FileRise 2.0: Web File Manager with Client Portals

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The web file manager FileRise receives a comprehensive update with version 2.0. The Pro version now gets the Client Portals function. This allows administrators to create individual upload and download portals for customers, partners, or project participants – entirely in self-operation and without dependence on cloud services.

FileRise is a PHP-based web application for file transfer, aimed at freelancers, agencies, and small businesses, for example, who want to manage sensitive data on their infrastructure in a GDPR-compliant manner. The software runs on Apache servers and is available as an open-source project on GitHub.

Individual Portals for Customers

The new portal function of the Pro version allows the creation of a separate portal for each customer with its URL structure. Each portal receives an individual slug and is accessible via Pretty URLs according to the scheme https://host/portal/<slug>. Administrators can define per portal whether only uploads are allowed or if clients can also download files. Additionally, expiration dates can be defined, after which FileRise automatically deactivates a portal.

Several branding options are available for customization: users can provide each portal with its title, instruction text, and footer text. A freely selectable accent color runs through the entire portal UI. These customizations appear on both the portal's main page and the associated login page, which is also designed in the portal's style.

Intake Forms and Submissions Log

Another new feature is the optional Intake Forms: Administrators can activate a form for each portal that visitors must fill out before uploading. Available fields are name, email address, reference number, and notes. For each field, it can be specified whether it is a mandatory field and what its default value should be. This function is suitable, for example, for agencies that want to capture project information with every client upload.

All these entries are recorded in a portal-specific log. This log shows the date and time, the target folder, the logged-in user, the IP address, and all filled-in form values. Administrators can thus track when which files were uploaded by whom.

Technical Innovations in the Core

The portal function also required adjustments in the free core system: new public pages portal.html and portal-login.html were added, as well as a portal controller with corresponding API endpoints. These read the portal definitions from the Pro bundle, check expiration dates, and return only secure, public metadata. The login flow now supports a ?redirect= parameter, so that users are automatically redirected to the requested portal after successful login.

The admin interface has also been revised. The developers have outsourced the CSS for the admin panel into a dedicated helper, adminPanelStyles.js. From version 2.0.0, the modal dialogs for User Groups and Client Portals use uniform styles with improved dark mode adjustments. Furthermore, a breadcrumb bug has been fixed: the navigation now correctly displays "root" as the top level.

More information about the update can be found in the Release Notes. FileRise Core v2.0.0 and FileRise Pro v1.1.0 are available on GitHub. Installation is done via ZIP download or via Docker or Unraid. Version 2.0.1 was released shortly thereafter with security updates for portal and core login redirects.

(fo)