FTP Tutorial

This tutorial describes how to use FTP to transfer files to Printable Solutions with FileZilla.

There are many FTP clients, FileZilla is just an easy to use and free client that is available for Windows, Linux and Mac OS X.

Follow these steps to complete the tutorial:

  1. Download/Installation

    2. You can obtain FileZilla for free from http://filezilla.sourceforge.net.

  2. Settings

    3. Once you install FileZilla, open it up. You should now be on the main screen. Your screen should look like this:

    FileZilla

    Click the 'Site Manager' button to open the site manager so you can create your site.

    FileZilla

    The 'Site Manager' window will pop up. Click the 'New Site' button. This is where you need to enter your web hosting account information.

    • Host: printable.co.nz
    • Change the login type to normal
    • User: Ask your Printable Sales consultant for this
    • Password: Ask your Printable Sales consultant for this

    Those should be the only fields you have to worry about. Once you have all the fields filled out, your screen should look like this:

    Click on the 'Connect' button to connect. If you are having problems connecting here are some things to check:

    • It may be that you are behind a firewall and/or router and need to use passive FTP. 
    • It can't hurt to check your ftp server address, username and password. User names and passwords are case sensitive.

    Once the FTP program makes a connection, your screen should look like this:

    FileZilla

    The list of files/folders on the right is the view of your web hosting account. The list of files/folders on the left is the view of your local machine. Please note the details in the log section (the green text) as it lists your current web site's quota. This information appears when you first login and when an error message will appear if you have reached your quota limit.

  3. Transfering Files

    4. You can upload or download a file by double-clicking on it. It will be added to the transfer queue and the transfer starts automatically. To transfer folders and/or multiple files, select them and right-click the selection. Then you can click on Upload/Download in the popup menu.

    You can also drag the files from one side and drop them on the other side. To add files to the queue so that they will be transferred later, select them and click Add to Queue from the popup menu. You may also drag the files directly into the queue.

  4. Firewall / Passive FTP

    5. If you are behind a firewall and/or router you often need to use passive FTP to get a stable connection. Just open up the firewall settings dialog by clicking 'Edit' in the menu bar and then 'Settings'. Once the settings window is open click on the 'Firewall Settings' tab on the dialog. You can then check/uncheck 'Passive Mode' if necessary.

    FileZilla

  5. Keyboard Shortcuts

    6. F5 - Refreshes local and remote file and folder views
    Tab - Switches to the next view
    Ctrl+C - Stops the current operation
    Ctrl+D - Disconnects from server
    Ctrl+Q - Connects to the server entered in the Quickconnect bar
    Ctrl+R - Reconnects to server
    Ctrl+S - Opens the Site Manager
    Ctrl+T - Shows or hides the treeview

For more information on how to use FileZilla, please see FileZilla Documentation.