FTP help

How do I upload files to my web site? You have two choices. (1) Use an FTP (File Transfer Protocol) Program, such as WS_FTP. (2) Use your web creation software built-in FTP function For Example: Microsoft FrontPage is a popular web creation tool. For more information on FrontPage, please consult the FrontPage FAQ.

FrontPage Users: If you will use Microsoft FrontPage to create and publish (upload) your website, DO NOT use any other FTP application, as doing so may break your FrontPage-created web site. Please consult the FrontPage FAQ for more information.

Important FTP Settings: Please make sure that Passive/PASV Transfer Mode is disabled in your FTP client before uploading your site. For example, in the WS_FTP program, in the Session Properties screen, select the Advanced tab/button and uncheck Passive Transfer.

As an example, here are some basic instructions for using a popular FTP program called WS_FTP (http://www.ipswitch.com/downloads/index.html). Most configuration for other FTP programs will be similar.

When you open WS_FTP, the first window you will see is called Session Properties. The fields that must be completed are:

Profile Name: Any name you wish to supply as a nickname to this particular web site account. If you are going to be connecting to more than one site, you will want to assign each setup a distinctive name.

Host Name/Address: Your domain name. e.g., domainname.com
Host Type: Should be set to Automatic detect or UNIX [standard].
User ID: Your username
Password: Your password

When the fields are filled in correctly, click the "OK" button at the bottom left side of the Session Properties window, or press the "enter" or "return" key on your keyboard. Selecting "OK" begins the login process.

When you are logged into your account, both split screens in the program will display a list of files. The window on the left, "Local System", displays files on your personal computer. The window on the right, "Remote System", displays files in your hosting account on the web server. The Remote System window opens by default to the main (root) directory of your site.

In order to upload files to your site, first locate the files you wish to upload in the left window. You do this in one of two ways:

Double click the green arrow in the upper left of the Local System window until the box directly above the window reads: "C:". At that point you will be in the root directory of your computer, and you can then select the folder which contains the files you want to upload. Double click the yellow directory folders to open them.
or
If you know the path to the files you wish to upload, you can click the ChgDir (change directory) button to the right of the Local System window and type in the path manually.

When you can view the files that you wish to upload in the Local Host window, select the destination in the Remote System window. This can be the main (root) directory or it could be a subdirectory, in which case you can double-click on the subdirectory yellow folder.

Next, select which files you want to upload to the web server. That is click on the file name under the Local System window and highlight that file.

Next, select the file type. Below the Local Host and Remote Host windows you will see radio button selections for "ASCII", "Binary" and "Auto". For most files, Binary, or Auto is the appropriate selection. However, if you are uploading CGI scripts use the ASCII mode. CGI scripts uploaded in binary mode will not function properly. Therefore, files with .cgi or .pl extensions must be uploaded in ASCII mode.

Next, transfer the selected file to the web server by clicking the -> button between the Local Host and Remote Host windows. The file should appear in the Remote System window after it is uploaded. Congratulations you have just uploaded to your web server!

In order to download files from the web hosting account to your computer, simply reverse the process by clicking the <- button.

When you see your files listed in the Remote System window, they exist on the web server and available to anyone who visits your site. You can view/test the new files in your browser as soon as they are on the server. Remember to Refresh your browser to see the most current page, if you are uploading the same file multiple times.

Have FTP questions?