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NextSoftware
Next File Manager — Documentation

Installation

Next File Manager ships as a single Joomla package. Installing it puts the admin component, the site component and a system plugin in place in one step.

Download

Log in at nextsoftware.dev and download the package from your account's downloads area. The file is named:

pkg_nextfilemanager_v6.0.0.zip

Keep the zip as-is — do not unpack it. The package installer reads the wrapper and installs the pieces inside it.

If you have a download ID on your account, add it under System → Update → Update Sites so that future releases arrive through Joomla's own updater.

Install

  1. In the Joomla admin go to System → Install → Extensions.
  2. Stay on the Upload Package File tab.
  3. Drag pkg_nextfilemanager_v6.0.0.zip onto the drop area, or click Or browse for file and select it.
  4. Wait for the success message.

The package installs three extensions:

Extension Type Role
com_nextfilemanager Component The admin app, the site app and the file API
plg_system_nextfilemanagersession System plugin Keeps the single-page app authenticated and enables in-place re-login when a session expires
(demo build only) plg_system_nextfilemanagerdemo System plugin Sandboxes a public demo server. Not part of the production package

Installation also creates the component's tables and seeds the built-in site storage and the site place.

Enable

The component is ready as soon as it installs — there is nothing to publish.

Check the system plugin is enabled, because the app depends on it:

  1. Go to System → Manage → Plugins.
  2. Search for nextfilemanager.
  3. Confirm System - Next File Manager Session shows a green enabled tick. Enable it if not.

Then open Components → Next File Manager. Super Users land straight on the file browser, already pointed at the Joomla install.

Nothing loads, or you get a blank panel? That is almost always the browser cache holding an old asset bundle. Clear Joomla's cache under System → Clear Cache and hard-reload the page. See Troubleshooting.

Add the front-end menu item (optional)

The package installs a site component too, but nothing is public until you create a menu item for it.

  1. Go to Menus → (your menu) → Add New Menu Item.
  2. Set Menu Item Type to Next File Manager → File Manager.
  3. Set Access to a level that excludes Guests — the app requires a logged-in user with a profile.
  4. Save.

Front-end users are subject to exactly the same profile checks and protection rules as in the admin. See Site front end.

Upgrading

Upgrades are installed the same way as a first install — upload the newer package over the top. Joomla runs the update route, applies any schema changes and preserves your storage, places, profiles, assignments, locks, settings and activity log.

Or, if your download ID is registered, use System → Update → Extensions, tick Next File Manager and click Update.

Take a database backup before a major-version upgrade, as you would with any extension.

Uninstalling

  1. Go to System → Manage → Extensions.
  2. Search for nextfilemanager.
  3. Select the NextFileManager Package row — the package, not the individual component or plugin.
  4. Click Uninstall.

Uninstalling through the package removes the component, the site component and the plugin together. The child extensions are deliberately blocked from being uninstalled individually, so you cannot half-remove the product and leave the app unable to authenticate.

What is removed: the component's tables — storage, places, profiles, assignments, locks, settings and the activity log.

What is not removed: your actual files. Next File Manager stores no file contents of its own; uninstalling it removes the means of browsing, never the things browsed.

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