see any means to choose to download this entire folder.

Clicking the name of the child folder opens a new page listing the many files contained within the child folder. Clicking on any of these filenames in a browser opens up a panel to initiate downloading of the single file selected.

How can I make it possible to download the contents of the entire folder including all its contents in one go?

I would guess that's a browser limitation, perhaps save all the files as a zip file and upload that to the folder is an option.

I had a quick look at the FM documentation. One part I didn't understand was the use of FTP clients. Perhaps that would make it possible.

After posting I thought of converting the folder to a zip file and gave it a try. That put me headlong into another wall. The zipped folder was about 200MB; FM's file service permits max file size for upload/download of 50MB. Oops.

In my initial post to this thread I did not mention that within my own account it is possible to download an entire folder. I thought similar functionality might be open to password protected websites created in the Files interface. Apparently not so.

Use of FTP would work (for yourself, having full access to your files), but I can't see how that would work for, say, a guest - how to allow them access to a specific folder only.

That is assuming, of course, that you created the website for guest access and not just for yourself.

Guest access was my intention.

Not to worry. It would have been useful to set this up today for a quick transfer, but I'll continue to exist happily without its occasional convenience.

Thanks for your interest.

It's not clear what you mean by "within my own account it is possible to download an entire folder".

Do you mean that when using the webmail system you can download an entire folder /of emails/?

Or do you mean you have a way to download a folder of arbitrary data files?

As for not being able to download a folder full of files in one operation with a browser... I don't think I've ever used a general-purpose website that allowed that. It's only possible if the person who created the website has also provided a single file (zipped or tarred or whatever) that contains the files.

Non-general-purpose sites, eg cloud storage providers, CDNs etc may well offer that sort of facility - but for them upload and download of collections of files is their whole raison d'être.

My query was about the Files component of my FM account.

By "within my own account" I meant logged in to my account in a browser session. The actions I was trying to make were within the Files component of my FM account. The FM Files interface permits websites to be created via which guests can access the contents of the folder a website refers to.

No, nothing to do with emails. Yes, download a folder containing numerous files.

Regarding cloud storage and whatnot, I don't have accounts with providers of such services. If I recall correctly, FM's Files service was created before many of these were commonly available.

I think, but I'm not sure, FM maintains user account Files as a legacy feature. It couldn't do what I wanted it to this time, but otherwise it is pretty cool. Sharing photo galleries and being able to have others upload files to a given folder has from time to time proven quite useful.

Coincidentally, yesterday I created a Firefox account. Its main job is to sync bookmarks, history, logins and preferences between browser installations on different devices one uses.

Along with the new (to me) marketing for Firefox accounts, Mozilla is promoting a Firefox account linked service called Firefox Send.

It can be used to send files up to 2.5GB. Number of times a file can be downloaded can be set, as well as duration of the link's validity.

I tested it with a 250kB file. Quite easy to use. Nifty.

It would have done what I was trying to do when I first created this thread.