Your website files, within reach.

1. Get connected

1. Open Website Files and click Add Website below the website panels, or in Settings.
2. Give the website a recognisable name. This is a label for you, such as “My website”.
3. Enter the hostname, username and password supplied for file access by your hosting provider. These may differ from the email address and password used to sign in to the provider’s website.
4. Choose the protocol your provider supports. Use SFTP — SSH where available.
5. Leave Starting folder blank to open the account’s home folder, or enter a folder supplied by your host, such as www.
6. Click Add and Connect. The website appears in its own panel.

Changing protocol updates the usual port automatically. A port you have deliberately changed to a custom value is kept.

The first SFTP connection

A Trust this SSH server? prompt shows the hostname, port and SHA-256 fingerprint. Compare the fingerprint with your provider’s published information or ask its support team. Choose Trust Server when it matches, or Cancel if you cannot verify it.

Website Files remembers this server identity. A different key on a later connection is blocked and reported prominently.

2. Find your way around

Double-click a folder to open it. The current folder’s name appears in the toolbar. Immediately below it, a row of folder buttons shows the full path within the account:

Click any earlier folder in this row to jump straight to it. For example, click www to move from summer back to www. Long paths scroll horizontally so every folder remains available.

• Root is the top of the folders accessible through this account. It is normally the login home, not the hosting computer’s entire disk. With an absolute SFTP starting path, it represents /.
• The left arrow opens the enclosing folder.
• The house button returns to your configured starting folder. This can be different from Root.
• Refresh reloads the current folder’s contents.
• Find in this folder filters the displayed names. It does not search inside other folders.
• The … menu includes Show hidden files, for names beginning with a dot.

Use each panel’s chevron to collapse or expand it. Scroll vertically to move between websites.

3. Upload files and folders

1. Connect to the correct website and open the destination folder.
2. Drag files or folders from Finder into the file area. Drop directly onto a folder row to upload into that folder. Alternatively, choose … → Upload files or folders….
3. If files with the same names exist, review the list. Choose Replace and Upload to overwrite them, or Cancel to leave them unchanged.
4. Watch the progress area. Wait for the upload confirmation before disconnecting.

Folders are uploaded with their contents, including empty folders. Symbolic links are not uploaded or followed. Use the folder with a plus button to create an empty folder on the server.

How replacement is protected

Each file is uploaded under a temporary name first. Website Files checks the uploaded size and checks that the destination has not changed before renaming the completed upload into place. If something changes, the upload stops rather than replacing that file.

Click Cancel in the progress area to stop an upload. Temporary-file cleanup runs before the operation finishes. Files already completed remain on the server; cancellation does not undo the whole batch.

If cleanup fails, the message identifies the temporary file. A sudden shutdown may also leave a file named .websitefiles-upload-…part. Avoid editing the same destination simultaneously in another application.

4. Connect and disconnect

The button beside each website’s status changes between Connect and Disconnect.

• Disconnect clears that panel’s file listing and disables browsing and uploads. Your saved website, password and current folder are kept.
• Connect reloads the folder where you left off.
• The button is unavailable while a folder is loading, an upload is running, or a replacement decision is waiting. Finish the operation, or cancel the upload first.
• Each website is independent. Disconnecting one does not disconnect the others.

Saved websites connect automatically when you next launch the app. Collapsing a panel does not disconnect it.

5. Manage your websites

Open Settings, then expand the website you want to change. Click Save and Connect to apply its details and connect.

• Passwords are saved separately in macOS Keychain. Leave the password field blank to keep the existing password when the hostname and username stay the same.
• Enter the corresponding password when changing the hostname or username.
• For SFTP, a starting folder beginning with / is an absolute path. Other starting folders are relative to the login home.
• To remove a saved connection, choose File → Remove Website → website name, or Remove Website… in its Settings section.

6. If something does not work

Connection failed

Check the file-access username and password supplied by your host. Your account email address may not be the SFTP username. Check the hostname, protocol and port too. Re-enter the file-access password and choose Save and Connect.

SSH host key changed

Stop and check with your provider. A legitimate server migration can change the key, but the message can also mean you are reaching a different server. Do not trust a replacement key without verifying it independently.

FTPS certificate error

Use the exact FTPS hostname supplied by your hosting provider. Your website domain may not match its certificate.

Folder unavailable or upload refused

Check your Starting folder and the account’s access permissions. Also check available hosting space. The account may be restricted to a particular directory.

A file changed during upload

Refresh and review the current server file, then drop your files again. If the local file changed, finish editing it before retrying.

What is supported?

Website Files browses folders, creates folders and uploads files. Downloading files, manually renaming or deleting hosted files, and resuming interrupted uploads are not currently available. “Remove Website” only removes a saved connection.