Copying a file's web address in FTP by Zaweba

Sooner or later, every file you upload needs to be pasted somewhere. A PDF goes into a newsletter, an image goes into a support ticket, a new page goes into a message to the person who asked for it. Working out its address by hand means knowing where the web root is, which part of the server path to drop and how the domain fits on the front, and it is easy to get one slash wrong. FTP by Zaweba does it for you from the right-click menu on any server file or folder.

Two commands, two jobs

Copy Server Path copies the full path of the item as the server sees it. That is what you want when you are writing a support request to your hosting company, filling in a setting in a control panel, or telling someone exactly where a file lives so they can find it in their own client.

Copy Public URL copies the address a browser would use. It joins the site's public address to the part of the path that sits under the web root. With a public address of https://example.com, a file in the software/zip folder of the web root comes out as https://example.com/software/zip/index.html. Paste it into a browser, an email or a chat and it works.

Setting the public address

The public address is a field in Site Manager, alongside the host, protocol, remote folder and local folder. Fill it in once for each site and Copy Public URL uses it from then on. It is worth doing even if you rarely use this command, because other parts of the app use the same field. The optional PHP scan in the Disk view needs it, for example.

If the public address is empty, Copy Public URL still does something useful: it copies the path from the web root. That is the form you would use in a link inside your own site, so it is not wasted, but it will not open in a browser on its own.

Folders and several files

Copying a folder's address gives it a trailing slash, which is how folders are usually written in a web address. Select several files before you right-click and you get one address per line. That makes it quick to send a list of new downloads, or to paste a set of image addresses into a spreadsheet or a content management system.

Where it fits in a day's work

A typical use goes like this. You prepare a picture, make it smaller with Save for Web, upload it with Put, then right-click it on the server and copy its public address to paste into a page or a message. Because the address comes from the server pane, you know the file really is there before you share it, and you can open it in a browser to check it loads.

It also helps when checking someone else's work. If a colleague says they have uploaded a new page, find it in the server pane (the date filter set to Today makes that quick), copy its public address and open it. If the page is missing, the server pane tells you before the browser does.

When you are tidying a site, Copy Server Path is a good companion to the Disk view. Note the paths of files you are unsure about and ask the person who owns them before anything is moved or deleted.

Getting it right

Check the remote folder in Site Manager points at the web root (often something like /public_html). The public address is joined to the path from that root, so if the folders are set up differently the addresses will not line up with what a browser sees. After setting things up, try the command on a file you know, such as your home page, and open the result to make sure it is right.

Remember too that a file on the server is not always reachable from the web. Files outside the web root, or ones a server rule blocks, have a server path but no working public address. If an address you copied gives an error, that is a likely reason.

It is a small feature, but it removes a fiddly step that happens many times a week, and it takes the guesswork out of sending people the right link.