I downloaded FileZilla because my hosting company told me to use it, but now I’m just staring at the window with no idea what to do. Where do I even type in my login info, and how do I actually get my files onto the server. Sorry if this is a dumb question, first time doing anything like this.
The same question got asked on the official forum too.
Quick version: get your host, username, password, and port from your hosting provider. Type them into the Quickconnect bar at the top of FileZilla and hit connect. You can also type a protocol prefix like sftp:// right into the Host box, explained here.
Once connected, you’ll see two panels, your computer on the left and the server on the right. Drag files from left to right to upload, right to left to download. That’s really it.
If you’ll reconnect to the same server later, save it under File then Site Manager so you don’t retype everything each time.
One thing to know about editing files directly on the server through FileZilla. It downloads a temp copy, waits for you to save your changes, then re-uploads it. Works fine, just an extra step in the background. But CloudMounter, for example, takes a different approach and mounts the server as an actual drive on your computer, so opening and saving a file behaves more like editing something already sitting on your hard drive, without that separate download and re-upload step.
A successful upload can still leave your website unchanged if you put the files in the wrong remote folder. The web root is often named public_html, www, or htdocs, but that varies by host. Check your hosting control panel rather than guessing, and keep a backup before replacing anything already there.
For the connection, use the server hostname supplied by your host, not the full website address with https://. Enter the assigned username and password. Port 21 normally means FTP or encrypted FTP, while port 22 normally means SFTP. Those protocols are different, so changing only the port will not fix a mismatched setup. If your provider supports SFTP, I would use that instead of plain FTP.
Once connected, browse to the correct local folder on the left and the web root on the right, then drag the files across. Watch the bottom transfer queue for failed items and read the status messages at the top if it disconnects. Errors such as “authentication failed,” “permission denied,” and “connection timed out” point to different problems, so the exact message matters more than FileZilla simply saying it could not connect.
Don’t overwrite the files on the right until you’ve downloaded a backup copy. Use FileZilla’s top bar for the host, username, password, and port, connect, then open your site folder on the left and the host’s web root on the right. Drag the contents of your site folder across, not the folder itself, or you may accidentally create an extra nested directory. Afterward, check the transfer queue for failures and make sure the home page is named something the server recognizes, usually index.html or index.php.
Don’t enter your hosting control-panel password unless the provider specifically says it doubles as your FTP login. Many hosts issue separate FTP or SFTP credentials, and repeated guesses can temporarily lock the account.
For a first setup, I’d skip Quickconnect and open File > Site Manager. Create a new site, choose the protocol your host gave you, enter the server name, port, username, and password, then connect. If SFTP shows a host-key fingerprint on the first connection, compare it with the fingerprint supplied by your host before accepting it. That prompt is normal, but blindly approving it defeats the security check.
After connecting, treat the panes like two file managers: your computer is on the left and the server is on the right. Find the correct web directory on the right, then upload a single harmless test file before moving the whole site. Visit that file in your browser. If it appears, you have the right directory and can continue. If it does not, stop and confirm the document root rather than dragging the same files into several folders and creating a cleanup job.
Open the setup email or hosting dashboard and find the credentials labeled FTP, FTPS, or SFTP. Don’t guess from your normal website login. You need four pieces of information: server or host name, username, password, and usually a port. If the host gave you SFTP details, select SFTP rather than choosing regular FTP and hoping the port sorts it out.
In FileZilla, go to File > Site Manager, click New Site, and enter those details there. The top Quickconnect boxes work, but Site Manager makes the protocol choice clearer and saves the setup for next time. Match whatever wording your host uses:
Host: something like ftp.example.com or a server name
Protocol: FTP, FTP over TLS, or SFTP
Port: exactly what the host supplied
Logon type: Normal
User and password: the separate file-transfer credentials
Then click Connect. A first-time certificate or server-key prompt can be normal, but compare the details with your hosting information instead of automatically accepting anything that appears. If login fails, copy the exact red error message from the log at the top. “Authentication failed” is a credentials problem. A timeout usually points more toward the host name, port, firewall, or server availability. Copying a password from an email can sometimes include a stray space, too, which is a surprisingly annoying cause of failed logins.
