FTP stands for "file transfer protocol", which is a standard method of copying files from your computer to a Web server.

To publish or upload files to your Web site, you will need to use an FTP program — a software program on your own computer that handles all the details of publishing your files using FTP.

(The one exception is that you should not use an FTP program if you use the Microsoft FrontPage program to design your Web site. Doing so will cause problems with FrontPage. If you're using Microsoft FrontPage, do not go any further here; see our instructions for FrontPage instead.)

Getting an FTP program

Some Web design programs, including DreamWeaver, have a built-in FTP program. If your Web design program doesn't have one, you can use a separate FTP program.

Although we don't directly provide an FTP program, there are many different ones available. If you're looking for a free FTP program, we recommend FileZilla.

For a listing of many other popular FTP programs, see Google's FTP program category. Any FTP program should work with our servers.

Using your FTP program with our servers

The Settings for Common FTP Programs page explains how to set up your FTP program.

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