FileZilla Tutorial - Using FileZilla
At this point, it is assumed that you have already downloaded and installed FileZilla on your PC. If you have not, check out our FileZilla installation tutorial.
If you are setting up your first web site or are a complete newbie when it comes to using an FTP utility, you do need to make sure that you have the following information. Your hosting company should have supplied you with FTP connection information when you set up the hosting service.
Here is what you need:
- Address This is a hostname (also called Host) or IP address. A hostname is simply the domain name for your site (example: mydomainname.com). Sometimes an FTP Address may look like ftp.mydomainname.com. If your site uses a dedicated IP address, this can be used, but it will only work if you have a dedicated IP address assigned to the site. Most hosting configurations use an IP address shared with other web sites and in this situation an IP address cannot be used.
- User The username assigned to your FTP connection. This is likely different than the username assigned to you to access your site’s control panel, but in some cases the hosting company may use the same username and password.
- Password The password assigned to your FTP connection. Once again, this is very likely different than the password assigned to you to access your site’s control panel.
- Port A port can be envisioned as a special pathway into your server. Different types of server access use different ports. The standard port for FTP access is port 21. Use this port unless your hosting company indicates that you should use another.
You should have received all of this information from your hosting company when you set up your hosting account. If you do not have it, you must obtain it before you can connect to your server using FileZilla or any other FTP utility.
First, let’s get familiar with FileZilla’s toolbar and the functions you will find there. After you have installed FileZilla, start it up. You should see the following.
The toolbar is the section near the top. Let’s cover the toolbar icon buttons we find there.
- Quickconnect Use the Quickconnect function if you need to do a one-time connection. Just fill in the Address, User, Password and Port information as requested and click the Quickconnect button. You should see the connection log information scroll through the screen just below the Quickconnect section. If the connection is made, you will see a lot of green text messages in the main window. From this point, use the Local Site window to select the local folder on your PC where you have the web site files stored. Use the Remote Site window to select the folder or directory on your server. You must transfer the home page and other root directory (the default main directory) files into the root directory for your site. The root directory for most web sites is usually named public_html or html. If you see one of these directories listed in the Remote Site window, select it. If you do not see any directory or folder names, then you are probably already in the root directory. To disconnect from the server, just click the Quickconnect button again.
- Site Manager This section allows you to set up a list of FTP server connections that can be saved. See the section below entitled Using the Site Manager to Set Up an FTP Connection.
- Show or Hide Local Treeview This switches the Local Site directory and file windows back and forth. It is useful for viewing a list of files.
- Show or Hide Remote Treeview The same as the button listed above. This switches the Remote Site directory and file windows back and forth. It is useful for viewing a list of files or finding a specific directory from a long list.
- Show of Hide Queue The Queue window is the large window at the bottom that displays the list of files waiting for transfer.
- Show or Hide the Message Log The Message Log is the large window just below the Quickconnect section that displays FTP messages. It is a good idea to leave this open for troubleshooting purposes. it is not uncommon for FTP transfers to fail.
- Refresh All Views This simply refreshes all the data displayed in the windows.
- Reconnect to Server Most servers automatically disconnect FTP connections after a preset period of inactivity. Clicking on this button restores the connection.
- Display Help Table of Contents if all else fails and you cannot figure out how to accomplish something, read the instructions in the Help section.
Using the Site Manager to Set Up an FTP Connection.
- Click on the Site Manager button. The screen shown above should display.
- To set up a new FTP connection, click on the New Site button.
- Enter the Host (same as the Address).
- The Port should show the default port 21. If your host uses a different Port, change it here.
- Under the Logontype, select the Normal radio button in the middle. You can now enter the User (same as the Username) and Password. You do not have to enter anything in the box labeled Account unless your hosting service requires it.
- Enter the Password. If you are using a shared computer or if you wish to keep other users (kids, family, friends or a computer thief) from accessing your site, check the box marked Don’t Save password.
- Click the Rename button and name your FTP connection something useful, such as the domain name of the site.
- Click the Save and Exit button
Click on the Site Manager button once again, select your FTP connection and click on the Connect button to test the connection. If the connection fails, recheck the Host, Port, Username and Password data that you used. If these do not work, contact your hosting company’s tech support or your company’s IT Support team. Sometimes the use of server or network firewalls requires special configurations.
