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Move data to and from Azure Blob Storage using Azure Storage Explorer

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Azure Storage Explorer is a free tool from Microsoft that allows you to work with Azure Storage data on Windows, macOS, and Linux. This topic describes how to use it to upload and download data from Azure Blob Storage. The tool can be downloaded from Microsoft Azure Storage Explorer.

This menu links to technologies you can use to move data to and from Azure Blob storage:

Note

If you are using VM that was set up with the scripts provided by Data Science Virtual machines in Azure, then Azure Storage Explorer is already installed on the VM.

Note

For a complete introduction to Azure Blob Storage, refer to Azure Blob Basics and Azure Blob Service REST API.

Prerequisites

This document assumes that you have an Azure subscription, a storage account, and the corresponding storage key for that account. Before uploading/downloading data, you must know your Azure Storage account name and account key.

  • To set up an Azure subscription, see Free one-month trial.
  • For instructions on creating a storage account and for getting account and key information, see About Azure Storage accounts. Make a note the access key for your storage account as you need this key to connect to the account with the Azure Storage Explorer tool.
  • The Azure Storage Explorer tool can be downloaded from Microsoft Azure Storage Explorer. Accept the defaults during install.

Use Azure Storage Explorer

The following steps document how to upload/download data using Azure Storage Explorer.

  1. Launch Microsoft Azure Storage Explorer.
  2. To bring up the Sign in to your account... wizard, select Azure account settings icon, then Add an account and enter your credentials. Add an Azure Storage account
  3. To bring up the Connect to Azure Storage wizard, select the Connect to Azure Storage icon. Click "Connect to Azure Storage"
  4. Enter the access key from your Azure Storage account on the Connect to Azure Storage wizard and then Next. Enter access key from Azure Storage account
  5. Enter storage account name in the Account name box and then select Next. Attach external storage
  6. The storage account added should now be displayed. To create a blob container in a storage account, right-click the Blob Containers node in that account, select Create Blob Container, and enter a name.
  7. To upload data to a container, select the target container and click the Upload button. Storage accounts
  8. Click on the ... to the right of the Files box, select one or multiple files to upload from the file system and click Upload to begin uploading the files.Upload files
  9. To download data, selecting the blob in the corresponding container to download and click Download. Download files

Contributors

This article is maintained by Microsoft. It was originally written by the following contributors.

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