Apache and Nginx Settings – Configuring Index Files

Whenever a visitor to your website browses a URL requesting a directory
instead of a specific file (for example, www.example.com or
www.example.com/example instead of www.example.com/index.html),
Apache looks for an index file to display. By default, Apache looks for
the following files (in the order specified):

1. index.html
2. index.cgi
3. index.pl
4. index.php
5. index.xhtml
6. index.htm
7. index.shtml

If all seven files were to be present in a directory, a visitor browsing
it would be served the index.html file. If index.html were to be
missing, Apache would look for the index.cgi file instead, and so
on. If no suitable index file is found, by default, a “403 Forbidden”
error is displayed.

Plesk allows you to customize what index files Apache looks for whenever
a visitor browses a directory on your website:

• You can change the order in which Apache looks for index files (for
  example, you may want it to display the index.php file by default
  instead of index.html).
• You can add index file names to the list, or remove them (for
  example, if your website’s default page is named hello.php, you
  can have Apache serve it by default).

To configure the index files:

1. Go to Websites & Domains > Apache & nginx Settings.
2. Under Index files, select the Enter custom value radio
   button.
3. Type in or delete the desired names of index files in the order in
   which Apache should look for them, and click OK.