What you were given

Somebody has given you access to a file transfer service so you can send files, fetch files, or both.

This guide is for you. It does not assume you know anything about file transfer, and it does not ask you to configure anything.

The three things you should have

You were given	It looks like	What it is for
An address	files.company.com or company.on.sftp.cloud	Where to connect
A username	alice@company	Who you are
A password, an SSH key, or both		Proving it is you

If you are missing any of them, ask the person who set up your access. Nobody else can tell you.

Your username probably contains an @

That is normal, and it is not an email address. Type it exactly as you were given it, including everything after the @.

Three ways to connect

You can use any of these, or all of them. They reach the same files.

A web browser

Nothing to install. Open the address in a browser and sign in.

Best for: occasional use, sharing a file with somebody outside your organization, working from a machine that is not yours.

Start here: Sign in to the web client.

An SFTP client

A desktop program such as WinSCP, FileZilla or Cyberduck.

Best for: regular use, large files, whole folders, anything you would rather drag and drop.

Start here: Connect with an SFTP client.

An FTPS client

The same idea, over a different protocol. Use it if you were told to, or if your existing tooling speaks FTPS.

Start here: Connect with an FTPS client.

Which one should you use

If you	Use
Need to move a couple of files, occasionally	The web browser
Need to move a lot, or whole folders, or very large files	An SFTP client
Need to send somebody a link to a file	The web browser, then Sharing files
Are automating a transfer from a script or a scheduled job	An SFTP client, with an SSH key. See Automated and scheduled transfers
Were told to use FTPS	An FTPS client

Some things you cannot change, and that is normal

• Which folders you see. Your administrator decides that.
• What you may do in them. Some folders let you upload and not download, or the other way around. That is deliberate, not a fault.
• Your username. Ask your administrator if it needs to change.

Security, briefly

Set up a second factor if you use the web browser. It takes two minutes and it is the single biggest thing you can do to protect your account. See Set up your second factor.

Use an SSH key if you use an SFTP client, especially for anything automated. It is stronger than a password and it does not expire. See Use an SSH key.

The second factor covers the browser only

An authenticator code or a passkey is asked for when you sign in with a web browser. SFTP and FTPS have no way to ask you for a code, so on those a password is all that stands in the way.

That is why an SSH key matters there. Ask your administrator to register one for you and to remove your password.

If something does not work

Troubleshooting covers what usually goes wrong and what it means. If it is not there, the person who gave you your access is the right person to ask.