user: Describe Interface from the Blender manual or Python API, including usage steps and snippets.

assistant: ### Main Region

The main region lists files, folders, or blend-file contents.
Hovering over an item will show a tooltip with extra information.

#### Previews

In its *Thumbnail* display mode, the File Browser supports many types of previews. These include:

- Image and video formats
- Fonts
- Blend-files
- Internal [Data-blocks](../files/data_blocks.html)

In order to get previews for data-blocks, these must first be generated.
See [Blend-Files Previews](../files/blend/previews.html).

[[image reference removed]](../_images/editors_file-browser_previews.png)

The File Browser in *Thumbnail* mode.

### Directory Region

Above the file list, there’s a textbox showing the current folder path, along with buttons for navigating.

Previous Folder `Backspace`, `Alt`-`Left`, `Mouse4`
:   Move to previous folder in navigation history.

Next Folder `Shift`-`Backspace`, `Alt`-`Right` `Mouse5`
:   Move to next folder in navigation history.

Parent Directory `P`, `Alt`-`Up`
:   Move up to parent directory.

Refresh File List `R`, `NumpadPeriod`
:   Refresh current folder.

Create New Directory `I`
:   Create a new directory inside the current one.

Directory `Ctrl`-`L`
:   The current folder path.
    `Tab` will auto-complete an existing path.
    If you type a nonexistent path, you will be prompted to create it.

Search `Ctrl`-`F`
:   Filter items by name.
    The wildcard `*` will match anything, e.g. `bl*er` will match both `blender` and `blogger`.
    There is always an implicit wildcard at the start and end of the search text,
    so `blender` will also match `test_blender_file.blend`.
    This field can also be used to filter some specific file extension (e.g. `.png` will list all PNG files).

Display Mode
:   Control how files are displayed.

    Vertical List:
    :   Displays files and folders in a vertical list.

    Horizontal List:
    :   Displays files and folders in a horizontal list.

    Thumbnails:
    :   Shows [previews](#file-browser-previews).

#### Display Settings

Size
:   The size of the thumbnails.

Recursions
:   The number of directory levels to show at once in a flat way.

    None:
    :   List only the current directory’s content.

    Blend File:
    :   List the whole content of a blend-file (only available when linking or appending data-blocks).

    One Level:
    :   List all subdirectories’ content, one level of recursion.

    Two Levels:
    :   List all subdirectories’ content, two levels of recursion.

    Three Levels:
    :   List all subdirectories’ content, three levels of recursion.

Sort By
:   Sorts items by one of the four methods:

    Name:
    :   Sort the file list alphabetically.

    Extension:
    :   Sort the file list by extension/type.

    Modified Date:
    :   Sort files by modification time.

    Size:
    :   Sort files by size.

#### Filter Settings

The toggle with the funnel icon controls whether filtering is enabled or not.
The dropdown button next to it shows the filtering options.

File Types
:   Filters files by categories, like folders, blend-files, images, etc.

Blender IDs
:   When appending or linking, you can also filter by data-block categories, like scenes, animations, materials, etc.

Show Hidden `H`
:   Shows hidden files (starting with a `.`).

### Execution Region

These controls are at the bottom of the editor.

File Name
:   Text field to edit the file name and extension. Turns red to warn you about overwriting an existing file.
    `Tab` will auto-complete to existing names in the current directory.

    / (Increment Number in Filename)
    :   Adds/increases or removes/decreases a trailing number in your file name
        (used e.g. to store different versions of a file).

Cancel `Esc`
:   Closes the File Browser and cancels the operation.

Confirm `Return`
:   Confirm the current directory and file name. You can also double-click a file or data-block
    in the main region.

### Quick Access Region

The region on the left contains a few panels that let you quickly jump to certain directories with a single click.

#### Bookmarks

A custom list of folders that you use often. You can use the buttons to the right of the list to add/remove/move
items.

#### System

Common directories such as the home directory in Linux or the “Documents” folder in Windows.

#### Volumes

Drives and network mounts.

#### Recent

Recently accessed folders.

Clicking the down arrow button to the right reveals *Clear Recent Items* to fully clear this list.

You can control how many folders appear in this list with the *Recent Files* number field
of the [Save & Load](preferences/save_load.html#prefs-save-load) tab in the Preferences.

### Operator Options Region

The right region shows the options of the calling operator.
Besides the common actions listed below, many import/export add-ons will also expose their options there.

Open, Save, Save As Blender File
:   See [Opening & Saving](../files/blend/open_save.html).

Open, Replace, Save As Image
:   See [Supported Graphics Formats](../files/media/image_formats.html).

Link/Append from Library
:   See [Linked libraries](../files/linked_libraries/index.html).

For the common option:

Relative Path
:   See [Relative Paths](../files/blend/open_save.html#files-blend-relative-paths).

### Header Region

The header only contains two menus, one with the standard editor *View* controls
and the other to list a few [Selecting](#selecting) operators for the sake of discoverability.
These menus are not visible when the browser is in a modal window.