How to edit an .htaccess file on your server

Connect to the site in FTP by Zaweba, find .htaccess in the server pane and open it. It opens in the app's own code editor, which has syntax colouring for Apache .htaccess files built in. Make your change, save, and upload it, or switch on Upload on Save and let saving do both.

There are a few things worth knowing about this particular file before you touch it.

Why it can be hard to find

The name starts with a dot, which some systems treat as hidden. If you can't see it, check you're in the right folder; it usually sits in the web root (often /public_html) and sometimes in subfolders too, each one affecting its own folder. The funnel button on each pane filters by name, so typing htaccess there finds it quickly on a busy site.

Editing it well

The editor shows what kind of file it is on the status bar, along with its encoding and line endings. Syntax colouring separates directives from their values, which makes a missing space or a stray character easier to spot.

Saving keeps the file's encoding and line endings exactly as they were. That matters here: web servers expect a plain file, and an editor that quietly changes it can cause odd faults. If you ever need to, the status-bar menus convert line endings to LF (Unix / web servers).

Make one change at a time and test it. A mistake in .htaccess can stop a whole site from loading, often with a bare server error. Small steps make it obvious which line caused it.

Keeping a way back

Before a save overwrites your local copy, and before a Put overwrites the server's, FTP by Zaweba keeps the previous version in local version history on your PC. If the site breaks, open history, compare the old version with the new using Compare with current, and press Restore. Then upload it again.

If the server's copy has been changed by someone else since you opened it, the app warns before a single-file Put overwrites it, lining up both sides' times and sizes. Compare with Server Copy on the right-click menu shows exactly what they changed.

Protected from deletion

.htaccess is one of FTP by Zaweba's protected paths. The app blocks it from being moved, renamed, deleted or given new permissions, so a tidy-up can't remove it by accident. Batch confirmations list it as left out. Editing its contents is still allowed, which is usually all you want to do.

A site option in Site Manager can allow Disk to change protected items, but it isn't recommended. If you ever use it, switch it off again afterwards.

Checking the result

Test in a real browser after each upload, because .htaccess only takes effect on the server. Live Preview in FTP by Zaweba is for previewing pages from your PC and never runs anything against the live site, so it won't show the effect of server rules like redirects. The browser on the live address is the place to confirm them.

Once it works, keep the local copy. It's your best backup of a file that's small, easy to break and important to the whole site.