File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is used to transfer files between computers on a network. FTP is what that enables you to send files from your computer to your web hosting server. It is the popular protocol for uploading and downloading files and you can count on it to deliver files cleanly.
In this article, we have covered all the things you should know to use FTP.
We recommend using Filezilla. It is most popular FTP client. Filezilla simplifies file transfers by allowing you to drag and drop the file between windows.
Follow these simple steps to establish a connection between your computer to your web hosting server.
1. Open Filezilla client and enter the name of the FTP host (example: gizest.com) and your username and password which is provided to you by your web hosting company.
2. Enter the port number on which server listens. The default for FTP is 21.
3. And click Quickconnect.
4. Now you have established a connection between your computer to your hosting server.
5. On the left side you will get your computer folders and on the right side, you have all of your folders from your site.
How to use FTP clients to Upload files
Following are the steps to upload files to web hosting servers
1. Now navigate to the folder you want to upload or upload files from your left side.
2. Navigate to the destination folder from the right side and all you have to do is Drag & Drop the file or folder you need to upload from your left side to right side.
3. You can also right-click the file to and select “Upload”.
How to use FTP clients to Download files
Following are the steps to download files from your web hosting servers.
1. Now navigate to the folder you want to download or download files from your right side.
2. Navigate to the destination folder from a left side and all you have to do is Drag & Drop the file or folder you need to upload from your right side to left side.
3. You can also right-click the file to and select “Download” from your right side.
You can also download everything from the right side. Just select the root directory and download it. This will help you to maintain a backup of your site. This will help best when you want to replace the bad PHP file with the original one.
How to use FTP clients to change the permissions of files and folders
Following are the steps to change the permissions of files and folders
1. Right click on the file or folder and select “File Permissions..”.
2. You can set the permissions by selecting or deselecting different check boxes.
3. You can also type the value in the Numeric value entry field for setting the permissions. The most commonly used numeric values are 644, 755, 777.
644: Files with permissions set to 644 are readable by everyone and writable only by the file/folder owner.
755: Files with permissions set to 755 are readable and executable by everyone, but only writable by the file/folder owner.
777: Files with permissions set to 777 are readable, writable, and executable by everyone.
How to use a Web Browser to connect to FTP
To use your web browser to connect to an FTP site, enter the below URL in address bar
Replace example.com with your domain name. A dialog box will appear, enter your FTP credentials and click OK.
While this method is convenient, web browsers are often slower and less reliable and have fewer features than FTP clients. You can only browse directories and read and retrieve files.
That’s all. We hope this article helped you to learn how to use FTP. Subscribe to our newsletter and get daily updates to your Inbox.
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