FTP: What it is and how to use it

Most of the work we do here involves either a large number of files or very large individual files that need to be exchanged back and forth. So we heavily use FTP and encourage our customers to do the same. FTP Stands for File Transfer Protocol. It is a standard and widely used method of transferring files between computers over a network or over the Internet. Developing a familiarity with FTP can prevent a lot of headache if you need to get us large files (or just many files) fast.

Can't I just email you my files?

You can in some cases, but FTP is better for many reasons:

• No need to worry about how many files you can cram into one email without exceeding your recipient's message size limit (or your own).
• No worrying if you're going to cause your recipient to go over their mailbox size limit.
• Most email systems have a very inefficient way of encoding attachments, which makes them take up to 20% more space than they need to.
• FTP is usually substantially faster than email.
• It is generally considered impolite to send someone a large email unless they're expecting it.

We also simply prefer FTP. The more files you have to send, or the larger they are, the more we prefer that you send them to us via FTP. We regularly deal with numerous and large files for customer projects that often need to be used by multiple people during development. Sending them to our FTP server puts them in a centralized location where everyone that is working on your project has access to them from the moment your upload is finished. This helps to keep our process and turnaround time as streamlined as possible.

This is confusing... Can't I just send you my files through a third-party service?

We cannot accept files by any means that requires us to use a third-party commercial service like SnapFish, iBackup, or others to retrieve your data. In most cases such services require the creation of an account, which of course increases the risk of spam (or otherwise unwanted, but "legitimate" emails). They also require that we agree to be bound by their terms of use before we can get your files. Quite often these may be a conflict of interest for us, or may otherwise contain some clause that we cannot accept. So we just avoid third-party services altogether. In fact - if you really like such things, we can even build you one that is uniquely you, and has the features and capabilities you need (click here for a quote).

Using FTP

A user connects to an FTP server using an FTP client application. Support for FTP is widespread, and many web browsers have built-in support for FTP. Internet Explorer can even display an FTP server in the familiar Windows Explorer interface, with full drag and drop capabilities. However, using your web browser does have limitations. Namely, they FTP work best for downloading files, and many do not support uploading. So it's a good idea to have a dedicated FTP client handy as well.

One benefit of using your web browser for FTP is the ability to connect to a server by using a URL, which of course can be emailed to you as a link. FTP URLs are formatted as follows:
ftp://username:password@myftpserver.com:21
The last part (:21) is the port number, and is only necessary if you are connecting to something other than port 21, the default port for FTP. Although FTP through a web browser can often be quite convenient, there are a few drawbacks, so we recommend having a dedicated FTP client on hand as well (more on this in a bit). Some important notes about using a web browser for FTP:

• Most web browsers other than Internet Explorer (and its various flavors) support downloads only. Even now in IE7, the default FTP view is a Mozilla-like download-only interface, where an FTP server is displayed like a web page, where the files appear as links.
• FTP URLs do not tend to work if you have an "@" in your password (for the same reason an email address can't have more than one "@"). There are probably other characters that cause problems too, but any alphanumeric password should work fine when connecting using the URL format. Special characters will sometimes work if you omit the username and password from the URL (ftp://myftpserver.com). Then you'll be prompted for login info.
• Web browsers tend to generate multiple sessions on the server (basically reconnecting while there is still one or more open connections), which can cause problems.

If you're going to use a web browser for FTP, we recommend using Internet Explorer. It has several quirks which can take some tweaks to get past. But the fact that it is built-in FTP support, with the ability to display an FTP server like a folder on your computer makes it worth using at least some of the time. To use IE for FTP, you need to make sure the following settings in the Internet Options dialog DO NOT have a check mark by them (to open, go to Tools» Internet Options):

• Use Passive FTP
• Show Friendly HTTP Error Messages

Again, neither of these should have a check in the box. Otherwise IE will not be able to connect to many FTP servers (including ours).

Now, onto FTP clients. We highly recommend having one even if you like using a web browser... Sometimes that method just doesn't work and it's good to have a plan B. But which do you use? Almost any will do... but our favorite is FileZilla. It's free, and fully featured. Once you connect, you navigate to your files in the left pane, navigate to the remote destination in the right, and simply drag your files from the left to the right (or the reverse if you're downloading). Also, FileZilla can open multiple simultaneous connections to transfer files even faster. You can also tell it how many connections it can open up, which is nice for servers that limit simultanous connections per IP address (or per user). You can get FileZilla at filezilla-project.org.

And if we've made you a fan of FTP and have a need for it with your own business, we can even help you set up a server in your office.