After you connect, ignore most of the buttons for a minute. The left half is your computer. The right half is the hosting account. Browse on the left until you can see files such as index.html, index.php, your images folder, or whatever makes up the site. On the right, open the document root confirmed by your host. As @stacklab1415 said, the directory name varies, so don’t assume every folder called www or public_html is automatically correct if the account contains several domains.
Drag a single test file from left to right first. Watch the bottom of FileZilla until it leaves “Queued files” and appears under “Successful transfers.” Then try opening that file through your browser. That small test is less messy than uploading hundreds of files and discovering they landed under the wrong domain.
Once the location is confirmed, select the actual site contents on the left and drag them into the remote directory. FileZilla starts copying immediately. There is no separate Publish button and no undo bin on the server. If it asks whether to overwrite an existing file, stop long enough to check that you are replacing the intended version.
A common beginner trap is uploading a ZIP file and expecting the website to run from it. FileZilla transfers the ZIP but does not normally unpack it on the server. Extract it on your computer and upload the contents, or use the hosting control panel’s file manager if it has an extraction command. Uploading the loose files through FileZilla can take longer when the site contains thousands of tiny files, so the control-panel method may be quicker for a large archive.
Finally, check both the “Failed transfers” tab and the message log before disconnecting. A file appearing in the remote pane does not guarantee every item finished. When the queue is empty, use Server > Disconnect. If the new site still looks unchanged, refresh without cache or try a private browser window before uploading everything again, since an old cached page can make a perfectly good upload look like it did nothing.
FileZilla does not “publish” or set up a website. It only copies files between your computer and the hosting server.
Get the FTP/SFTP details from your host, then enter the server name, username, password, and port in the boxes across the top. If the host says SFTP, put sftp:// before the server name or configure it under File > Site Manager. Click Quickconnect. When it connects, find your files in the left pane, open the host’s document-root folder in the right pane, and drag the files from left to right. Let the transfer queue finish before closing FileZilla.
Be aware that this is enough for a plain HTML site, but not necessarily for WordPress or another database-based site. FileZilla can upload the program files, themes, and images, but it will not import the database or correct the site configuration. If that is what you are moving, you will need the hosting control panel or the host’s migration process as well.
If the files transfer but redirects or “pretty” URLs stop working, check whether .htaccess was included. It’s a hidden file, so use Server > Force showing hidden files in FileZilla before assuming the upload is complete.
If FileZilla connects but then just sits there timing out on the file list, switch it from active to passive mode in the connection settings before you blame your login. Corporate or home routers block active FTP constantly and nobody in the thread flagged it. Everything @shadowcloudflow said about reading the exact error still holds, that one just doesn’t always show up as a clear message.
FileZilla saves your passwords in plain text unless you set a master password under Settings. If you ever share your machine or sync your config folder somewhere, that’s your FTP login sitting there readable. Not a reason to panic, just set the master password or use the ‘prompt for password’ logon type and you avoid it.
Everyone’s already covered the connect-and-drag basics well, and @fusionadmin2079prime’s point about passive mode is the one I’d underline hardest, because that ‘connects then hangs on the directory listing’ symptom fools a lot of people into re-entering credentials that were fine all along. The thing I don’t see mentioned is file permissions. Plain HTML you won’t notice, but if you upload anything that needs to execute or write, the server may reject it until the permissions are right. FileZilla lets you fix that with right click then File permissions (chmod), so you don’t have to go hunting in the control panel.
On CloudMounter from the first reply, mounting the server as a drive is genuinely nicer for editing one or two files repeatedly, no temp-download dance. But for a first full site upload I wouldn’t bother switching tools yet. Get one connection working in FileZilla, confirm the right web root with a test file like the others said, then decide if the mount workflow is worth it for how you actually work day to day.