8. The Browser panel

The QGIS Browser panel is a great tool for browsing, searching, inspecting, copying and loading QGIS resources. Only resources that QGIS knows how to handle are shown in the browser.

Using the Browser panel you can locate, inspect and add data, as described in The Browser Panel. In addition, the Browser panel supports drag and drop of many QGIS resources, such as project files, Python scripts, Processing scripts and Processing models.

Python scripts, Processing scripts and Processing models can also be opened for editing in an external editor and the graphical modeller.

You can drag and drop layers from the Layers panel to the Browser panel, for instance into a GeoPackage or a PostGIS database.

../../../_images/browser_panel1.png — Fig. 8.1 The Browser panel

The browser panel (Fig. 8.1) is organised as an expandable hierarchy with some fixed top-level entries that organise the resources handled by the browser. Node entries are expanded by clicking on to the left of the entry name. A branch is collapsed by clicking on . The ^{Collapse All} button collapses all top-level entries.

In Settings ► Interface Customization it is possible to disable resources. If you, for instance, would not like to show Python scripts in the browser, you can uncheck the Browser ► py entry, and if you want to get rid of your home folder in the browser, you can uncheck the Browser ► special:Home entry.

A filter ( ^{Filter Browser}) can be used for searching based on entry names (both leaf entries and node entries in the hierarchy). Using the ^Options pull-down menu next to the filter text field, you can

toggle Case Sensitive search
set the Filter pattern syntax to one of
- Normal
- Wildcard(s)
- Regular Expressions

The Properties widget, showing useful information about some entries / resources, can be enabled / disabled using the ^{Enable/disable properties widget} button. When enabled, it opens at the bottom of the browser panel, as shown in Fig. 8.2.

../../../_images/browser_p_properties_w.png — Fig. 8.2 The properties widget

A second browser panel can be opened by activating the Browser (2) panel in View ► Panels. Having two browser panels can be useful when copying layers between resources that are locationed deep down in different branches of the browser hierarchy.

8.1. Resources that can be opened / run from the Browser 

A lot can be accomplished in the Browser panel

Add vector, raster and mesh layers to your map by double-clicking, dragging onto the map canvas or clicking the ^{Add Selected Layers} button (after selecting layers)
Run Python scripts (including Processing algorithms) by double-clicking or dragging onto the map canvas
Run models by double-clicking or dragging onto the map canvas
Extract Symbols… from QGIS Project files using the context menu
Open files with their default applications (Open <file type> Externally… in the context menu). Examples: HTML files, spreadsheets, images, PDFs, text files, …
Copy entries
Rename and delete (multiple) layers (context menu: Manage ►)
Open a file explorer window and directly select the file Show in Files

Resource specific actions are listed for the different resource groups sorted under the top-level entries listed below.

8.2. Browser panel top-level entries 

8.2.1. Favorites 

Often used file system locations can be tagged as favorites. The ones you have tagged will appear here.

In addition to the operations described under Home, the context menu allows you to Rename Favorite… and Remove Favorite.

8.2.2. Spatial Bookmarks 

This is where you will find your spatial bookmarks, organised into Project Bookmarks and User Bookmarks.

From the top level context menu, you can create a bookmark (New Spatial Bookmark…), Show the Spatial Bookmark Manager, Import Spatial Bookmarks… and Export Spatial Bookmarks….

For bookmark group entries you can Export Spatial Bookmarks…, create a bookmark (New Spatial Bookmark…), Rename Bookmark Group, and Delete Bookmark Group.

For bookmark entries you can Zoom to Bookmark, Edit Spatial Bookmark… and Delete Spatial Bookmark

8.2.3. Project Home 

Available once the project file has been saved, the Project home entry is a folder containing data and other contents (scripts, models, text, …) that may be used within the current project. Displayed in the Browser panel, it allows you to quickly access data and other files of the project.

It defaults to the project file folder but can be changed through the Project ► Properties… ► General ► Project home option, or by right-clicking on the Project Home item of the Browser panel and selecting Set project home…. Customizing that folder is especially useful in contexts where QGIS projects are not stored in the root folder of an organisational ‘project’, along with datasets.

8.2.4. Drives and file system 

The next items of the Browser panel depend on the OS in use and concern the top level entries of its file system.

They are mainly:

The Home folder, pointing to the current user home folder
on Unix-based machines, the root / folder
the connected drives, either local or network. Depending on the OS, they are directly listed (eg, C:\, D:\) or through the /Volumes entry.

