How to Use FileZilla with WordPress

In this tutorial, you will learn:

• How to configure FileZilla to connect to your WordPress web site.
• How to login to the server via SFTP or FTP.
• How to upload and download files to and from the server.
• Common uses for connecting to the filesystem of a WordPress web site.

Steps to Configure FileZilla, and Connect to a WordPress Server

1. First, open the FileZilla client on your computer.
2. Next, open the Site Manager from the File menu.
3. Click the New Site button, and give it a name.
4. Next, you must add the credentials to login to the server. You may have received a Welcome email from your host with this information. Otherwise, it may be found in the Control Panel of the server. You may also contact your host to get this information.
5. If you have the option, you should choose SFTP or Secure FTP as the protocol. Otherwise, leave it set as FTP.
6. Enter the Host name, which could be a friendly name like ftp.example.com, or an IP Address.
7. Enter a Port Number if one was provided. It may be required in order to connect, particularly if you are connecting via SFTP.
8. For Logon Type, it’s considered more secure to choose the Ask for Password option. You can store your password in a secure password manager. Otherwise, select Normal, and allow FileZilla to store your password. Your host may have provided different options for Logon Type, but Ask for Password and Normal are the most common.
9. Enter the provided username. If you chose to have FileZilla store your password, you may enter that now as well. Otherwise you will be prompted for the password when attempting to connect.
10. Now, you can choose this newly created entry from the Site Manager, and click Connect.
11. Once connected, in the Remote Site panel, you should see WordPress related folders such as: wp-admin, wp-content, and wp-includes. On some hosts, you may land somewhere else. Commonly, you may see folders such as www or public_html, or maybe even a list of web sites within your account. Traverse the folders until you see the WordPress related folders mentioned.
12. To upload one or more files, simply choose the files from the Local Site panel, and drag them over to the Remote Site panel. Do the opposite to download files from the server to your computer.

Commonly, FTP software such as FileZilla is used to upload themes or plugins to a WordPress web site. However, these tasks can be performed within the WordPress Dashboard as well. Other uses include uploading favicon images, setting file permissions or manually modifying configuration files such as robots.txt, wp-config.php, and .htaccess.