FTP with a Web browser
Web browsers can also be used for FTP. Internet Explorer is an especially good browser for FTP, because it gives you the full range of file-management options, including (in a non-public site) upload, download, delete and rename. Even if you usually use a different Web browser, you should use IE for FTP if you will need to do anything other than upload or download.
Accessing FTP Sites
Public Sites
If you want to access a public FTP site, simply enter that address just as you would normally enter a Web page URL, but note that you use ftp:// instead of http://. BU’s FTP site is typed in as: ftp://ftp.bu.edu
A Password-protected site
Unless it has been restricted to prevent it, a password-protected site can also be accessed via FTP with a Web browser. Note that if you choose to do this you should NEVER save your password when prompted, especially if you are in a public lab setting.
Many BU servers (including ACS) have been restricted so that FTP is not possible with a Web browser. However, just to give you an example of how it might work on other servers, the syntax would be something like this: ftp://yourusername@server.domain.suffix
(Hit enter and give your password when prompted.)
Uploading and Downloading
Once you are at the FTP site, you will find that it works pretty intuitively. You should click on a folder to open it and then again on a file to download it. Windows users may need to do a right click on the item in order to bring up the menu that allows you to save to your Desktop. Macintosh users can drag the item right to your desktop, or hold the mouse down over an item to bring up the save dialog box.
If you want to upload a file you can use drag and drop to transfer files between your desktop and the browser window. Once the transfer is complete, you should be able to see the new file(s) in the list.
In IE you can also use the right mouse click to delete or rename files, and create directories, which is helpful for creating Web pages and doing other account maintenance.
