The File Mover Express graphical user interface provides an intuitive drag-and-drop experience for transferring files between your local system and Amazon S3.
The GUI consists of three main areas:
- Local File Browser (Left) - Browse your local file system
- S3 Bucket File Browser (Right) - Browse your S3 buckets
- Bottom Panel - Monitor jobs, view logs, and generate reports
File System Dropdown Options:
- Local file systems: Your computer's drives and mounted storage
- Favorite paths: Bookmarked frequently-used directories
- Remote daemons: Connect to File Mover Express running on other machines
Navigation:
- Click folders to browse into them
- Use breadcrumb navigation to go back to parent directories
- Right-click for context menu options (favorites, hot folder configuration)
Remote Configuration Dropdown:
- Select from configured S3 destinations
- Each configuration represents a specific bucket and settings
- Green checkmark indicates active connection
Navigation:
- Browse S3 objects and prefixes like folders
- Navigate using breadcrumbs or double-clicking
- View object metadata and properties
File Mover Express uploads to all S3 storage classes. We recommend disabling sleep mode on your computer to prevent transfer interruptions.
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Open File Mover Express
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Select source files:
- In the Local file browser, navigate to your files
- Select files/folders (they will appear highlighted)
- Use Ctrl+click (Cmd+click on Mac) for multiple selections
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Choose destination:
- In the S3 Bucket file browser, select your Remote Configuration
- Navigate to the desired S3 location
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Start transfer:
- Drag selected files from Local browser to S3 browser
- Drop into specific S3 folder or bucket root
- Transfer begins automatically
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Monitor progress:
- View real-time progress in the Jobs tab
- See transfer speed, ETA, and completion status
File Mover Express cannot download directly from Deep Archive or Glacier storage classes, as these require restoration first. For more information, see Restoring archived objects.
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Open File Mover Express
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Select source files:
- In the S3 Bucket file browser, select your Remote Configuration
- Navigate to and select files/folders to download
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Choose destination:
- In the Local file browser, navigate to your destination
- Select target directory or drive
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Start transfer:
- Drag selected files from S3 browser to Local browser
- Drop into specific local folder
- Transfer begins automatically
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Monitor progress:
- View real-time progress in the Jobs tab
Hot Folders automatically monitor local directories and upload new or modified files to S3.
- Select the dropdown menu (≡) and choose Settings
- In the Hot Folders section, choose Add Hot Folder
- Right-click on a Local folder
- Choose Configure Hot Folder
- Name: Unique identifier for this hot folder
- Remote Configuration Name: Target S3 configuration
- Local Source Folder: Full path to monitor (e.g.,
/media/drive) - S3 Destination Folder: Target S3 prefix (leave blank for bucket root)
Multiple Destinations: Click the (+) icon to upload to multiple S3 buckets from the same local folder.
- Recursively monitors all subdirectories
- Automatically uploads new or modified files
- Uses polling to detect file changes, so it works on network file systems (NFS, SMB)
- Detection may be slightly delayed on slow network mounts
The Jobs tab provides comprehensive transfer management:
- Progress: Real-time percentage and progress bar
- Remote Configuration: Destination bucket/configuration
- Size: Total job size
- ETA: Estimated completion time
- Start Time: When the job began
- Status: Current state with transfer speed (if active)
Click the Action arrow button for each job to access:
- Pause: Temporarily stop the transfer
- Note: Actively transferring files will need to restart
- Resume: Continue a paused transfer
- Cancel: Stop and remove the job
- Rename: Give the job a descriptive name
- Generate Report: Create detailed transfer report
- Job Details: View status of individual files/folders
- Jobs display in order of creation
- Earlier jobs appear at the top
- Filter by status to show specific job types
The Logs tab shows detailed application activity:
- Transfer Information: Detailed file transfer progress and results
- Application Events: GUI interactions and system messages
- Error Messages: Troubleshooting information for failed operations
- Performance Data: Transfer speeds and timing information
Use logs for:
- Troubleshooting transfer issues
- Monitoring application behavior
- Generating support information
Generate and view detailed S3 bucket inventories:
- In the S3 Bucket file browser, select Bucket Report
- Choose your preferred:
- Remote Configuration: Which S3 bucket to report on
- Output Format:
.xlsx,.json, or.csv
- Select Generate Report
- Progress Tracking: Monitor report generation progress
- Report Access: View completed reports directly in the tab
- Export Options: Download reports in various formats
- Inventory bucket contents without AWS Console access
- Generate delivery confirmations
- Audit file transfers and storage usage
- Create project documentation
Access settings through the dropdown menu (≡):
- Disable Sleep (macOS only): Prevent system sleep during transfers
- API Server Configuration: GUI connectivity settings
- Add/Edit/Delete: Manage S3 connection configurations
- Test Connections: Validate credentials and bucket access
- Advanced Options: Storage classes, checksums, filtering
- Manage Hot Folders: Add, edit, or remove monitored directories
- Multiple Configurations: Set up complex monitoring scenarios
- Navigate to frequently-used directories
- Right-click and select Add to Favorites
- Access via File System dropdown
- Rename: Give favorites descriptive names
- Remove: Delete unused bookmarks
- Organize: Group related favorites
Connect to File Mover Express running on other machines:
- In Local file browser, select File System dropdown
- Choose Add Remote Daemon
- Configure:
- Name: Descriptive identifier
- Host: IP address or hostname
- Port: Connection port (default: 50006)
- Appears in File System dropdown once configured
- Browse remote file systems as if local
- Transfer files using remote machine's resources
- Add favorites on remote systems
- Double-click: Enter folders
- Breadcrumbs: Click to navigate up directory tree
- Ctrl+Click (Cmd+Click on Mac): Multi-select files
- Drag and Drop: Primary transfer method
- Visual Feedback: Highlighted drop zones during drag operations
- Batch Operations: Select multiple files for efficient transfers
- Real-time Updates: Jobs tab shows live progress
- Speed Indicators: Monitor network utilization
- Queue Management: Prioritize important transfers
- Check that daemon is running:
filemoverexpress daemon - Verify
apiServer.enabledistruein configuration - Restart File Mover Express if connection fails
- Monitor Jobs tab for bottlenecks
- Check Logs tab for error messages
- Adjust transfer settings in configuration
- Restart the GUI application
- Check for conflicting applications on API port
- Generate support file for detailed diagnostics
- Using the CLI - Learn command-line operations
- Hot Folders - Detailed hot folder configuration
- Remote Daemon - Set up multi-user environments
- Performance Optimization - Tune for your workload