Publishing Your RootsWeb Site with Filezilla

IMPORTANT: There are two versions of Filezilla offered, make sure you are downloading and installing FILEZILLA CLIENT not Filezilla Server. If you are not seeing the same screens as the included screenshots, you are probably using the wrong version.

Step One: Download and install Filezilla to your computer. NOTE: You can also use Quick Connect BUT you can have different custom settings in the site manager that you cannot do in the Quick Connect. 

Step Two: Configure Filezilla following these instructions. Click on any thumbnail for a larger image.

GENERAL TAB:

Screenshot Site Manager General Tab.

  • Protocol - SFTP - SSH File Tranfer Protocol
  • Host - sftp://sitesuser.rootsweb.com
  • Port: 22
  • Logon type: Normal
  • Username: sitename i.e. gearyfamily
     NOTE: Do NOT include the tilde ~
  • Password: You should have requested a NEW password that will be different from your original one. Since your password is case sensitive, you may want to use copy and paste to make sure that you don't mistype it. 
    IMPORTANT NOTE    : Passwords must be between 10 and 32 characters long, and must contain at least one uppercase letter, one lowercase letter, one number, and one of the following special characters:
     _ ! @ # ( )
    No other characters are allowed!! Asterisk (*) and ampersand (&) are NOT accepted characters.
  • Comments: Add details if you want (I add my password in the comments section)

ADVANCED TAB:

  • Server Type : Autodetect
  • Default Local Directory: click on the Browse button and navigate to the location of YOUR LOCAL website.
  • Default Remote Directory: /sitename/genealogy_html or /sitename/public_html
    If you are connecting to your Homepages account, the remote folder will be public_html If you are connecting to a Freepages account, you will enter the appropriate community directory e.g. genealogy_html, family_html, misc_html, etc.
    NOTE    : If you try to enter a remote directory without the forward slash / , you will get an Invalid Data message.
    Invalid Data message.

Screenshot Advanced screen for transferring contents of one community (genealogy_html) to your computer

Screenshot Sile Manager Advanced Tab.

TRANSFER SETTINGS:

  • Leave Blank.

CHARSET TAB:

  • Autodetect

You will see your Local folder contents in one pane and the Remote contents in the other pane. If you did not enter a remote directory path, you will see a list of all the communities/directories available for your use.

Screenshot Filezilla Local and Remote site.

Step Three: If you have followed the instructions, in the top section of the Remote directory you will see your site name, and in the Remote directory bottom section you will see directories/files  that currently make up your site.

The first entry in the Remote directory bottom section is a folder symbol with 2 dots after it; ignore it, as it is the link back to your root directory

Likewise, looking at your Local directory you will see a similar folder symbol, and the folder/files that are your local site.

You can now highlight any file/folder in your local site. right-click and select upload. IMPORTANT NOTE: Make sure you have the correct directory open on the remote site before you transfer your files/folder.

It may take some time if your connection is a dial-up, but if on an optical broadband connection it could be all done in a few minutes - or much less depending on the size of your site.

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you are using more than one community, you will need to do this for EACH community. NOTE: At the current time, you will not be able to view any of the other communities/directories on the Internet. RootsWeb is working on that.

DO NOT delete the unused folders (family_html, history_html, etc.). They are part of your account and structure and deleting them can corrupt your account.

Revised & Updated: April 15, 2019