Chapter Three

Quick Start

3.1 Connect to an Internet Service Provider (ISP). Before you can connect to your FTP site, you must be connected to your ISP. Unless you are connected to your ISP before you launch CuteFTP, it will not connect to any FTP site.

3.2 Start CuteFTP. To start CuteFTP, click the CuteFTP icon that was created during installation. The Site Manager screen will be displayed. This is where you will enter the FTP server information to connect to the remote computer where your files will reside. The Site Manager has two windows and nine buttons. The left window contains several predefined folders. In the right window, the contents of any selected folder are displayed. CuteFTP comes loaded with some predefined sites (anonymous FTP sites that usually contain shareware or freeware). To connect to any of these sites, click the folder you want (i.e. Company Home Sites), highlight the site you want in the right window (i.e. GlobalSCAPE, Inc.) and click the Connect button.

Site Manager Screen

3.3 Configure Your FTP Connection. In the Site Manager window, select a folder from the left window for your site to reside or create a new folder by clicking the Add Folder button. Enter a folder name and click OK. Next, highlight the newly created or selected folder, and click the Add Site button. This will bring up the Add Host Screen where your server information will be stored. The four entries that will be covered here are the Site Label box, Host Address box, User I.D. box and Password box. The other options and fields will be covered in Chapter Four: Menu Bar Commands.

Add Host Screen

Site Label Box. This box will identify your site so that you can easily access your FTP server from the Site Manager. You can label it whatever you want.

Host Address Box. This is where you enter the FTP server address (i.e. host address, FTP address, server address, IP address, etc.). For example, if your service provider is Erols, you might enter www.erols.com, ftp.erols.com or the IP address such as 205.252.116.13. Each server's address is unique. You must obtain that address from the service provider who will be hosting your web pages. Never type in the protocol as you would in your browser using the Protocol:// format. This means you would never type ftp:// or http:// before the server address.

User I.D. Box. Your server administrator provides this unique I.D. It is case sensitive so be careful to enter capital and lower case letters correctly. If you do not know what your user I.D is, you can obtain this information from your ISP or service administrator.

Password Box. Your server administrator provides this unique password. Like the User I.D., it is case sensitive so ensure capital and lower case letters are entered correctly. If you do not know what your Password is, you can obtain this information from your ISP or service administrator. You will not be able to see what you are typing in to that field, so be careful not to make any mistakes.

Once you have entered this information, click the OK button, which returns you to the Site Manager screen, where your site will be displayed in the right window.

3.4 Connecting to Your Server. To connect to the server, highlight the site you have created and click the Connect button. Since the information entered in the Add/Edit Host Screen is saved, when you open CuteFTP in the future, simply highlight your folder and site in the Site Manager and click the Connect button. After connecting, you should see a message from your ISP informing you of rules and regulations of the server. Click the OK button at the bottom of that screen and the message will be cleared. If you do not want to see the welcome message when you login, remove that option from the FTP/Settings/Options/General tab on the Menu Bar.

To modify your server information, highlight your site in the Site Manager and click the Edit Site button. Make your modifications and click OK. You can also rename and delete sites and folders from the Site Manager with the corresponding buttons.

CuteFTP Main Screen

3.5 CuteFTP Main Screen. The Main Screen will be used to move your files to the server. This screen is divided into four windows: an upper horizontal window, two lower vertical windows, and a bottom horizontal window.

Upper Window (Log). This is where the commands CuteFTP gives the server as well as the server's responses are displayed. CuteFTP logs this information to this window to assist with troubleshooting and to inform you of a completed transaction such as upload, download, list etc. You can copy the log to your Windows Clipboard by clicking on Window from the Menu Bar, and then click Copy Log Window to Clipboard. This data can then be pasted into a program such as Notepad and stored as a text file that can be e-mailed to support@cuteftp.com for trouble shooting.

Lower Left Window (Local). The lower left window displays the selected directory from your hard drive. By default, it should display the contents of your CuteFTP directory. The upper portion of that left window will indicate the exact drive and directory your are in. For example: C:\Program Files\CuteFTP. Directly beneath and to the left of the directory information is a small blue arrow. If you double click that arrow, you will be moved up one directory on your local hard drive. From the previous example of C:\Program Files\CuteFTP, you will be moved to C:\Program Files. If you double click again, you would be moved up to C:\. Locate the directory beneath the root where your HTML files (or whatever files you want to upload) are located. Double click that directory. If your files are located in a subdirectory beneath that directory, double click it also. Once you are in the correct directory you will see your files displayed in that left window.

Lower Right Window (Remote). The lower right window displays the files and directories on your server. You are now viewing the hard drive contents of a remote computer. In the upper portion of the right window, it might display a directory name in this format: /Robert. Notice that instead of a backslash ( \ ), the server (or host) uses a forward slash ( / ). That is because most servers are based upon, or mimic UNIX operating systems and use this type of directory structure. The remote directory display window may only have a forward slash. This is because your server assigns you to a home directory, also known as the virtual root. Although there are probably many directories above this, the server limits you to your directory and to any subdirectories you create beneath your virtual root. Since you don't need access to the directories above yours, the server normally doesn't give you access to any of those directories.

Bottom Window (Queue).The queue window is used for temporary storage of files you wish to transfer at a later time. You can browse a remote site, and drag 'n drop files from different directories into the queue window. Once you have chosen your files, you can batch transfer them by clicking on Queue/Transfer Queue.

3.6 Transferring Files to Server. All preliminary actions have now been accomplished and the files can be moved to the server. There are five methods of accomplishing this:

Method One. Drag and Drop. Highlight the file(s) on your local drive that you want to upload. Use your left mouse button to "grab" the highlighted file(s) and drag it (them) to the right window and drop it (them) anywhere in that window. By default, you will receive a prompt to "upload selected file?". Click the OK button after you have verified the file name(s). The upper window will display commands, statuses, and the server's response to your commands.

Method Two. Highlight the files you want to upload in the left screen and then click the Upload button located at the top of the CuteFTP screen below the Menu Bar. It looks like an arrow pointing up. If that button is not highlighted, you have failed to highlight the files you want to upload. When you click the Upload button, the Confirm Upload screen, as in the previous method, will prompt you. You may accomplish the same thing by selecting Commands/Upload from the Menu Bar.

Method Three. Double click the file you would like to upload. By default CuteFTP takes that action as a Transfer File request.

Method Four. Highlight the file you want to upload and RIGHT click it. LEFT click the upload option in the Menu that appears. Continue as in the previous methods.

Method Five. If you have transferred them to the queue, and you are ready to upload them to the server, click on Queue/Transfer Queue.

Because CuteFTP auto-refreshes the remote directory, you should now see your files on the right side (remote side) of the screen. If the files seem to be uploading (the Log is showing lots of commands), but you don't see the files displayed on the server, you could have one of several problems. Scroll up the log in the upper window using the scroll bar. Any entries in red such as a "Permission Denied" response is an indication that you are not being allowed to upload the file(s) and you will need to contact your ISP or service administrator. A "Trashed Response Received" message in the log window indicates you have been disconnected from the server. If so, reconnect through the Site Manager and continue the process. When you see your files on the right hand side, you have completed the file transfer. You can now type in your URL or web page address in your browser and you should see the web page corresponding to the HTML file(s) you uploaded. If you don't see your web page(s), refer to Chapter Five: Trouble Shooting.