Find your FTP client Mac software

Posted by Filip Ewers on February 14th, 2020

As we already know, it is not necessary to install any special FTP for Mac utility on the Mac computer to be able to connect to the remote server. The Mac has a built-in client that is very easy to use.

1. To open it, click the Go menu section in the Finder panel. At the bottom of the drop-down menu, you will see the line “Connect to the server”.
2. After that, you can enter the connection address via ftp: // or the IP address at which you want to connect to the server. In order not to constantly enter this address, click the plus sign “+” to the right of the input line and the server name will be added to the favorites list.
3. Click the "Connect" button below, after which you will need to enter login information.
4. Enter in the Name field your login on the server and the password that the host administrator gave you.
5. If the FTP server supports anonymous users, then you can check the item “As a guest” - then you will not have to enter any data.
6. In order not to type the username and password each time, you can check the box “Remember this password in the keychain”.
7. Click “Connect”, and then you will be taken to the server file system.

If you want to connect to a secure FTPS server, all you need to do is add the domain prefix to ftps: // instead of ftp: //. This depends on whether the remote server supports SSL and whether FTPS connections are accepted, which is what most servers do. Also, keep in mind that FTPS and SFTP are two different protocols; FTPS is FTP with a secure SSL level, while SFTP uses SSH. FTPS connections are supported directly in the built-in FTP OS X function, while SFTP via SSH is not available through the same “Connect to the server” menu. However, OS X also includes its own FTP client Mac users can access from the Terminal by typing “sftp username @ host” at the command line.