How to Transfer Files Using FileZilla
Transferring files using FileZilla couldn’t be easier, but once again, it is not apparent due to the nature of the simple design.
Once the FTP connection is made, navigate to the correct folders and files in both the Local Site window and the Remote Site window. To transfer a file, either drag and drop it from the left window (Local Site) to the right window (Remote Site), or simply double-click on a file in the Local Site window. Either method adds the file to the queue and it will be transferred.
The next tutorial in this series (currently being developed) will cover FileZilla Advanced Tips. Stop in again and look for these tips to take you to the next level with FileZilla.
FileZilla is frequently referred to a FireZilla (as in Fire). I am not sure how this alternate name originated, but the correct name is indeed FileZilla. However, you can call it anything you wish and it will still be a useful FTP utility.
August 12th, 2007 at 6:44 am
thanks for the help. This is great.
November 6th, 2007 at 4:51 pm
I am a first time updater, with self taught, limited knowledge, but many tutorials. I found you through Google >(CuteFTP tutorials), and you were at the bottom of the first page. While scratching my head after downloading the updater. I firmly believe this tutorial has saved me from a nervous breakdown.
I will steer anyone in my predicament your way. Great Job, and Thank You!!
Best Regards,
Bob Bengis
December 16th, 2007 at 11:08 am
thanks for the info - do you know how to keep it from disconnecting while downloading a number of files?? when I reconnect - do I need to restart the download or will the total file be complete as it resumes? thanks
December 22nd, 2007 at 7:00 pm
Hi Pam
Disconnect problems are usually related to server configuration issues. There are different FTP solutions that can be used with each server. It’s hard to predict what will happen with your server configuration, but generally speaking, a FireZilla FTP session that is disconnected should start up where it left off once it reconnects.
January 2nd, 2008 at 11:30 am
This is great, but I have some folders that do not appear in my local window when using Filezilla. How do I give permission for filezilla to access these local folders?
January 13th, 2008 at 8:43 am
Hi Jim
The left side local menu is an expanding menu. Have you clicked on the plus box to view the sub-menus?
Also check under View, Local List View. Make sure that Details or List is checked.
A 3rd thought is that you may have accidentally expanded a window on the left and hid the local window. You should see a window labeled Local Site and another labeled Filename. If you don’t see both, try dragging a border to expose the missing window.
January 16th, 2008 at 1:53 am
Excellent tutorial. Got my files uploaded. Site works with index.htm but gives 500 error (scripting problem) when index file saved and uploaded as index.php. My ISP says I need to alter the permissions for the index.php file to 644 but I cannot see where to do this - only -rw-r–r– and nowhere to enter 644. Can you help please? Many thanks.
January 18th, 2008 at 5:24 am
Hi Howard
We have a tips page that shows how to change permissions in FileZilla.
http://www.tech-evangelist.com/2007/07/15/filezilla-tips/
644 is the standard permissions setting for scripts.
-rw-r--r-- means that the permissions are already set at 644.
Permissions are not the problem. You have a problem with your script. Take a look at any PHP code you added to the script. The server cannot process the page due to an error.
January 19th, 2008 at 6:11 pm
FileZilla is a great and easy program to use. However I loaded some pictures that need to be deleated - I can’t find anywhere a way to do that. Can you help me please?
Thanks so much.
January 21st, 2008 at 4:01 pm
It’s pretty easy to delete files. Just make the connection to your site, migrate to the image directory, find the image that you want to delete, right click on the file and select Delete.
Piece of cake!
February 6th, 2008 at 7:06 am
I’m trying FileZilla for the first time due to problems with Dreamweaver MX Synchronizing. I eventually found how to start the transfer (click in the Local Site window) but it then started transferring the files to the wrong remote folder. How can I stop it transferring? It’s doing it despite my disconnecting from the Remote server.
February 6th, 2008 at 6:36 pm
Hi TMAc
Try opening the specific folders that you want to transfer to and from and you should be able to avoid the problem of files going into the wrong folder. You can also drag-and-drop files from the Local to Remote site, ot vice versa.
As an added precaution, make sure that Ask is checked under Transfer, File Overwrite Settings. If you accidentally start to transfer the wrong file you can then tell FileZilla to skip the transfer.
