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Documentation: Filedrop

Install the component

Filedrop is a self-hosted file transfer package for Joomla: visitors upload one or more files through a page on your own site, and everyone involved gets a working download link by e-mail - no third-party transfer service, no size limits beyond what you configure, and full control over where the files are actually stored.

Requirements

  • Joomla 5.1.3 or later, including Joomla 6
  • The ssh2 PHP extension, only if you plan to store files over SFTP

Before you start

  • Make a full backup of your site. Akeeba Backup is a quick way to do this.
  • Make sure Joomla itself is up to date.

Install the package

  1. In your Joomla administrator, go to System > Install > Extensions.
    Extensions: Install screen
  2. Upload the Filedrop package zip you downloaded from our website.
    Upload Package File tab

This installs the com_filedrop component, the plg_task_filedropcleanup scheduled-task plugin (enabled automatically), the plg_actionlog_filedrop action log plugin (also enabled automatically - see "Action Log"), two site modules (mod_filedrop_upload and mod_filedrop_mytransfers, installed unpublished - see "Modules"), and three Mail Templates under System > Mail Templates, ready to edit.

The language of the e-mails

Filedrop ships its e-mails in English, Dutch, German, Spanish, French and Italian. On an installation that started with version 1.1.0 or later, every e-mail is written in the language that is active on the site at the moment it is sent, so a visitor who uploads on the German version of your site triggers German e-mails.

An installation that started with an earlier version keeps the Mail Templates it already has, including any wording you changed, and those are in the one language that was active when Filedrop was installed. Updating never overwrites them. To send other languages from such a site, open each Filedrop template under System > Mail Templates and edit it for the language you need.

Create the menu items

Under Content > Site Menus, create the menu items you need:

  • Filedrop - Upload (required) - the page visitors use to send files. Without it, Filedrop still works, but download links fall back to a generic, non-SEF URL.
  • Filedrop - Download (recommended) - the landing page a download link opens. Create it once in a hidden menu (a menu without a module) and keep the item itself published; it exists purely so e-mailed links get a clean, menu-based URL.
  • Filedrop - My transfers (optional) - lets logged-in users see the transfers they've sent and received, and manage their own. Skip it if your visitors are always anonymous.

See "Menu items" for a full explanation of all three types, including the hidden-menu setup for the Download item.

Set up the cleanup schedule

Filedrop never deletes an expired transfer on its own. Go to System > Scheduled Tasks > New Task, choose Delete expired Filedrop transfers, set it to run daily (or more often under heavy use), and make sure it's enabled. Without this, expired and fully-downloaded transfers just pile up in storage.

Updating and uninstalling

Updating works the same way (System > Install > Extensions, or System > Update > Extensions): Joomla upgrades the component, plugins and modules in place, no transfers or settings lost. Uninstalling (via System > Manage > Extensions) removes the component, the plugins, the modules, and the three Mail Templates - it does not delete files already stored outside the local filedrop_storage folder, so clean up a remote FTP/SFTP target yourself if you no longer need what's there.

Next step

Configure Filedrop under Components > Filedrop > Options - see "Configuration" for what each tab does.