How do I download my whole website from the server?

FTP by Zaweba has a command for exactly this, called Get Entire Site. Choose it from the toolbar (Get site) or the Site menu and it opens a preview of every file on the server, all ticked, including files that are newer on your PC. Confirm and the whole site comes down to your local folder. Any local file it replaces is kept first in local version history, so nothing you had is lost.

This page covers when to use it, what it leaves alone and how to do it safely.

When you'd want the whole site

The obvious case is starting out. You've taken on a site someone else built, or you're setting up a new PC, and you want a complete local copy to work from.

Another is a copy before big changes. Before a redesign or a plugin update, a full download gives you the site's files exactly as they stood.

The third is less obvious: you suspect your local copy has drifted. Perhaps you edited files on the PC that never went up, or you're not sure which side is right. Get Entire Site makes your local folder match the server, while history keeps what you had.

What you need first

Set up the site in Site Manager with its host, protocol, user name and remote folder (for example /public_html), plus a local folder on your PC for the copy. An empty folder is fine for a first download.

Look at the site's Exclude box while you're there. Patterns such as node_modules, *.log or cache/** mean those items are never transferred, which keeps a big download smaller. Equally, if you want a true full copy, make sure nothing important is excluded.

Downloading everything

Connect, then choose Get site on the toolbar or Site > Get Entire Site. If you only want part of the site, right-click a folder and choose Get All from Server, Ignore Newer Local.

The preview lists every server file with a tick. Unlike Get Newer, it includes files where your local copy is newer, because the point is to make the local side match the server.

Identical files are skipped. If you want every file fetched regardless, tick Also download files that are the same.

Untick anything you don't want, then start. Downloads run side by side, each on its own connection (three by default, up to ten in File > Options), and the transfer queue in the bottom panel shows progress. You can cancel, retry failed files, and copy the log if anything goes wrong.

What it never does

Files that exist only on your PC are never touched. Get Entire Site downloads; it doesn't delete. If you want the local folder to lose files that are no longer on the server, use Sync with Include deletions, which confirms before anything is deleted.

Nothing is changed on the server either. It's a one-way copy down.

Safety net and good habits

Every local file replaced by the download goes into local version history first. The history window shows when each version was kept, its size and where it came from, with Compare with current and Restore. Options let you set how many versions are kept per file, a total size cap and a maximum file size, so it's worth glancing at those limits before a very large download.

For a selection rather than a folder, Get Selected, Ignore Newer Local does the same job on just the files you've picked.

Once the copy is down, Get Newer and Sync are better for day-to-day work in FTP by Zaweba, because they only move what has changed. Keep Get Entire Site for the moments when you want certainty that your PC holds what the server holds.