# Local directory access **URL:** \ **Category:** Dash Python\ **Created:** [January 29, 2019, 3:35pm UTC](https://community.plotly.com/t/local-directory-access/18743 "2019-01-29T15:35:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Msweeney](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Msweeney](https://community.plotly.com/u/Msweeney)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2019, 3:35pm UTC](https://community.plotly.com/t/local-directory-access/18743/1 "2019-01-29T15:35:03Z")
I’m working on a dashboard for an energy simulation software that pulls from several large databases (500mb+ each) within a local or network project folder. I obviously don’t want to pass around this much data through the server and various callbacks, nor do I want to recache it each time the data is updated. I have the back-end developed where individual reports can be filtered and then the requested fields (generally much smaller in size) are passed via data frame into dash callbacks/hidden div’s. All of this works in Dash, but right now the user has to manually enter the folder directory via a dcc.Input, which feels janky and may be unintuitive to some users. Is there a better way to accomplish this? Ideally I’d like a pop up browse/select folder type dialog. Another thought is to drag any file from the folder into the dcc.upload component as a dummy, then just cancel the upload and return the file location for further processing. Any thoughts? ---
**Author:** ![chriddyp](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex024/user_avatar/community.plotly.com/chriddyp/32/16855_2.png) [@chriddyp](https://community.plotly.com/u/chriddyp)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2019, 5:12pm UTC](https://community.plotly.com/t/local-directory-access/18743/2 "2019-01-29T17:12:42Z")
Perhaps display a dropdown populated with the file tree? Using something like `os.listdir`. Would love to see a screenshot or a demo of the app, sounds cool!