I don’t know of a way to actually stop a transfer, other than disconnecting. There should be a better way to abort a transfer.
February 8th, 2008 at 9:04 pm
Hi; This is the first time I have tried to down load my web site files. I’m having a lot of trouble. When I drag my files over to the left. Do I hit upload to get them in my site? When I first did it. They went right into my files. They all didn’t come over so I deleted everything and started over again. This is discouraging. Thank you for your help. Rosemarie
February 9th, 2008 at 6:21 am
Hi Rosemarie
You don’t need to hit any buttons when you use the drag-and-drop method.
You should see two windows on the left in FileZilla. One is named Local Site and other is just below it named Filename. The Filename is the local directory you have selected from the Local Site window. If you use the drag-and-drop method, make sure that you are dropping the files into the correct directory.
If you do not see two windows, then drag the lower border on the Local Site window to view the lower window. Sometimes it is hidden. I didn’t see it at first when I did my first FileZilla install. If the window is just barely peeking out, like you see in the images above, then drag the border to open the window further. All of the windows are expandable in Filezilla.
FileZilla ia a great freebie tool once you learn how to use it, but it can initially be frustrating because like most freebie software it is not very intuitive.
February 11th, 2008 at 1:56 am
Hi there,
Thanks for posting this information, I have found it very helpful.
One very annoying problem is beyond frustrating me, maybe you can help?
My webpage was originally hosted on Geocities and I had my images hosted though PhotoBucket - but when I upload html files to FileZilla the image won’t open - I viewed the source of my new page and for some reason FileZilla overwrites the PhotoBucket link, downloads the image and creates a new folder to host it.
This wouldn’t be a problem if it meant that the image loaded - but it doesn’t and that really peeves me off because it seems that no matter what I do: including shifting the folder around then deleting everything and re-uploading, I can’t get the darn images up there!
Arrrgh!
I have edited the html to remove the images until I work out how to host them - but even after deleting the old files and uploading the new ones my webpage will not change. Does it perhaps take a while to update online?
If you have any suggestions please let me know!!
Regards,
Krysten
February 11th, 2008 at 6:16 am
Hi Krysten
FileZilla is not the problem. FTP utilities do not alter your files. They are simply a file transfer utility. If your files are being altered, the hosting company or the web server is doing it.
I’ve been developing web sites for 11 years and I have never seen a situation where HTML code was being altered except when a server was infected with a virus or the hosting company placed restrictions on how you could use their services. I would report this to the hosting company. You might find that the hosting company is altering your code if it is a free hosting account that places restrictions on what you can and cannot do with a web site.
If you are using the freebie version of Geocities, that could be the problem.
The real question is, why are you hosting your images at PhotoBucket? The standard method for hosting images is to host them locally on your web site in a directory called images. Also, you can only use .jpg, .gif and .png image files with a web site. Do not use Windows bitmap (.bmp), TIFF (.tif) or other image formats with a web site.
The problem is most likely a hosting company issue. Move your images into an image directory and set up the proper HTML links to the image files.
Hope this helps.
March 2nd, 2008 at 3:53 pm
How do I use filezilla to back up my site on my computer?
March 5th, 2008 at 4:50 pm
All you need to do is to transfer all of the scripts and web objects from your site (Remote Site) to your PC (Local Site).
March 29th, 2008 at 3:02 pm
Hi, I am trying to delete an index file which I no longer want on my site but when trying to delete the file i get-550 index.htm: Access is denied. Any ideas what i need to do to delete as I have tried a few times now??
Just to add, I am using filezilla when trying to delete htm file
Thanks!
March 30th, 2008 at 6:18 am
Hi James
550 probably refers to the permission level set for the file, which would be -r-x-r-x--- This does not give you the ability to write to or delete this file. In fact, it does not give a user the ability to even view the file.
The file permissions for an HTML file should be set to 644 (-rw-r--r--)
Try this. Make the connection to the site. You should see the Permissions assigned to the file in the right column of the Remote Site window. To change the permissions to 644, right click on the file name and select File Attributes. Change the numeric value to 644 and click OK.
If the Permissions have changed in the column on the Remote Site window, you should now be able to delete the file.
