Built-in FTP client for the Mac OS X?

I've heard about it, but I haven't been able to find it?

There is a built in FTP client in the shell if you know command line. Otherwise I have never seen a GUI FTP client built in to OS X.

I use Captain FTP. It is the best GUI FTP client I could find for the mac. Basically because it has w directory listings at once, the local and the remote. Every other FTP client out there only show the remote directory listing, and then you have to go through dialog box to select files to transfer. I feel this totally counter productive, and I hate to say it, but almost EVERY windows FTP client out there works this way. It might be me still doing things the "windows way", but I feel that Captain FTP is the best FTP client I have seen.

If anybody knows of any other FTP clients that support displaying local AND remote directories and allowing you to drag and drop, please let me know.

I guess I have never really needed both windows.. I use Fetch and I know it's not the best.. it used to be, but they havent updated the program in years it seems so they are falling behind.. I have always used drag and drop and that works great for me, but I can understand the desire for two windows.. just another way of transferring files and then you have a choice of how you want to transfer.

hm. thanks kids. =) the only things that get at me are the trials. >.<

catlikethief said:

hm. thanks kids. =) the only things that get at me are the trials. >.<

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if you dont feel threatened by the command line you can use ftp on the command line. :-D and its FREE!!! :-D

Transmit is by far my favorite FTP client because you can preview images, edit code while in transmit, and view both local and remote files.

Get it at:
http://panic.com

Yeah it's nice, but it doesnt do server to server transfer.. which is a nice thing Everything else it does do!

Is there a GUI FTP client for the mac that's free? As in, not just free to try? I'm absolutely amazed by the amount of software available on the mac as free to try.

http://www.versiontracker.com/mp/ne...=D&order=CodeLetter&currentPage=2&firstPage=1 Close to the bottom is the freeware stuff.. and then page 3 also

hokiethang said:

if you dont feel threatened by the command line you can use ftp on the command line. :-D and its FREE!!! :-D

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I found that if I type in the direct link to the ftp (ftp://...) into Safari it can be at times very unstable. Furthermore it causes Finder to crash. Is this usual for 10.2?

I've had bad luck with the Safari/FTP-on-Desktop method too.

http://www.macorchard.com/ftp.html has a huge list of FTP clients, and makes it easy to compare.

I use CuteFTP for both my PC and Mac and couldn't be happier. I've tried a few of the free ones (read: not trial but free) and simply didn't like the extra steps involved. With CuteFTP you can specify certain folders or individual files and just choose from the list or use finder and find what you want to transfer. It does cost money (they do have a 30 day free trial) but its well worth the money, IMHO.

When I was in my 30 day free trial for CuteFTP on the Mac I got an e-mail from their customer support dept offering a $10 discount if I purchased prior to the end of the 30 day trial which was even better.

rberry88

I use Rbrowserlite, it shows local and remote. I will try the others you guys mentioned.

Interesting that FTP is unstable in Safari too. I've tried it a few times on Internet Explorer on the PC, and IE simply freezes 80% of the time, requiring a three-fingered "End Task" jobbie.

FTP from the command line is simple enough. Get to where your files are (utilising 'cd soandso' for changing directories (aka folders, containers, whatever) and 'ls' for getting a directory listing) and type ftp ftp.something.soandso.com. Username is usually anonymous, password just put any old e-mail address.

Again, use 'ls' for a directory listing and 'cd soandso' to get into a directory, 'cd ..' to go into its parent etc. 'get suchandsuch.exe' would retrieve a file into wherever you were when you started ftp and 'put suchandsuch.jpg' would upload a file from whever you were.

That's about all you need to know..

In your finder choose Go > Connect to server then in the window enter the full FTP address

e.g:

ftp://home.domain.com/public_folder/

then hit return. Afterwards it'll ask for your username and password, as always, it'll give you the option to adding it to your key chains. It'll appear on your Desktop as a Server, similar to iDisk.

Currently it's not perfect but does the job. Accessing other folders proves to be a pain... the finder sometimes stops responding.


Personally, i use Fetch for setting permissions and viewing server dot files (.htaccess). Dreamweaver MX for site synchronization because it's good with dynamic links, still it's missing tons of server-side editing tools. Guess that's why people use BBedit too!