FTP from Mac OS X
Did you know that your Mac has a built-in FTP client? You don’t need to download any additional software to connect to FTP sites from Mac OS X, instead you can connect to remote servers directly from your desktop.
FTP from your Mac
If you want to test this by connecting to a real server, use ftp://ftp.mozilla.org and login as a Guest
- From your Mac desktop hit Command+K to pull up the “Connect to Server” window (alternatively, you can access this from the “Go” menu)
- Enter the address of the ftp server in the following format: ftp://ftp.domain.com
- If you want to add a bookmark to ‘Favorite Servers’ for repeated connections, click on the + icon next to the “Server Address” field
- Click on “Connect” and wait to connect to the remote server
- Enter the FTP username and password, or connect as “Guest” if the server allows guest connections and click on “Connect” again
Note about FTPS Connections: If you want to connect to an FTPS server, just prefix the domain with the ftps:// rather than ftp:// if the server has SSL support.
Now that you are connected to the FTP server, you can browse the remote server like any other local folder on your Mac. Just note that if you drag or drop a file to or from the server it will attempt to transfer that file.
By default the window will show as a minified Finder window, but you can hit the silver button on the far right to expand the window to your familiar Mac OS X Finder style. The other benefit to expanding the window is that you get the forward and back arrow navigation buttons, in addition to sorting options to browse through the FTP server by icon, name, etc.
Obviously the FTP features in Mac OS X are not as developed as third party FTP clients like Transmit or Cyberduck, but if you’re in a bind and just need to quickly connect to a remote FTP, it’s more than adequate. If you need more advanced features, both of the aforementioned apps are fantastic and integrate well with other apps.
If you were wondering, I have my titlebars set to display full directory paths which is why you see the path on the remote server in the second screenshot.
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sweet!
Might add that there are several protocols available via this “tip”.
smb:// – for connecting to samba (Windows shares)
vnc:// – for Apple’s Screen Sharing
afp:// – apple file protocol
http:// – I think this is for WebDAV
Nice. But how to change the read & write permissions on the remote server…
If you are logged in you can make RWX changes through Get Info
I’ll still use Transmit but this is a good tip
Unfortunately you can’t change the read and write permissions and it seems its only read permissions via this FTP.
Yeah, but the directory is read only on the FTP server.
Same problem here. I’m not getting the option to change read/write permissions.
You can not change read/write permissions from a windows based server on a mac. Just use remote desktop connection for mac from microsoft and login to the server and change it their. Would like to see this issue fixed.
Of course you can use FTP from your Mac. The Mac is a Unix system, and all Unix systems have FTP built-in. You can use it from the command line (using the Terminal app). In this case, the GUI doesn’t make it any easier.
[...] via OSXDaily [...]
It’s a bit unfortunate though that it doesn’t support sftp:// in finder, while it works just fine in the terminal (since it’s unix power..). Sticking with FileZilla for sftp atm.
[...] readers pointed out that you can use Get Info to adjust file permissions on remote files using the Mac OS X built-in FTP client, which is pretty convenient if you’re without a separate FTP [...]
[...] connect-ftp-from-mac osxdaily.com [...]
[...] on the Finder icon in the Dock and selecting “Connect to Server.” From here you can connect to FTP, SMB, local, or remote servers as usual – and yes they will open in the [...]
It’s not really FTP support if you can’t upload. Does this really not support copying files to the FTP server?
[...] [...]
[...] hasn’t finished starting yet or you didn’t enter the command properly. You can then FTP from other Macs via the same ftp command, or by using the “Connect to Server” option in the [...]
[...] I discovered this at http://osxdaily.com/2011/02/07/ftp-from-mac/ [...]
Awesome…!! when I read about these little tips which are BIG TIPS I realize how much I need to learn more about my MAC.
THANKS!!
I don’t have a mac and filezilla is crap, so I’ve started to use Maytech.
Thanks for posting this, but…
I am running 10.6.8, and get an odd error when trying this route. I can enter ftp://mysitename.com into my web browser (both Safari & Firefox), enter the ftp login when prompted, and can view the directory. However, when I try to do it from the Connect to Server prompt, I get “You have entered an invalid username or password”. I have tried both ftp://ftp.mysitename.com, as well as ftp://mysitename.com, and get the same error either way.
Any ideas?
It’s probably defaulting to your Mac user name, be sure to specify the appropriate name for the server