Have you considered learning FTP to transfer files to your WordPress website?

FTP, or File Transfer Protocol, is a quick and straightforward method for transferring data from your computer to a website.

What is File Transfer Protocol?

Whether you’ve developed a WordPress site, you may have heard about FTP and questioned if you should use it.

File Transfer Protocol is the acronym for FTP. It is a common method for moving files from your PC to your web hosting account. You may think of it as internet-based file management.

To connect to your website’s FTP server, you utilize a software application known as an FTP client. After establishing the connection, you may view your website’s files and upload files from your computer.

You may ask why you need FTP if you can upload files to your website without it. For instance, you may upload media assets using the WordPress administration panel. Using WordPress, you can also upload plugins and themes.

FTP is important since you may utilize it even if your WordPress site is experiencing issues. For instance, you may use FTP to manually upload a plugin or theme file to debug WordPress issues.

Choosing FTP Software

You must first get and install an FTP client on your computer. An FTP client is software that enables you to connect to your website and transfer files over the FTP protocol.

There are several FTP clients available. Check out our list of the top FTP clients for Mac and Windows if you need assistance deciding which one is compatible with your machine.

WinSCP for Windows, Cyberduck for Mac, and cross-platform FileZilla are popular free apps. This video will use FileZilla, but the fundamental fundamentals are the same regardless of the program you pick.

FTP Connection to Your WordPress Site

For the security of your data, FTP needs a login and password. Therefore, when you launch your FTP client, you will be required to provide your FTP login credentials.

Your FTP login details were sent to you when you created your WordPress hosting account. You may also access your FTP account details on the cPanel dashboard of your hosting account.

You may need to touch your hosting provider for assistance if you cannot locate your login details.

Once you have the credentials, you must launch FileZilla and go to File » Site Manager from the menu.

This will open a window where you can enter your website’s details. You should click the ‘New Site’ option and give your website a title.

Now, input the login credentials you discovered before. If your hosting provider allows SFTP, you should pick it in the protocol column; otherwise, select FTP.

You will be required to provide your host. This is often your domain name, although you may need to prepend ‘FTP.’ on occasion. Next, pick “Normal” for Logon Type and input your FTP login and password.

After entering these data, you may click the Connect option to proceed. FileZilla will recall your site settings for future logins and specify a new FTP connection to your website.

FileZilla may display a certificate window if you connect to your website for the first time from this computer.

Selecting “Always trust certificate for future sessions, you may prevent this message from appearing.” Then it would help if you pressed the OK button to proceed.

FileZilla will now try to connect to your website using the supplied credentials. Once linked, two columns of files and folders will be shown.

The left column contains a list of Local files on your system. The right column lists the website’s Remote files. This design facilitates the movement of files to and from your website.

How to FTP-Upload Files to Your WordPress Site

We are now prepared to upload files to your website. Let’s begin with something simple. We will upload a test file to our website’s main folder.

You must first browse the folder containing the test file. Do so in the column containing your local files on the left. Verify that the folder you want to upload is in the Remote site column on the right.

Then, right-click the file and choose Upload from the context menu.

FileZilla will upload the file to your WordPress site from your PC. It duplicates the file while leaving the original on the computer.

Since it is less reliable, we do not encourage using drag-and-drop to upload files. For instance, if you drag the file inadvertently into a folder, you may upload it to the incorrect location on your website.

This is crucial because WordPress expects to locate specified files and directories in particular places. Uploading a file to the incorrect folder might be problematic.

For instance, media files uploaded through FTP belong in a folder under /wp-content/uploads/. Themes and plugins should be uploaded to the /wp-content/themes/ and /wp-content/plugins/ folders, respectively.

To demonstrate how this works, we will manually install a WordPress plugin to your website. You must first download the plugin and then decompress it. There is a folder containing the plugin.

Ensure that this folder is visible in the left column of your FTP client. Then, browse the wp-content/plugins/ folder under the Remote column. Then, you may upload the plugin folder to your website from your PC.

It will take longer for the plugin to load than our test file. After the plugin has completed uploading, you must visit the plugins page in your WordPress administration area to activate it.

Similar to uploading a premium theme. You must first download and decompress the theme folder on your PC. After that, you may upload it to your website’s /wp-content/themes/ folder.

Using FTP to Download Files from Your WordPress Website

FTP is utilized for more than merely uploading things from your PC to your WordPress site. It may also be used to download files for editing purposes.

Right-click the desired file in the Remote site column and choose Download from the context menu. The file will be copied to the folder shown in the Local column’s leftmost column.

You may also back up your WordPress files via FTP. Select all files and directories, then save them to your PC.

However, this is not a comprehensive backup of your WordPress website. All your material, not downloaded files, are kept in a database.

You may manually create a backup of your WordPress database if you wish to back up your content.