If you cannot change the permissions or delete the file, it is probably assigned to a different owner. That means that you might need root access to your server to change it manually, or you could have your hosting company remove it. You then need to ask the question, “How did the permissions get changed?” If you did not do it accidentally, it is possible that your site was hacked.
April 1st, 2008 at 4:23 am
Hi TE, thanks for the reply. Changed permissions to 644 but still access denied. What I can do though is keep my host control panel open and delete there, its more work but does the job.
Ok, another headace in filezilla, when I go to update any files it refuses to update it by saying- 550 price.htm: Access is denied. Any ideas?
Appreciate your feedback
Cheers, James
April 3rd, 2008 at 7:43 am
Hi James
I don’t think this is a FileZilla problem. Have you tried another FTP utility?
I checked into the error code and a code 550 is a permissions error.
There are only two primary issues that will prevent you from deleting a file: file permissions and file ownership. Either one could give you a permissions problem with deleting the files. Basically, if you do not have the rights to do something, the server will not allow you to do it.
Did you check to see if the permissions actually changed? If they changed, it is probably not an ownership problem and you should be able to delete the file.
It may be that you have an ownership issue withe the files. If those pages are generated by another system, the developer probably set up a special owner for the files to add some security. I do that for sites that dynamically generate static pages.
FileZilla doesn’t display the file owner information and I don’t think you can change ownership using FileZilla. You will need root access to your server through SSH. The easiest way to deal with this would probably be to have the techs at your hosting company delete the files. That have root access to the server.
You could verify this by trying another FTP utility. There are freebie versions of WS_FTP on the web. Sometimes your hosting company offers free versions of FTP utilities.
April 9th, 2008 at 7:13 am
Thanks! This is great information!
I do have 1 question though.
I’m transferring some huge files (over 20GB). Every so often, my informational window gives the red Error message ‘Disconnected from server’ and the Remote Site pane and its’ filelist are blank. However, the status window on the bottom of the screen still shows the numbers moving, time elapsing and the Status is ‘Transferring’.
At that point, do I have to click the Server => ‘Reconnect’ button to restart the transfer, or is the transfer actually still going?
Thanks for your help!
April 10th, 2008 at 6:14 am
Hi Janet
I think what you are seeing is a server timeout for the FTP connection. All servers have a limit as to how long they will keep a connection open. The time limit depends upon how your server’s FTP connection has been configured by your hosting company.
If you are still seeing data transferring, it could be that FileZilla is keeping the connection open, or you could just be seeing data loading into a buffer. From what you are describing, it sounds like the connection is breaking. This is most likely a server configuration timeout issue, but it could be due to a slow connection due to a bogged-down Internet (it does that during peak use periods) or it could be due to data packet loss from a bad connection. I don’t think there is anything that you can do to prevent an occassional drop-out.
If the transfer is indeed stopping or stalling, check the Connection settings found in Edit > Settings > Connection. The Keep Alive Settings box should be checked and Timeout Detection should be set to 300 seconds. The old default setting was 30. With a high-speed connection, 300 seconds should be more than enough to transfer a 20GB file.
Even is the server disconnects from FileZilla, the FTP transfer should pick up where it left off when you reconnect again.
If you are still having problems, you should report it to the techs at your hosting company. There are dozens of issues that can cause connection dropouts. A lot depends upon how your hosting company has set up the FTP connections on the server.
May 1st, 2008 at 6:54 am
[...] use FileZilla you must have your ftp password and name available from your web provider. Read this tutorial from Tech-Evangelist for further explanations on installing and using [...]
May 6th, 2008 at 8:17 pm
hi.. TE
I have problem when upload image using file zilla, the image doesn’t come up at the web just only red X .
May 9th, 2008 at 5:30 am
Hi bas
That is not a FileZilla problem. You have a problem with the path to your images in your HTML code. Check your HTML code, or if you do not read and write HTML code, have someone check it for you. Either the image path is wrong or you are placing your images in the wrong directory.
May 16th, 2008 at 3:29 am
Hi TE,
I have the latest Filezilla and it should be able to do server to server transfers. The thing is, I just cannot work out how to do it.
