Using Filebrowser Quantum for Indexing and Searching Your Files

If you’ve been around the self hosting scene for a while, you’ve probably heard of File Browser, a web based tool that lets you manage files on your server through a clean browser interface. Filebrowser Quantum is a newer fork of that project, one that keeps the simplicity people liked but updates the experience for today’s needs.

Quantum is still in active development, but it’s already shaping up to be a powerful, lightweight option for anyone running their own server or homelab.

What is Filebrowser Quantum?

Filebrowser Quantum is a free, open source file manager you can host yourself. It offers a clean web interface for browsing, sharing, and managing files with built in access control and user management. It’s lightweight, easy to set up, and focused on providing a fast, practical way to handle your files without the clutter of larger platforms.

What Makes It Different

The original Filebrowser was great for quick file management, but it hadn’t seen much progress lately. Quantum takes that foundation and builds something much more capable. The interface feels faster and cleaner, and there’s a lot happening behind the scenes to make it more efficient.

You can view the full comparison chart here between Fliebrowser, Quantum and other leading file management apps.

Filebrowser Quantum Features

• Supports multiple file sources
• Login options include OIDC, password with 2FA, and proxy authentication
• Clean, responsive interface that can be customized
• Simple setup using a single config.yaml file
• Fast indexing with real time search and live updates
• Search includes filters for file types, sizes, and folders
• Better browsing with previews for documents and videos
• Instantly switch view modes and sorting without page reloads
• Folder sizes shown and navigation remembers scroll position
• Flexible sharing options with expiration times, access rules, and custom themes
• Directory level permissions for users and groups
• Developer friendly API with long lived tokens and a built in Swagger page

Filebrowser Quantum Search

What I noticed right away about Filebrowser Quantum is the search. It feels quick and natural. As soon as you start typing, results begin to appear, even if you don’t spell something exactly right. The fuzzy search makes it easy to find what you’re looking for without thinking too much about file names or where things are stored.

For anyone with a lot of files or folders, that kind of speed makes a big difference. You can type a few letters, see what comes up, and get where you need to go in seconds. It’s simple, reliable, and one of those features that just makes using it feel effortless.

Filebrowser Quantum Permissions

Quantum also adds a better permissions system. You can control which users or groups have access to certain folders, or restrict specific paths entirely. That’s handy if you’re sharing access with family members, coworkers, or anyone else who doesn’t need full control over everything on your server. This is great for those who run a photography business and only want to give a customer access to their set of photos on the server.

Filebrowser Quantum Sharing

File sharing has also been improved. You can generate links to specific files or folders, and those shared pages now look and function more like the main interface. The experience feels smoother and more natural for whoever’s on the other end.

Filebrowser Quantum Install and Setup using Docker

services: filebrowser: environment: FILEBROWSER_CONFIG: "data/config.yaml" FILEBROWSER_ADMIN_PASSWORD: S3cr3tP@ssw0rd1 #TZ: "America/Chicago" volumes: - '/mnt/media:/media' - '/mnt/4TBSSD/docker:/docker' - '/mnt/4TBSSD/docker/filebrowserq/data:/home/filebrowser/data' #- './tmp/:/home/filebrowser/tmp/' ports: - '8977:80' #user: filebrowser restart: unless-stopped

Be sure to change the admin password, time zone, volumes and port if needed.

Create the config file:

server: sources: - path: /media # corresponds to the folder mounted above in docker-compose - path: /docker # corresponds to the folder mounted above in docker-compose config: defaultEnabled: false # add source for all users by default auth: adminUsername: Jeremy

The paths/sources in the config must reflect the volumes mounted within Docker. Place the config in the right directory data/config.yaml

Final Notes and Thoughts

File Browser Quantum is one of those tools that just makes sense once you start using it. It keeps things simple without feeling limited. You can browse, share, and manage your files from any device, and it stays fast even with a lot of data.

This might look more complicated than it really is, but I wanted to dig into the details so you can see how much Filebrowser Quantum has improved on the original version. It’s still being developed, but it already feels steady, capable, and thoughtfully built.

Be sure to give the project a star on the Filebrowser Quantum Github repo!

Jeremy

Hello! I'm Jeremy, the creative force behind Noted. With a blend of self-taught expertise in homelab tech and professional experience with Docker, I'm eager to connect with fellow innovators.