I admit, today's skill is not glamorous…that is, until you need it. Then you'll be so glad you're in the know! So whether you've been blogging a long time or you've been following the step-by-step process from the beginning, listen up! 
There may be times when you will want to access your blog's files on your server (via your host), as opposed to accessing them through your WordPress Dashboard. (If you don't remember the difference, you might want to review my ice cream analogy.)
Some common examples of when this knowledge might come in handy are:
- You unknowingly installed a buggy plugin or theme…and it broke your site. Now you're getting warnings or errors and you can't even log back in to your WordPress Dashboard at all. Access your file manager to delete that plugin or theme, and get your site back.
- You want to upload a single file to your server to use in your design, such as a fancy blog header or favicon.
To be sure, you can do a lot right from your Dashboard, but knowing how to work with your files from your server is a must-have skill!
How to Access Your File Manager
1. Login to your cPanel (via your hosting account). In my case, I'll do that at Bluehost.com.
2. Scroll down and click on File Manager. (Depending on your host, this screen may look different, however, it's very likely it will look just like this. In any case, you're looking for your file manager. If you don't see it, contact your host and ask them where you can find it.)
You'll get something that looks like this:
3. Navigate through your files until you find what you want. For example…
How to Delete a Plugin or Theme in your File Manager
- If you installed WordPress in your web root directory (i.e. your blog comes up at bloggingwithamy.com as opposed to bloggingwithamy.com/anotherfile), you can access your files in "public_html."
- Click the "wp-content" folder (see #1 in the image below – click for a larger view).
- Once you do, you'll see more folders. Click the "plugins" or "themes" folder (depending on what you want to delete).
- Find the plugin or theme you believe is faulty. Check the box to the left of that file and then click "Delete" (see #3 below).
- Try logging in to your Dashboard again. If your site was broken due to a buggy plugin or theme, everything should be restored to normal.
Click for larger view.
How to Upload a File in Your File Manager
- If you installed WordPress in your web root directory (i.e. your blog comes up at bloggingwithamy.com as opposed to bloggingwithamy.com/anotherfile), you can access your files in "public_html."
- Navigate to the folder where you want to upload your file (this location will depend on what you are uploading).
- Click "Upload" (see #2 in the image above).
- Browse your computer to find the file you want and follow the prompts to upload.
Disclosure: The links to Bluehost.com in this post are affiliate links, meaning, if you click on one of them and purchase your hosting there, they will give me a portion of that sale…at absolutely no cost to you of course. I like to think of it as a win-win situation. I’d be grateful for a click through my affiliate link, but that is completely up to you. 
Here at BloggingWithAmy you'll find tips, tools & tutorials about blogging and websites. In plain English. Want to 
Hi,
In the initial days after blog setup, dealing with files is one of the most daunting task. I am using Godaddy hosting and they have their own file manager. But that is not very reliable and I had to get my hands dirty with FTP Client finally.
But this is definitely good overview for beginners! Keep it up!
I agree — FTP is another must-have skill — and also happens to be in the pipeline as we speak.
Thanks for stopping by.
Thank the Lord that you posted on this BECAUSE I could not figure out how in the world to get my stupid header up and running! I am so VERY VERY thankful you did this blog, Amy. I signed up with bluehost after going through all your tutorials. Hope you made some money off it! Thanks so much for these AMAZING tips and tutorials.
Thanks Ammie. So glad it has been helpful!
These tutorials are so helpful I could just about kiss you from the happy!! Thank YOU thank YOU!
Lisa-Jo, you are cracking me up! I'm so glad it's helpful. And I regret not introducing myself to you at Relevant, but it's nice to "meet" you.
I just discovered this great blog you have, and like the others I am SOOoooo grateful! However, how do I get into my FTP with Blogger?
Unfortunately, it's not doable in Blogger.
How do I upload the image if I am using Blogger without a host site? I plan to branch out at some point to WordPress, but not yet. I created my button and can't figure out how to upload it?
I have blogger, but google is my site host, so I figured out that I design something in google docs, edit it in picnik, upload it back into google docs as a separate stand-alone file, then everything else is the same. Thanks, Amy! I just made another button for my blog for the Fitness Freebie Blog Hop, and I had to come back here to re-read the directions. Hop starts on Jan. 1st!
How do you upload it into google docs?
I'm trying to make a button for my blog on blogger and can't figure this out. I'm with Lori..any help for us? Thank you!!
If I use blogger how would I do this? I've sized my photo but now need to get the code to be able to post on my blog
Unfortunately, you can't do this with Blogger. You can try a site like Photobucket or Flickr to host your images.
So there's no way that I can make a photo to post on a Blogger blog?
Oh you can! If you want to insert a photo into a post, simply click on the image icon in your "New Post" screen like this. Does that help? Sorry I was unclear before.
I watched the video on how to make a favicon icon, but I'm really lost on how to apply it on my blog. I also can't really figure out how to create a button for my blog either. I did the step by step intructions you referred, maybe I'm missing something, or need a nother set of eyes to understand it! Any way you could help me?? Thanks a ton
Thank you so much for this! Your easy-to-digest posts are helping me with this thing known as WordPress. I really appreciate all of your hard work & dedication to the blogging community.
Glad it's helpful, Shari!