FTP, or File Transfer Protocol, is a great method for uploading photos to your PhotoShelter account in bulk, as it will allow you to upload multiple folders from your computer at once. To upload via FTP, you’ll need to download a FTP client (many of which are free) to transfer files to PhotoShelter.
The sections below walk through the process to set up and transfer files via FTP. Please note that in order to upload via FTP, you’ll need a Standard or Pro subscription. Standard accounts allow for only one FTP user to be active at a given moment, while Pro account holders have no limit.
Setting up your FTP Credentials
Setting up your FTP Client
Transferring Files
Troubleshooting FTP Issues
Setting up your FTP Credentials
1. Log in to your PhotoShelter account.
2. Click the "Upload" menu from the navigation bar and select "Incoming FTP."
*The New Library (Lumen) FTP Menu can be found under Settings > Incoming FTP, here: https://library.photoshelter.com/settings
| Old Library | New Library (Lumen) |
3. On the Incoming FTP page, click on the option to add a new incoming FTP user. If you're setting this up for the first time, the screen will look like this:
If you have existing FTP users, you can add a new one:
You will be taken to this screen:
4. Target an upload destination to have all images transferred to a single gallery or a collection.
- If you choose a collection as the destination, the images will be placed in an auto-generated gallery within that collection. Setting a collection as the destination will allow you to upload multiple folders from your computer or hard drive into that collection.
- If the gallery you'd like to upload to already exists (even if it is nested in an existing collection), begin typing the name of the gallery and it will auto populate allowing you to select that gallery as the upload destination. You cannot upload multiple folders from your computer or hard drive if you set the destination as a gallery.
- If no destination is chosen, we'll automatically replicate the structure on your computer or hard drive in a newly created "Incoming FTP" collection.
5. Create a username and password. One will be generated automatically, but this can be edited to whatever you choose.
6. Click "Save" to create the user account. A new window will appear that will let you copy the credentials to your computer’s clipboard.
7. Enable your new FTP account. Only our Pro accounts are able to have more than one Incoming FTP enabled at a time. If you have multiple incoming FTPs that need to be active simultaneously, we recommend upgrading to Pro. Otherwise, you can enable the FTP by clicking "Yes" or "No" on the incoming FTP page.
Setting up your FTP Client
In order to transmit photos via FTP, you’ll need to use a FTP client. The FTP client is the application that you use to connect to the PhotoShelter FTP server, select your files to upload, and initiate the transfer. There are many FTP clients available. Our documentation will reference the settings in FileZilla, but as long as your FTP client of choice has similar options, then you can do the same in that client. If you don’t already have a FTP client set up, we recommend FileZilla, as it’s free and relatively easy to use.
Creating a “New Site” to save connection configuration
1. In FileZilla, click “File” > “Site Manager…”
2. Click “New Site” in the bottom left and name the connection.
3. On the right pane under the “General” tab add:
- Host: ftp.photoshelter.com
- Port: 21
- Your username and password that you created in your PhotoShelter incoming FTP settings.
4. Select the “Transfer Settings” tab in the right pane.
5. Check off “Limit number of simultaneous connections” and set “Maximum number of connections” to “1.”
6. Transfer mode should be “Default” or “Passive.” The connection will turn into “Passive” when the transfer begins.
7. Click “OK.”
Setting Simultaneous Transfers to 1
As a best practice, we recommend limiting simultaneous transfers to one. Utilizing more than one simultaneous transfer can cause issues uploading in batch. To configure that in FileZilla:
1. Click “Edit” > “Settings…”
2. Choose “Transfers” on the left pane.
3. Under the heading “Concurrent transfers” set the “Maximum simultaneous connections” to “1.”
4. Click “OK.”
Skipping existing filenames in the chosen gallery/collection upon upload
If you want to upload a folder and make sure that you are skipping the upload of files that already exist in the same gallery or collection, you can tell FileZilla to skip the file with these steps:
1. In FileZilla click “Edit” > “Settings…”
2. Choose “File exists action” on the left pane (under the “Transfers” heading).
3. From the dropdown menu on the right, choose “Skip file” or any of the options that suit your desired action for the next transfer you will make.
4. Click “OK.”
5. Click “Apply” and then “OK.” If you are going to try to re-upload the folder, you can request that FileZilla skip existing files that transferred successfully.
Transferring Files
The exact steps to initiate a transfer may differ depending on your FTP client. To begin a transfer in FileZilla, follow these steps:
1. If you created a “New Site” as mentioned in Setting up Your FTP Client above, you can choose to connect from there. Click “File” > “Site Manager” and choose the connection you made. Then click the blue “Connect” button to log into the receiving server.
If you haven't saved the connection, you can use the credentials you created and do a Quick Connect from the top panel. The Server/Host should be "ftp.photoshelter.com" and Port should be "21":
2. Once you're connected, use the left pane under “Local site” to navigate to the location of the files that you want to upload.
- If you choose a folder with nested folders, PhotoShelter will do its best to replicate that structure in your account.
- You can also select individual files in the left pane.
- Note: You may notice that the right pane does not show a list of your PhotoShelter galleries and collections. Our FTP connections do not allow the sender to open and view the contents of your account. If you need to change the FTP destination gallery or collection, you can do so by editing your connection details (see Setting Up Your FTP Credentials above).
3. Select the files or folders you are going to upload (they should be highlighted in the left pane).
4. Right click on the selected files or folders and click the option “Upload” from the menu to begin the transfer.
The files that have transferred successfully will appear in the right pane. Progress and error logs will show in the top panel.
The queue of files being transferred will be at the bottom along with each file’s upload progress and speed of upload. There are also tabs at the bottom that show the Failed transfers and Successful transfers which you can check after the transfer completes.
Troubleshooting FTP Issues
If you see failed transfers with the error “Prohibited Directory Name,” we suggest editing your settings to skip file and folder types that our server will reject (such as hidden files and hidden folders on your computer). To do this in FileZilla, follow these steps:
1. Click “View” > “Directory listing filters.”
2. Click “Edit filter rules...”
3. Add a new filter with the blue “New” button. Name it “Special Filter” or anything you’d like (the name is inconsequential).
4. Set the filter to:
- Filter Conditions: “Filter out items matching all of the following”
- “Filename”; “Begins with”; “.”
- Check the boxes under “Filter applies to” for both “Files” and “Directories.”
5. Click “OK”.
6. On the next screen, check the box next to the “Special filter” you just made, Useless Explorer files, and “Temporary and backup files.”