To transfer files using FTP on your Mac, third-party tools are recommended. The preferred method is to use FileZilla (free). After downloading and installing, enter the host, username, password and port (default 21) for quick connection. The left side is the local file and the right side is the server file. You can upload or download it by double-clicking it. Secondly, you can use the terminal command line to open Terminal and enter the ftp host address, and log in as prompts. Use ls, get, put and other commands to manage files. However, this method does not support SFTP and is complicated to operate. The "Guest Connection" mentioned in some tutorials is only suitable for non-encrypted FTP. It has poor compatibility. It is recommended to only use for temporary viewing. Overall, FileZilla is the most stable and intuitive choice, while terminals are suitable for occasionally transferring small files.

It is actually not difficult to use FTP to transfer files on a Mac, but the system itself does not have a graphical FTP client, so it needs to use third-party tools to operate. Here are some common and simple methods.

Recommended use: FileZilla (free)

This is one of the most commonly used FTP tools, cross-platform, full-featured, suitable for beginners and veterans.

• Download and install FileZilla, the official website has a macOS version
• After opening it, fill in the four boxes at the top:
  • Host: Your server address (such as ftp.example.com)
  • Username: Login account
  • Password: Corresponding password
  • Port: Generally, the default is 21. If not, please confirm it.

Click "Quick Connect" to enter. On the left is your local file, on the right is the content on the server. Just double-click to upload or download.

If you are used to terminal: use command line operation

Mac comes with a command line FTP tool, which is simple but sufficient.

Open Terminal and enter:

 ftp host address

Then follow the prompts to enter your username and password. After entering, you can use ls to view the directory, download get 文件名, and upload put 文件名.

However, this method is not very friendly to people who are not familiar with commands, and does not support SFTP, which makes security and modernity almost meaningful.

Not recommended: Mount remote directory through guest connection

Some tutorials say to add an FTP address in the "Guest Connection" and then access FTP like you would access the disk. This method can only be used for FTP (non-encrypted). Now many servers use SFTP instead, so it may not be used.

Moreover, the experience is not very good, it is easy to disconnect, and upload and download cannot be processed in batches. It is recommended to only use it as a temporary file viewing.

In general, FileZilla is recommended for daily use, which is stable and intuitive; occasionally you can pass on small files, and you can also try terminal commands. Although FTP is old, it is quite common in some website maintenance and server management scenarios.

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