How do I see who changed a file on a shared website?

Turn on the shared activity log for the site in FTP by Zaweba. From then on, each copy of the app that uses the site adds a line to a log file in the site's root folder after every upload, delete and rename. Choose Site > Site Activity to read it, with a filter to narrow it down to one file or one person.

For it to tell you who, everyone on the team needs to be using FTP by Zaweba with the log switched on for that site, and to have set their name.

What each line records

Every entry holds the time, the action (upload, delete or rename), the path, the name the person chose, their PC name and the app version. That's enough to answer most everyday questions: who replaced the home page image, when the old pricing page was renamed, whether anyone has touched the contact form this week.

Setting it up for a team

Each person sets their name in File > Options. Use something everyone will recognise; it's what appears in the log.

Each person switches on the shared activity log for the site in their own copy of the app. Because the log is written by each copy, one person leaving it off means their changes won't appear. If you share site settings with Site > Export Site Settings, it's worth checking this option on each PC after import.

Then work as normal. Lines are added after each upload, delete and rename without anyone doing anything extra.

Reading the log

Open Site > Site Activity. The filter is the useful part. Type part of a path to see the history of one page, or a person's name to see what they've been doing. The most recent changes are what most people look for, and the log keeps a limited number of the newest lines, so very old activity will have dropped off.

If you want to bring a colleague's changes down once you've seen them, Get Recent from Server lists server files changed in the last 15 minutes, hour, day or week, newest first.

What the log can and can't tell you

It's opt-in, because it writes a file to your server. Some people prefer not to, and that's a fair choice.

It's a guide, not an audit trail. It only knows about changes made through FTP by Zaweba copies with the log switched on. A file changed through the host's control panel, another FTP program or the website itself (a CMS saving an upload, say) won't appear. Treat it as a helpful record among colleagues, not proof.

Because it lives in the site's root folder, it's visible to anyone with FTP access to that site.

Other ways to work out what changed

When the log doesn't cover something, other tools in the app help. Compare with Server Copy on the right-click menu shows what changed inside a file, line by line. Local version history keeps the version a file had before you overwrote it, with when it was kept and where it came from. And before a single-file Put or Get overwrites something, the app warns you if the server copy changed since you last downloaded, opened, listed or uploaded it, which is often the first sign that someone else has been at work.

Put together, they give a small team a clear picture of who did what without needing a separate system.