What it is for

A price list, a timetable or a set of monthly figures is displayed through a Tabulizer data source. Someone else prepares the file, but updating the table still means asking you to replace that file on the server.

Tabulizer File Uploader gives that person a front-end upload form. They sign in to the site, choose the new file and upload it. You decide who may upload, where the file goes, which formats are allowed and how large it may be.

The working arrangement is to create the data source once, point it at a file, then replace that file under the same name whenever its contents change. The articles and modules displaying the data source continue to use it.

Step 1 - install the package for your Joomla version

Choose the Tabulizer File Uploader package matching your site's Joomla major version. There are separate packages for Joomla 3, 4, 5 and 6; the current Joomla 3 edition targets 3.9/3.10, and the Joomla 4 edition requires 4.4 or later.

Use Upload Package File to install the ZIP. The package installs both the component and the module. The module starts unpublished, ready for you to choose its position and pages.

Then open Components › Tabulizer File Uploader and click Options. The screenshots below show the modern Joomla interface; Joomla 3 presents the same uploader settings in its own administrator layout.

Step 2 - decide who may upload

A signed-in site account is required. Ordinary users are denied initially, and there are two ways to authorise them:

Find the account's ID in Users › Manage, in the user list's ID column. Use the ID, not the display name. Save the component options after changing either method.

For one person, an existing Registered account plus an individual ID grant is often enough. For a team, a dedicated group makes it easier to maintain access. Only allow the whole Registered group if every registered site user should be able to upload.

Step 3 - choose the destination and limits

Open the Upload settings tab. The default destination is Tabulizer's usual data folder:

templates/tabulizer/data

This path is relative to the Joomla installation root. If Joomla lives in a subfolder, the path starts inside that installation. A leading slash is still site-relative; it does not mean the root of the server's filesystem.

A rule cannot exceed the global ceiling or the extension's fixed 100 MB ceiling. PHP and the web server may impose smaller limits; raising the component's setting does not raise those server limits.

Step 4 - select file types

Allowed extensions initially contains csv,txt,tsv,xls,xlsx,json,xml. Remove formats you do not need. For a CSV-only workflow, enter csv.

The uploader checks the detected MIME type and file content too. Renaming another format to .csv does not make it acceptable. JSON and XML must be valid, and spreadsheet files have their own format checks.

Additional MIME restriction is optional. Leave it empty for the built-in checks, or enter a comma-separated list of detected MIME types to narrow them further. Normal CSV files can be detected as text/plain, so an unnecessarily narrow list can reject valid files.

Different folders or limits for different people

In Options › User and group rules, click Add rule. Identify a person by User ID or Exact username, or leave both blank and select a group. Set a destination, a size limit, or both.

For example, give the username data-editor a 2 MB limit and this destination:

templates/tabulizer/data/{user_id}-{username}

For user 42, the result is templates/tabulizer/data/42-data-editor. The uploader substitutes the person uploading and converts names to safe folder names.

A group destination could be site-data-{group_id}/sources. Group matches include inherited membership. Group tokens use the group matched by a group rule; without one, they use the user's lowest authorised group ID. If exact group selection matters, make it explicit in a group rule.

The first matching user-ID or exact-username rule wins. If none matches, the first matching group rule wins; otherwise the defaults apply. Use Move up and Move down to change the order. A blank folder inherits the default folder, and a limit of 0 inherits the default user limit. Save the options.

Step 5 - give users a page to upload from

For a dedicated upload page, create a menu item:

1. Open Menus, choose the appropriate menu and add a new item.
2. Give it a title, such as Update data.
3. In Menu Item Type, select Tabulizer File Uploader and its upload-form layout.
4. Choose the menu item's access level and publish it.

Set the menu item's access level to one the intended users can view, commonly Registered. Menu visibility and upload authorisation are separate: a person may be able to see the link but still lack permission to upload.

For a quick check, use Open upload page on the uploader component's dashboard. Its direct front-end route is:

index.php?option=com_tabulizeruploader

Or place the companion module on existing pages

The Tabulizer File Uploader site module displays the same form in a template position. It uses the component's permission, folder and limit settings; there is no second policy to configure.

1. Find the installed Tabulizer File Uploader module and open it.
2. Choose a Position provided by your active site template.
3. Set Status to Published.
4. Under Menu Assignment, select the pages where it belongs. No pages displays nothing.
5. Choose an appropriate Access level, leave module caching disabled and save.

Step 6 - connect the file to your data source

Choose a filename you intend to keep, such as monthly-sales.csv, and upload its first copy. Then open Components › Tabulizer › Data Sources and create or edit the file-based source that should read it.

Set the source's file path to the actual destination and filename. With the default folder:

templates/tabulizer/data/monthly-sales.csv

With the individual rule from our example:

templates/tabulizer/data/42-data-editor/monthly-sales.csv

Choose the source's parsing settings and ruleset as usual, and display the data source in an article or module. Later uploads must use that same folder and filename to update it. Uploading a differently named file does not redirect the data source to the new file.

What the person updating the data does

1. Sign in to the front end with an authorised Joomla account.
2. Open the upload page, or a page displaying the uploader module.
3. Drag one file onto the drop area, use Choose a data file, or click Browse using a text link.
4. Click Upload file and wait for its success message.
5. Open the page displaying the data and check the result.

The bar measures transfer progress. At 100%, the server may still be validating and saving; the success message confirms that processing has finished. Upload one file at a time.

Appearance, notifications and refresh

English and German language files are included, and Joomla language overrides can customise the extension's text.

Checking upload history

Open Components › Tabulizer File Uploader to see Upload history. Search by filename or username; results are paginated in groups of 25.

Each record shows the date, user, file, destination, byte count, detected MIME type, replacement flag, upload status and notification result. Dates are recorded in UTC. Hover over the filename cell to see its SHA-256 checksum. The destination is useful for checking exactly how a folder rule resolved.

Replaced: Yes confirms that a previous file existed at that destination. Status: Success with Notification: Failed means the file was saved but the notification failed. A mail failure does not undo the file upload.

Rejected files are not listed as successful uploads. A pending record can indicate interrupted processing and needs an administrator to check the destination before retrying.

Common questions