---
title: "An overview on moving applications from subfolders to your root folder"
description: "It is a common practice to test and/or build a new site version while maintaining the current version on the web. This way site visitors can continue to interact and the website business is not..."
url: https://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/website/move-site-files/
date: 2013-04-02
modified: 2021-08-16
author: "Scott Mitchell"
categories: ["Website"]
type: post
lang: en
---

# An overview on moving applications from subfolders to your root folder

It is a common practice to test and/or build a new site version while maintaining the current version on the web. This way site visitors can continue to interact and the website business is not interrupted while the new content is designed or the software is tested. For this guide, we will be moving a new site, located in a folder named *newsite* to the root folder of a hosting account, *public_html*.

## Removing the old site files

Simply copying the new site files over the old files may work, but it may also leave you with extraneous files and other useless code. It is best to clear out the old site completely before moving the new files in. First, use your [cPanel File Manager](/support/edu/cpanel/using-file-manager-in-cpanel/) and navigate to the Web root of your account, this is known as the *public_html* folder. Below you can see our example account. There are a couple of folders and several files in the *public_html* folder.

Be careful when removing the files and folders. You do not want to simply delete everything in the *public_html* folder as it would also delete the *newsite* folder that contains your new site information. Use the cPanel File Manager toolbar and delete each folder you do not need individually. This would be the *images* folder. The *cgi-bin* folder is standard on all accounts and should generally be left alone.

As for the files in the *public_html*folder, you can delete them either individually or by highlighting them all at once. Most browsers allow this by clicking on the top file and then holding the **Shift** key while clicking the bottom file. Once highlighted, you can click the **Delete** icon from the toolbar, removing them all. Once your *public_html* folder is clean, you should only have the *cgi-bin* and the folder with your new site’s information, in our case, the *newsite* folder.

## Copying the new files to the root folder

Once you have removed the old site files from the *public_html* you are ready to move the files. Using the file manager, enter the folder you have the new site files in. In our example, it is the *newsite* folder. From there you will see all the files and folders that are for the new site.

To move the files and folders, you first need to highlight them all. While this can be done individually, it is best to highlight them all at once. To do so, click on the topmost file to highlight it, then scroll to the bottom of the page and highlight the last file while holding the **Shift** key. This highlights all the files.

Next, click on the **Move** icon found in the upper menu bar of the page. A popup will appear asking for you to identify the destination of the move. Make sure the destination path is simply ‘*public_html*‘. Click the **Move Files** button to begin the move.

Your old subfolder should now be empty and all files should now be in the *public_html* folder. This completes the physical move of the files. You may test your site at this point, but be aware that many of the programs such as WordPress or Joomla will require configuration file changes. Each program is individual and instructions will need to be found for each respective program. Typically this is found by searching ‘folder configuration change’ for the program.