Using an FTP Client to Upload Files

One of the tools that every website owner will eventually want to learn how to use is an FTP tool. FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol, and FTP client lets you easily upload your website’s content from your hard drive to your site seamlessly. Without an FTP client, you would need to upload all of your content individually, which would take a very long time and would require a lot of effort on your behalf. If you use an FTP client than you’ll be able to upload hundreds of files simultaneously without having to upload each file manually. If you’re running several websites, or one that is graphic or file intensive, then you’ll most definitely need to use an FTP client.

What FTP Client Should You Use?

If you’re worried about the cost of an FTP client then you should be aware that there are many free FTP clients that will do everything you need them to with ease. One such FTP client is FileZilla which is used by many people all around the world. Even large businesses use free FTP clients, and you can do pretty much anything you’d like with a free FTP client such as FileZilla.

Using the FTP Client

Using an FTP client is actually very simple, although it can seem intimidating at first, the program is actually designed to be user-friendly and you’ll soon learn how to upload content to your site quickly and easily. First, you’ll want to become acquainted with the FTP interface. Almost all of the FTP clients have the same central design. The left side is devoted to your hard drive, and the right side is devoted to your website. The top of the interface is devoted to folders, while the bottom displays the files within those folders. When you click a folder on the top side of the interface, you’ll see it on the bottom of the interface in the files section. To upload content simply right click on the file you want to upload on the left side of the FTP client, then click on upload. You can upload several files at once by holding down the Ctrl key and then clicking the files you would like to upload. Once you have highlighted all of the files you’d like to upload simply right click them and then click upload.

Making Backups with an FTP Client

Just as you can upload files using your FTP client, you can also download files using your FTP client as well. This means you can backup your entire website by downloading it onto your hard drive. Although there are easier ways to backup a website, this is one of the fundamental ways to do it. Simply click on the main folder of your website on the right side of the interface, then right-click it and click download. It may take a while to download all of the files, but the wait is worth it since you’ll be able to restore your website at any time if you’d like.

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