First Connection
When you launch S3Manager for the first time you will see an empty accounts list. This page shows you how to add your first connection so you can start browsing buckets.
The Accounts screen
Section titled “The Accounts screen”Open the Accounts view from the left navigation (the icon labelled Accounts). This screen lists all your saved connections. When no accounts exist yet, it shows a prompt to add one.
Click + Add account to open the account form.
Account form fields
Section titled “Account form fields”| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Label | A display name for this connection — any text you choose, for example “My S3 bucket” or “Hetzner production”. |
| Provider | The storage provider: Amazon S3, Hetzner Object Storage, or Custom (S3-compatible). |
| Endpoint URL | The base URL of your storage endpoint. Only shown when Custom (S3-compatible) is selected. |
| Path-style addressing | Forces endpoint/bucket/key URL style instead of bucket.endpoint/key. Only shown for Custom providers — enabled by default for custom endpoints. |
| Region | The AWS region or equivalent identifier for your provider (for example us-east-1, eu-central, or fsn1). |
| Access key ID | Your access key identifier. |
| Secret access key | Your secret access key. Stored in the OS keychain, not in the app database. |
Provider-specific notes
Section titled “Provider-specific notes”Amazon S3 — Enter your AWS region (e.g. us-east-1, eu-west-1). No endpoint URL is needed; the SDK derives the endpoint from the region.
Hetzner Object Storage — Enter the Hetzner region code as the region (e.g. fsn1, nbg1, hel1). The app constructs the endpoint URL (https://<region>.your-objectstorage.com) automatically — no Endpoint URL field is shown.
Custom (S3-compatible) — Enter the full endpoint URL for your provider (e.g. https://minio.example.com:9000). The region field is still required; for many self-hosted services us-east-1 is accepted as a placeholder if the provider does not enforce regions. Path-style addressing is enabled by default for custom endpoints because virtual-hosted style requires wildcard DNS.
Testing and saving
Section titled “Testing and saving”Click Test connection before saving to verify that S3Manager can reach the endpoint with the credentials you entered. A brief “Connection OK” confirmation appears if the test succeeds.
When you are satisfied, click Add account. The account appears in the list immediately.
Where your data is stored
Section titled “Where your data is stored”- Secret access key — stored in the OS keychain (macOS Keychain, Windows Credential Manager, or the Linux secret service). It never touches the app database.
- Everything else (label, provider, region, endpoint, access key ID) — stored in a local SQLite database on your machine.
Nothing is sent to any cloud service. For details see Introduction.
After connecting
Section titled “After connecting”Once an account is saved, open the Files view. Select your account from the account picker at the top, then select a bucket from the bucket picker. S3Manager loads the bucket contents and you can start browsing objects.
The Dashboard view gives you a scan-free, click-through overview of all your accounts and their buckets.
Import and export
Section titled “Import and export”If you want to move accounts between machines, or share a set of connections with a colleague, S3Manager supports exporting and importing accounts. The export can optionally be encrypted with a password so the secret keys are protected in transit. Both actions are available from the Accounts screen via the Export all and Import buttons. Importing and exporting accounts is covered later in the guide.