Using Your Volusion FTP Account

Volusion stores come equipped with FTP account access for users to quickly upload and download files to and from their Volusion store.

There are numerous software applications that can be used to access your store's FTP account. This article will detail some of the ways you can connect to your FTP account using some of the most popular software available today.

Note: For information on how to set up your Volusion store's FTP account or troubleshoot issues connecting to your FTP account, please see these articles on FTP Account Setup and FTP Connection Troubleshooting.

Note for V11 Users

When you use FTP to upload images, it can take up to 24 hours for these images to be automatically refreshed onto the CDN servers. Therefore it is important to manually refresh your site’s image cache whenever you use FTP to upload images. See Refreshing your CDN Image Cache below for instructions.

File Commander

File Commander is a popular free FTP client program available from http://www.internet-soft.com.

To log into your Volusion store's FTP account using File Commander, do the following:

  1. Launch File Commander.
  2. Click the New Server button above the Server List pane.
  3. Enter a name for this connection in the Name field. This will enable you to save these settings.
  4. Enter your store's domain name, Servertrust address** or IP address into the field marked FTP Server.
  5. If not already set, enter "21" into the field labeled FTP Port
  6. Enter your user name and password in the User ID and Password fields respectively.
  7. Leave the checkboxes checked.
  8. Click Save.

 

**See Finding Your Servertrust Address below for instructions.

Now this connection will be available by clicking the name you gave it in the Server List column.

Once logged into your FTP account with your local computer workstations files and directories will be listed in the program's left-hand column. The files and directories in your Volusion store will be listed in the right-hand column. 

FileZilla

FileZilla is another popular FTP client program available as a free download from the Web. The added benefit of FileZilla is that it is freely available for Windows, Macintosh and even Linux users. You can download the latest version of FileZilla here.

To log into your Volusion store's FTP account using FileZilla, do the following:

  1. Launch FileZilla.
  2. Enter your store's domain name, Servertrust address** or IP address into the field marked Host.
  3. Enter your user name and password in the Username and Password fields respectively.
  4. Enter "21" into the field labeled Port and click Quickconnect. Show

 

**See Finding Your Servertrust Address below for instructions.

Once logged into your FTP account with FileZilla your local computer workstations files and directories should be listed in the program's left-hand column. The local files and directories in your Volusion store will be listed in the right-hand column. Show

Fire FTP

FireFTP is an FTP plug-in for the popular Firefox web browser. Once this plug-in is installed into the browser, you can use it as an FTP program within Firefox.

You can use the following links download the latest version of Firefox and FireFTP from the Web - they're totally free for Windows users!

Once you have installed Firefox on your PC, you can then use the instructions provided here to install the FireFTP plug-in into Firefox. Once this is done, you can access your Volusion FTP account through Firefox by doing the following:

  1. Launch the Firefox Browser.
  2. In Firefox's menu bar, click the Tools link and then select FireFTP. Show
  3. Click on the Create an account dropdown. The Account Manager window will open: Show
  4. Enter a name for this account. This can be anything meaningful (eg. "my volusion store")
  5. In the area labeled Host, enter your store's domain name (e.g. "www.superwidgets.com"), Servertrust address** (e.g. "abcde.fghij.servertrust.com") or your store's IP address (e.g. "64.123.45.67").
  6. Enter your username and password into the Login and Password fields.
  7. Click OK. Show
  8. You can now select this account from the dropdown to connect to your store's FTP account. Show

 

**See Finding Your Servertrust Address below for instructions.

Note that in using FireFTP, you will notice the browser window is divided into two sections. The left half of the window will contain the files on your local computer. The right half of the browser window will list all of the files and directories within your store's FTP account.

Most other FTP clients can be configured in much the same way as those shown above.

Resetting your Photo Cache (V11 only)

Your store's product image cache is refreshed every night, making sure that your store shows only current images. However, if you FTP product images to your store you should click on this link afterward to refresh the cache immediately.

  1. In your Volusion admin pages, go to Setting > Maintenance.
  2. From the Maintenance Toolbox list, click Reset Photo Cache.

Refreshing your CDN Image Cache (V11 only)

IIf you are using V11, you will need to refresh your CDN Image Cache every time you FTP  image files to your store to ensure that the servers on the Akamai CDN have the latest versions of all your images. To do this:

  1. When you have FTPed all your images, log on to your Volusion store's admin pages, and go to Setting > Maintenance.
  2. From the Maintenance Toolbox list, click Refresh CDN Image Cache. Show
  3. The Refresh CDN Image Cache window is displayed. Select the image(s) to be refreshed (i.e. those you have just uploaded) and click Refresh. You also have the option to refresh all product images, although this can serious affect your store’s performance while the refresh is being completed. Show
  4. A confirmation message will be displayed when the selected images have been refreshed. Click OK to close.

Linking to an Image or File

When you have uploaded an image or file via FTP, you can then link to it from within your store using HTML. Note that when you link to a file or image, you need to add  "/v/" before the filepath to which you have uploaded the file.

For example, if you upload an image file called image1.jpg to a directory called filedir, you will need to link to it as follows:

<img src="/v/filedir/image1.jpg">

Note that you do not need to include your domain name in the filepath if you are linking to the file from within your store. If you will be linking to an image from a different website, you will need to include the full reference url:

<img src="http://YourDomain.com/v/filedir/image1.jpg">

Finding Your Servertrust Address

Some FTP Clients will work by entering your Servertrust address instead of your store domain name or IP address. Read below to find your store's Servertrust address.

  1. Log in to your my.volusion.com account.
  2. Click Manage FTP in the left navigation menu under the my store header.
  3. If necessary, select the domain you need from the Choose a Domain drop-down menu.
  4. You will find your Servertrust address listed under the Temp URL label. Show

 

This Servertrust address can be used to access your store's FTP.

Summary

There are many more applications that you can use to connect to your Volusion FTP account with. These few examples demonstrate how to connect to a Volusion store via FTP, using some of the more popular tools available today. If you have your own, favorite FTP program you wish to you, please do so. As most FTP software performs in a similar manner, feel free to use this article to help understand how to connect to your Volusion FTP account with your preferred application.

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