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Choosing a connection method

You must choose the method that users will use to connect to the website. Contribute lets users connect to the website through their local network or by transferring files (using FTP or SFTP) over a connection to their web server. The type of connection you choose determines the network information you need to enter.

If you want users to connect using FTP or SFTP, be sure you know the server name, user name, and password required to connect to the server.

Note: If users will be connecting to the website using FTP or SFTP and you’re not sending them your FTP or SFTP login information, make sure they understand how to enter their own login information. Many less experienced computer users don’t understand that FTP or SFTP login information is different from the user name and password they might use to log in to their local computer network.

Select one of the following website connection options:

Local/Network If you use a local/network connection, you must supply the network path of the web server and the folder containing the website files. You can either enter the path to the web server or click the Browse button to browse to the web server and the website folder. If you haven’t created a website root folder, you can use the default website root folder on the server. (The default varies between servers.)

Note: The network path for a Windows network always starts with two back slashes (\\) rather than with a drive letter.


Export Wizard Connection Information screen

FTP or SFTP If you connect to the website using FTP, enter the name of the FTP server, your FTP user name, and your FTP password. If you connect to a secure server that supports SFTP, select SFTP and then enter the name, user name, and password for your SFTP server.


Export Wizard Connection Information screen

You may need to configure Contribute to work with your organization’s firewall. If so, you will need to know whether your firewall supports passive FTP and whether you must provide a firewall host name and port number. If you are not sure how the firewall supports FTP access, consult your organization’s network administrator.


Advanced Connection Settings dialog box

Note: Firewall host and port information applies to all of a user’s connections; if you include this information in the exported connection key, firewall preferences for all connections are changed for Contribute users who use your connection key.

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