Migrate from Advanced File Manager Pro

FileDeck Pro can turn a folder managed by Advanced File Manager into a proper document library. Go to Documents → Import & Export → Migrate; if your file manager points at a usable folder, it appears as an import source. Every file becomes a document and every sub-folder becomes a category.

Read this first: it may not appear as a source

Advanced File Manager is a file manager, not a document library. It stores no records of its own — no titles, no descriptions, no categories, no access rules. Its only setting that matters here is the directory it browses, and by default that directory is your entire WordPress installation.

Importing that would turn every core, theme and plugin file on your site into a document, so FileDeck refuses. The source only appears when the managed folder is a genuine content folder:

• it must be inside wp-content/uploads, and
• it must not itself be a WordPress install root.

If Advanced File Manager isn’t offered on the Migrate screen, that’s why. Point it at a real documents folder under your uploads directory first — for example wp-content/uploads/documents — then reload the Migrate screen.

This is deliberate. An import that could reach anywhere on your server, driven by a setting stored in the database, is not a trade worth making for the small number of sites that would benefit.

What gets imported

Advanced File Manager	FileDeck
The filename, tidied up	Document title
The sub-folder the file is in	Category, with nesting preserved
The file’s modification time	Document date
The file itself	A real Media Library attachment

There is no description, date-added, owner or access data to carry across. The source records none, so a document arrives with a title, a category and a file — you add the rest.

Files are copied into your Media Library. Your originals stay exactly where they are, so the file manager keeps working and you can re-run safely.

What is skipped

Not everything in a folder is a document, so the import leaves out:

• Anything WordPress would refuse as an upload — .php, .htaccess, .ini, .sh, .sql and the like. A stray code file can never become a document.
• Web assets WordPress does allow but which are almost never documents: .js, .css, .html, .htm, .xml. A folder containing a built theme would otherwise import hundreds of them.
• Hidden files and folders, and the file manager’s own .trash and .tmb caches.

A single import indexes up to 5,000 files. Larger folders import the first 5,000; split the folder if you need more.

Is this the right import for you?

If you have been using Advanced File Manager purely to manage files on your server — an FTP client inside wp-admin — there may be nothing here worth importing, and that is a perfectly reasonable answer. This import is for people who have a folder of real documents and want visitors to be able to browse, search and download them.

If your documents live in another plugin instead, see migrating from another plugin — sources that store real records carry far more across.

FAQ

Why isn’t Advanced File Manager listed on the Migrate screen?

Almost always because its managed folder is the WordPress root (the default) or sits outside your uploads directory. Change it to a folder under wp-content/uploads and reload.

Will it import my whole WordPress installation?

No. It refuses to run against a WordPress install root, and against anything outside your uploads directory.

Can I re-run it after adding files?

Yes. Documents record which file they came from, so a re-run imports only what is new. The folder scan is cached briefly, so a very recent addition may take a few minutes to appear.