The browser interface¶

Every context — the standalone page, the field-widget modal and the CKEditor dialog — shares the same layout. Learn it once here; the rest of this section reuses these names.

The browser with its main regions: directory tree, media grid and toolbar

Anatomy¶

Directory tree (left) — your folders, starting from Root. Click a folder to show its media in the grid. See Organising media in folders.
Toolbar (top of the content area) — the directory breadcrumb, the media search box, the media-type and sort dropdowns, Select all, the grid/list toggle, Refresh, and the Add button.
Media grid (centre) — the media in the current folder, as cards or rows.
Preview drawer and selection drawer slide in from the right when you open item details or review a multi-item selection.

Grid view and list view¶

The toolbar's view toggle switches between a thumbnail grid and a compact list. The list shows a checkbox, thumbnail, name, media type and date, with edit and details buttons on the right — handy when names matter more than pictures, or on very large libraries.

The same folder shown in list view

The Hide directories button collapses the tree to give the grid the full width. When it's hidden, the breadcrumb becomes a dropdown folder picker so you can still jump between folders.

The browser remembers where you left off¶

To keep editors "where they left off", the browser can persist a handful of preferences in your browser's local storage:

the sort selection,
the last opened directory,
whether the sidebar was open,
grid vs list view mode,
and which folders you had expanded.

Availability

Contexts: standalone browser · field widget · CKEditor. Each of these is toggled individually under Browser settings → Saved preferences. Turn them all off if you'd rather start every session with a clean slate.

Themes¶

The browser adopts your admin theme's look — light or dark, and dedicated variants for Claro, Gin and the new Default Admin theme — so it never feels bolted on. There's nothing to configure; it follows the admin theme your site uses.

Custom admin themes can restyle the browser too, with plain CSS — see Theme the browser.

Full-screen workspace (experimental)¶

On the standalone page only, an experimental full-screen layout turns the browser into a canvas-style workspace: the page title and tabs step aside, the toolbar sticks to the top and the tree becomes a full-height drawer. Two companion options move the Add button into a floating button or the admin top bar. These are opt-in and never touch the field-widget or CKEditor modals.

Availability

Contexts: standalone browser only. Enable under Browser settings → Experimental.