Does HTML5 allow you to interact with local client files from within a browser

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No, not directly at least. However, you have a number of choices here.

Currently your best choices are:

  • Drag and drop files from desktop, see a tutorial. (Link disabled for malware/phishing)
  • Use input type file.
    • Read the contents with the File API or submit the form. Read more on Mozilla Developer Center about reading the file dynamically.
    • You can specify multiple attribute to read and open multiple files at once without having to have separate fields.
    • You can have an invisible input and “trigger a click” on it to open the file open dialog. See the previous Mozilla Developer Center link for details.
  • Use the FileSystem API which allows you to create, delete, read, modify files on the file system. Note: you get a sandboxed directory to work with, you can’t access the whole system just like that.
  • Use Java with signed applets to access the whole file system. This requires the user to accept the signature.

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