From the contextual menu of each of these folders or drives, you can:

refresh the contents
create a New ► subitem that is a Directory, GeoPackage or ESRI Shapefile format dataset
hide the directory (Hide from Browser)
Set color: customize the folder icon color, aiding in rapid browser navigation of complex folder structures
enable Scanning:
- Monitor for changes: allows to manually control whether a particular directory should be monitored and automatically updated. This setting applies to the selected directory and all subdirectories. This means that you can manually opt-in to monitoring of network drives if you know there’s no issue, or manually opt-out of monitoring of large directories which you don’t want monitored for other reasons. By default, remote or network drives are not automatically monitored.
- Fast scan this directory
open the directory in your file manager (Open Directory…)
open the directory in a terminal window (Open in Terminal…)
inspect the Properties… or the parent Directory Properties…

8.2.5. Database entries 

Depending on your OS and installed drivers, you might have access to different database types to use in QGIS. Below are listed the different entries of contextual menu at each level of the dataset tree.

Level	Context menu	Type of database
Level	Context menu	GeoPackage ([1])	SpatiaLite	PostGIS	SAP HANA	MS SQL Server	Oracle
Top menu	Create a New Connection… to an existing database
	Create Database…
	Create Database and Layer…
	Save Connections… details to a file
	Load Connections…
Connection / Database	Refresh a connection
	Edit Connection… settings
	Remove Connection
	New Field Domain ► New Range Domain
	New Field Domain ► New Coded Values Domain
	New Field Domain ► New Glob Domain
	Delete <database_name>
	Compact Database (VACUUM)
	Create a New Schema…
	Create a New Table…
	Execute SQL… query
Schema	Refresh a schema
	Schema Operations ► Rename Schema…
	Schema Operations ► Delete Schema…
	Create a New Table…
	Execute SQL… query
Table / Layer	Table Operations ► Rename Table…
	Table Operations ► Truncate Table…
	Execute SQL… query
	Export Layer ► To file…
	Manage ► Rename Layer <layer_name>…
	Manage ► Delete Layer <layer_name>…
	Manage ► Delete Selected Layers
	Manage ► Add Layer to Project
	Manage ► Add Selected Layers to Project
	Open Layer Properties… dialog
	Open File Properties… dialog
	Open with Data Source Manager
Fields	Add New Field…
Field	Set Field Domain
	Rename Field
	Set Alias…
	Set Comment…
	Delete Field…

Note

When loading vector layers into QGIS, fields with Field Domains (such as those defined in a GeoPackage or ESRI File Geodatabase) are automatically detected. These domains are database-level constraints, meaning they are enforced by the database itself and apply across different applications, not just QGIS.

8.2.6. Tiles and Web Services 

Level	Context menu	Type of services
Level	Context menu	WMS / WMTS	Vector Tiles	XYZ Tiles	WCS	WFS / OGC API - Features	ArcGIS REST Servers	Scene
Top menu	Create a New Connection…
	Create a New Generic Connection…
	Create a New ArcGIS Vector Tile Service Connection…
	Save Connections… details to a file
	Load Connections…
Connection	Refresh connection
	Edit… connection settings
	Delete connection
	View Service Info in Web browser
Table / Layer	Export Layer ► To File…
	Add layer to Project
	Open Layer properties… dialog
	View Service Info in Web browser

8.3. Resources 

Project files. The context menu for QGIS project files allows you to:
- open it (Open Project)
- extract symbols (Extract Symbols…) - opens the style manager that allows you to export symbols to an XML file, add symbols to the default style or export as PNG or SVG.
- inspect properties (File Properties…)
You can expand the project file to see its layers. The context menu of a layer offers the same actions as elsewhere in the browser.
QGIS Layer Definition files (QLR). The following actions are available from the context menu:
- export it (Export Layer ► To file)
- add it to the project (Add Layer to Project)
- inspect properties (Layer Properties…)
Processing models (.model3). The following actions are available from the context menu:
- Run Model…)
- Edit Model…)
QGIS print composer templates (QPT). The following action is available from the context menu:
- (New Layout from Template)
Python scripts (.py). The following actions are available from the context menu:
- (Run script…)
- (Open in External Editor)
Recognized raster formats. The following actions are available from the context menu:
- delete it (Delete File <dataset name>)
- export it (Export Layer ► To file)
- add it to the project (Add Layer to Project)
- inspect properties (Layer Properties…, File Properties…)
For some formats you can also Open <file type> Externally…
Recognized vector formats. The following actions are available from the context menu:
- delete it (Delete File <dataset name>)
- export it (Export Layer ► To file)
- add it to the project (Add Layer to Project)
- inspect properties (Layer Properties…, File Properties…)
For some formats you can also Open <file type> Externally…