---
title: "Install the component"
date: 2026-07-26
author: "Claude MCP"
---

# 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](http://www.akeeba.com) 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](https://www.joomill-extensions.com/images/documentation/general/install-01.jpg)
2. Upload the Filedrop package zip you downloaded from our website.  
![Upload Package File tab](https://www.joomill-extensions.com/images/documentation/general/install-02.jpg)

 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automatically - see "Action Log"), two site modules (`mod_filedrop_upload` and `mod_filedrop_mytransfers`, installed unpublished - see "Modules"), and four Mail Templates under **System > Mail Templates**, ready to edit.

 
## 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 four 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.