There are many other options available, including simply using the command line on a Mac, which also has full sftp support.
Here is no specific order, here are a few free FTP applications for Mac OS X:
What about third-party FTP clients for Mac?īecause the Finder FTP feature does not support some features that users may want to have on their Mac, there are many third-party OS X applications that can do the job instead, with full FTP, SFTP, FTPS support, downloads, downloads, queues, permissions change abilities, read / write support, and more. Otherwise, if you’re thinking, my title bar is set to show full directory paths, which is why you’ll see the remote server path in another screenshot. You can also start an SFTP server on any Mac so you can connect to it this way to download or transfer files. The main advantage of expanding the window is that you get forward and backward arrow keys and sorting options to browse the FTP server by icon, name, date, lists and search functions. Navigate to the file or folder you want to copy and then drag and drop it as if you were copying or moving another file, and the items will be transferred from the FTP server to your Mac or vice versa.īy default, the window appears as a minimized Finder window, but you can expand the window to the familiar Mac OS X Finder style by dragging down the View menu and choosing Show Toolbar. Once connected to an FTP server, you can browse the remote server like any other local folder on your Mac, because the server is treated just like a regular file system window in the Finder.Ĭopying files to a remote server or uploading to a Mac is easy with a simple and familiar drag and drop. Navigate and transfer files via FTP and FTPS Since SFTP and SSH are usually command line based, that’s actually the subject of another article, so we’ll keep things simple here and stick with FTP and FTPS.
Nevertheless, OS X also includes a native SFTP client, which can be accessed from the terminal by typing “sftp username host” on the command line. FTPS connections are directly supported by OS X’s built-in FTP functions, while SFTP via SSH cannot be accessed via the same “Connect to Server” menu. Something to keep in mind is that FTPS and SFTP are two different protocols FTPS is FTP with a secure SSL layer, while SFTP uses SSH (yes, the same protocol that SSH servers have adopted remotely in OS X).