Most small fixes — editing wp-config.php, extracting a theme zip, restoring a broken .htaccess — never need an FTP client. The cPanel File Manager handles them all from the browser.
Open File Manager. In cPanel under Files, click File Manager. It opens in /home/yourusername by default. Your website files live in public_html.
Show hidden files. WordPress depends on .htaccess, which starts with a dot and is hidden by default. Click Settings in the top right and tick Show Hidden Files. Save.
Upload and extract a zip. Click Upload, drag a plugin or theme zip in, wait for the green progress bar, then go back. Select the zip in the file list and click Extract. Confirm the target path.
Edit a file safely. Right-click and choose Edit. cPanel offers a code editor with syntax highlighting. Before saving a sensitive file like wp-config.php, right-click the file and Copy it to wp-config.php.bak first — you will thank yourself within the hour.
Fix permissions. Right-click a file or folder and choose Change Permissions. Folders should be 755, regular files 644, and wp-config.php is fine at 600. Anything set to 777 is a red flag — change it back.
Search and restore. Use the top-right Search box to find a file across the account. To recover an accidentally deleted file, check the Trash link in the sidebar before it gets purged.