Step 3 - Setting-up your first profile.

When WS_FTP LE first launches, it opens the Session Properties window.  Here is where you select which FTP site you want to connect to for this 'session'. 

All the information within this window is necessary to establish a connection with an FTP server on the Internet. With WS_FTP LE, you can save all this information in what is call a 'Profile'. 

The first time you launch WS_FTP LE, the default 'Profile' is for Ipswitch, the makers of WS_FTP LE. You will see all the necessary information for connecting to Ipswitch's FTP site, ftp://ftp.ipswitch.com.

For now, you do not need to worry about every field that appears in the Session Properties window.  What you will need to know are the following attributes:

This is all you need to know in order to connect to an FTP site. So that you can learn how to connect to different FTP sites, let's create a new Grande FTP site 'Profile'. 

From the Session Properties window, click on the New button.

All fields should go blank. Now you can create a new FTP site 'Profile'. The following information is what you need for an FTP connection to Grandecom's web servers. Your settings will be need to be adjusted depending on if you are uploading to your personal web site or if you have a virtual domain hosted with Grande.  For connecting as an anonymous user, check the "anonymous" box and enter your email address as the password.

The Session Properties window for personal web pages should now look similar to this:

The Session Properties window for a virtual domain should now look similar to this:

Now click the Apply button.  Congratulations, you have successfully created and saved your first 'Profile' in WS_FTP LE.  

Now Click on the OK button and WS_FTP LE will connect you to your Grande FTP site.  If you have speakers on your computer, you'll hear the sound of train when you've successfully connected.

If you do not connect successfully, check that you have entered your username and password correctly. For personal home pages, your username will be the first part of your primary email address (username@grandecom.net).

For virtual domains, make sure that the username and password fields are filled in with the infomation that you gave when setting up your account.

If you are logged in as anonymous, you will need to change to the incoming directory (by double-clicking the incoming folder) to upload files. For security reasons, you will not be able to see the contents of this directory, but you may upload and download files of which you know the name.

Your screen should now look somewhat like this for personal home pages:

Your screen should now look somewhat like this for virtual domains:

The pane on the left is a view of the files on your computer or your 'Local System'. The pane on the right is a view of the files on the you're connected to or the 'Remote Site'.

Transfering Files with WS_FTP LE

If you have a personal web site, you must upload your files into the public_html folder for them to appear on the Internet. Double click the public_html folder and you will be placed in that directory. You will see the default index.html file. This file is just a placeholder and can be overwritten at any time. If you have a virtual domain, place the files that you want accesible to the Internet into the html folder.

To transfer a file, simply double click it. If you double-click a file on the left side (local), it will transfer to the right (remote) and vice versa. This is how you will get your web pages published.

Your transfer will begin and should be finished within a few seconds.  If you have speakers set up to your computer you'll hear a sound confirming the transfer is complete.  Congratulations, you have successfully transfered a file using WS_FTP LE!

The default view of your Local System (left pane) is 'C:\Program Files\WS_FTP'. You can move up to 'C:\Program Files' by double-clicking the green up-arrow.  To move up to to 'C:\', double-click the up arrow again. To change to another drive letter, scroll down and double-click on any available drive.

To close your connection click the 'Close' button in the bottom left-hand corner.

If you have a personal web page, you can view your site at:
http://home.grandecom.net/~username