While TWClassic did have some ability to read a local directory, the issue isn’t TW5 vs TWClassic… it’s the browsers.
They used to allow filesystem access after prompting the user for permission, but that ability was completely purged from all modern browser applications due to “security concerns”.
The problem is that, with filesystem access, 3rd-party javascript code could potentially write to your local drive (or at least see the directory structure and file names), and thus look for vulnerabilities and potential “virus vectors” and report that information back to a remote server.
Browsers do permit limited local filesystem READ access that requires user interaction to select a file, and then it only provides the selected filename and a “blob” of file contents, but not the directory information. TiddlyWiki5 uses this “browse” mechanism to implement the “import” button in the Sidebar>Tools tab.
Modern browsers also allow limited local filesystem WRITE access via the “HTML5 download” mechanism which either defaults to the configured “Downloads” folder or requires user interaction to select a target directory and filename. TiddlyWiki5 uses this download process as the default “HTML5 download saver” and for writing selected tiddler content (as JSON, HTML, CSV, etc.) via the “export tiddler” menu item.
Even so, there are some clever techniques to DO enable some limited forms of direct file I/O. Most of these rely upon either browser extensions or external applications that you must explicitly install and configure to permit TiddlyWiki to save changes to your local TiddlyWiki files without requiring bothersome user interactions.
Documentation for many of these extensions and applications can be found by using the checkboxes in the GettingStarted tiddler.
-e