How to use FTP to upload files to WordPress for Beginners

File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is a fast and simple way to transfer files from one computer to another over the internet. In simple term, it is how you send one file from your computer to your web hosting server. In this article, we will show you how to use FTP to upload a plugin to WordPress. We will also show you how to change the permissions of each individual file. In the video tutorial, we will be using a software called WS_FTP Pro for Windows. The steps and instructions will carry over to pretty much all FTP softwares with a graphical user-interface.

Why knowing how to FTP is important?

There are times when you install and activate a plugin using the WordPress dashboard just to find that this plugin is incompatible with an existing plugin. The incompatibility sometimes causes a white screen of death through out the site which locks you out from doing anything. If you know how to use FTP, then instead of freaking out, you will simply login-in and delete the plugin using the FTP connection.

Often when you are trying to paste codes from tutorials into the functions.php file of your theme, you can accidentally lock yourself out. This can happen if you paste the code in the wrong place, or the code wasn’t semantically right. Knowing how to use FTP can get you out of trouble in a matter of minutes.

There will be times that you get a permission error upon activation of a plugin. The error will say, plugin cannot create XYZ folder because of the file permissions. That is when knowing how to change CHMOD permissions help.

Last but definitely not the least, knowing how to use FTP is the next step up from a beginner. It will save you a lot of time and stress.

Having that said, go ahead and watch the video:

If you are looking for other FTP clients, then here is a list of few that are good:

Filezilla (All Platform)
FireFTP (All Platform)
Cyberduck (Mac Only)
WinSCP (Windows Only)