All I have is local folders one side and remote on the other. If I try to connect to 1 ftp then another it just says “do you want to close current”. Click no results in nothing happening. Cannot see any appropriate setting, and googling has not turned up the answer as yet.
Any help would be appreciated.
May 17th, 2008 at 6:58 am
Hi David
We do use server-to-server transfers, but our local server is a development box that is part of our internal network, so it is easy to access. That is different than trying to set up a transfer between two different Internet servers.
I have not tried to set up a transfer between two web servers.
FileZilla 3.0.0 was recently released, but I don’t see any mention of adding a server-to-server transfer feature. It looks like 3.0.0 is a complete rewrite.
I’m going to have to install the newest version and see if I can figure this out. If I can find a way to do it, I’ll post an article. Give me some time to look into it. I’m up to my earlobes in projects right now.
June 3rd, 2008 at 8:53 am
Hi,
I have 2 websites up and running. I went to the MySQL wizard and set up the database for a third site. I can see it and the other two in the cpanel.
But when I login to Filezilla, I cannot see the new database. The other two are visible.
Any ideas? Thanks.
June 13th, 2008 at 7:39 am
Hi Debbie
I am not sure what you are looking at. A MySQL database is not stored in an area on your server where you have access to it with FileZilla or any any FTP utility.
MySQL Wizard is an add-on for MySQL and is not associated with MySQL, so I have no idea how it sets up a database or why you cannot see it in cPanel. You should be able to see all of your MySQL databasaes in phpMyAdmin in cPanel, which is where you normally maintain databases.
August 17th, 2008 at 6:38 pm
For local files, I can’t get Filezilla to see our ‘network neighborhood’ on our LAN. We have a Unix server as part of the network where common files are kept. EditPlus, etc can see them…what am I doing wrong?
August 18th, 2008 at 4:45 pm
Hi Serge
I haven’t installed the new FileZilla version 3 yet. I have heard that there are improvements with that version that might solve your problem.
We have an in-house Linux server that we use for file storage and web site development and we have never had a problem accessing it with FileZilla. We have our server set up using Samba for the network connection. Samba allows a Linux/Unix server to be treated just like any Microsoft computer on the network. If you are not using Samba, you might want to look into that.
August 20th, 2008 at 4:00 am
Im trying to install Filezilla on my Mac but it’s not working. I’ve downloaded the right software and the Filezilla icon is on my desktop but when I click it nothing happens. Can you please help?
August 23rd, 2008 at 9:00 am
Hi Kriss
I don’t work with Macs. It sounds like a Mac installation problem.
Perhaps someone else has an answer for you and will post it here.
September 2nd, 2008 at 5:11 pm
Hi Kriss, you are probably running Mac OS 10.4
You need system 10.5 on your Mac to run the current version of FileZilla.
Hope this helps.
Derrick
September 10th, 2008 at 6:56 pm
I’m trying to create an account with FileZilla using a Mac…I have everything as stated above (i.e, host, username, etc) but I keep getting the error msg: “Could not connect to server.” Any help would be appreciated!
September 15th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
Greetings, TE,
I’ve recently downloaded Filezilla and haven’t published my website yet (green and scared). But coming across your website has given me the courage to continue fearlessly (or at least with less stress-related perspiration)! Thanks for “being there!”
September 16th, 2008 at 7:08 am
Hi Maria
Working with a web site is not as scary as it initially appears. Just jump in and do i!
October 5th, 2008 at 10:36 am
[...] Filezilla Tutorial [...]
October 23rd, 2008 at 2:14 am
I am trying to use filezilla to keep a connection between my laptop and a server in the office. Works OK all the time I am in the office and inside the network, but once outside on an external connection I won’t find the server. Not really sure whether I am looking for the PC’s name, or an IP address?? Help?
October 23rd, 2008 at 5:58 am
Hi David
You have to talk to your network administrator to gain access from outside of the network. This sounds like a basic network security issue. No one is supposed to be able to access internal network resources from outside of a network unless they have the proper permissions and their user account is set up to allow access.
The internal server is probably set up using private network IP addresses, which cannot be accessed from the Internet. It is also possible that the internal server is not connected to the Internet or there is a firewall that restricts access. We set up our internal servers using private network IPs and do not have them connected to the web. No hacker access allowed.
The answer lies with your network administrator.