Accessing WordPress via FTP

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Sometimes there are tasks you need to do with a WordPress website that either require or would be much easier to do via FTP. In this short tutorial I’ll explain how to do just that. In this case I’m going to upload a plugin.

1.  First you’ll need some FTP software, I’d recommend using FileZilla, a free FTP package that you can download from filezilla-project.org. Once downloaded install and open the program.

2. In the top left corner enter your Hostname, Username,  Password and port (21 for FTP, 22 for FTPS). These you can get from your internet provider, then click [Quickconnect].

3. The first time you connect to a server you may receive an “Unknown certificate” warning if the information provided is as expected, ie it has the name of your web host, click “Always trust certificate in future sessions” and click [OK]

4. Once connected to your server, you’ll be presented with a screen split down the middle. On the left are the files on your computer and on the right are those on your web server.

5. On the right, navigate to the folder you need, in this case to upload a plugin I needed to navigate to “public_html/wp-content/plugins”.

6. Now find the files or folder you need on your computer (The left hand panel).

7. Drag the files or folder from the left to the right to upload them to your web server.

8. You should now find the plugin or theme available in the WordPress dashboard.

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