How to “FTP” a file on a Mac


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Every week I get asked from one person or another “how do I FTP a file” so while this is not a super technical update to NoHeat I thought I would make something that other technical people can forward off to other FTP newbies.  This week the FTP question was for the Mac so I chose to showcase CyberDuck.  CyberDuck is a opensource and free program that can easily manage many FTP accounts.  While its true that OS X has software built in that can connect to your FTP the easy of use for a novice in setting up would take longer than just downloading CyberDuck.  Also note that I am a fan of Transmit for the Mac but since it is a shareware title and CyberDuck is free I will cover CyberDuck instead.

CyberDuck is a especially easy program to install.  Simply go to CyberDuck’s website.  From there you will see a download link with a blue arrow.  Click the link and your download begin.  When you finish downloading the file your Mac OS will inform you that the file is a application and ask you if you are sure you want to launch, say yes.  From there it will decompress the .DMG which is a disk image format, just pretend there’s a CD in your drive for now.  Once the .DMG file has been decompressed you will need to drag the icon of the duck to your application folder which may be in your dock, you may optionally drag the application to your desktop. 

Once installed on your computer double click on the yellow CyberDuck icon.  It may present you with a option for updating, for the purposes of this instruction we will assume you have the most up to date version of CyberDuck. 

Once open you will notice a “open connection” button in the upper left corner of the window.  Click on this button.

Insert your server name in the “Server” field (your server name will usually look like ftp.yourservername.com) in the picture the field is highlighted green.  Insert your user name, your username may be one word or look like a email address, in any case enter this in the field, in the picture it is highlighted yellow.  Then enter your password, this is highlighted blue in the picture.  Then press “Connect”.

Your CyberDuck FTP program will now show you a directory of files that you can download or upload.  You download by dragging files that show up in the CyberDuck window to your desktop or to whatever folder you choose to locally store your file.  To upload you will drag your file in.

Thats it, now you are able to “FTP a file”.

Read more posts by Christopher Carey

July 12, 2007 | Filed Under Apple, General, Mac 

Comments

2 Responses to “How to “FTP” a file on a Mac”

  1. wiseassoffice on MyAvatars 0.2 July 12th, 2007 8:10 pm

    Just a note I will also write a article on how to “FTP” a file with Filezilla for newbies. Look for a link to this article as well.

  2. Identikit on MyAvatars 0.2 July 13th, 2007 7:21 pm

    we use Captain http://Ftp. easy and powerfull-

    Il Giornale di Copenhagen
    http://www.italiensk.info

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