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FTP & File Transfer Applications

Transmit

Home Page Release Notes Screen Shots License:
Shareware; $34

Current Version: 4.0.6 (July 7, 2010)

Transmit (formerly Transit) is one of the newer Mac FTP clients, and it has a promising premise: its look and feel mimics the elegance of the Finder.

Transmit 4.0 brought the following major enhancements:

  • Engine
    • Transmit Twin-Turbo Engine
    • Up to 25x faster for small files
    • Multi-Connection Transfers
    • For faster batch transfers
    • Integrated Transfers View
    • FXP Support
    • For direct server-to-server xfer
    • Bandwidth Limiting
  • Interface
    • Completely Reimagined
    • Cleaner, cooler, cake-ier.
    • Tear-Off Tabs
    • Twin Progress Bar
    • See current and overall progress
    • Local-Local / Remote-Remote
    • Cover Flow
    • Image Thumbnail View
    • Disclosable List View
    • Quick Look
    • Custom Favorites Icons
    • Labels
    • One / Two Pane Switcher
    • Just one view if you want
    • Extra-Compact Minimum Size
  • Sync
    • Friendly File Sync
    • A nice, plain-English bubble talks you through the sync.
    • Compare via File Size
  • Navigation
    • Path Bar Pro
    • Places Pop-Up
    • Jump to your most-used folders
    • Improved Folder Linking
    • Navigate both sides at once
    • Multi-Touch Navigation
    • 3-finger swipe, back or forward
    • Show Folders Above Files
  • Transfers
    • Advanced File Skipping
    • Skipping files is not just for sync anymore: set rules for anytime.
    • More Flexible Default Permissions
    • Advanced Server Preferences
    • Hard-core options now exposed
    • Continue on Errors
    • Easily Repeat Transfers
    • Right-click a transfer to re-do it
  • Amazon S3
    • CloudFront Support
    • Deploy your files via CDN
    • Bucket Logging
  • SSH
    • Send SSH Command
    • Zip, UnZip, etc.
    • One-Click SFTP Key Import
    • Instead of a password, use key
    • View Secure Certificates
  • Misc
    • Overhauled AppleScript
    • Automatic Unicode Detection
    • Better Transcript Logging
    • Instant-Favorite Button
    • Line Numbering in Built-In Editor
    • Extensive Favorite Importers
    • Simplified External Editing
    • Auto-Updating via Sparkle
    • Fully 64-Bit
    • Improved Copy URL / Copy Path

Version 4.0.6 makes the following additional changes:

  • Fixed a possible exception when leaving column view
  • Fixed issue with remote refresh getting stuck after immediate disconnect
  • Fixed a situation where "Loading" flickers constantly in the status bar
  • Fixed a serious issue when working with Amazon S3 buckets created via JetS3t
  • File listings are no longer truncated on certain FTP with TLS/SSL servers
  • Fixed possible AppleScript error when called from 3rd party applications
  • Folder linking with two remote folders now works more reliably
  • Files in subfolders now draw indeterminate progress bar correctly when paused
  • Renaming remote directory with a "." in name no longer causes unnecessary warning
  • External editing in column view on Mac OS X 10.5 is now more reliable
  • Fixed a "couldn't get attributes" error when doing Get Info on certain servers

Transmit supports Mac OS X's built-in SSH configuration files, which means that when you connect to any SFTP host for which you have a public/private key pair defined (whether defined globally in /etc/ssh_config, or on a per-user basis in ~/.ssh/config), Transmit can connect using those keys, without requiring additional configuration within Transmit itself. I consider this to be essential functionality for a Mac OS X FTP client.

Existing users can upgrade from Transmit 3 to Transmit 4 for $19. Transmit comes as a free, feature-full 15 day downloadable demo; after 15 days, favorites are disabled and sessions are limited to 10 minutes.

Transmit has come a long way and, with Interarchy, is one of the three "Essential" FTP clients on the Orchard. Its elegant interface pushes the envelope for FTP client usability - a difficult thing to do in this day and age, where FTP interfaces have been refined to death. Bookmark management is a snap; the interface is completely consistent with the Mac OS experience; it allows editing of remote files directly within the program (or with BBEdit); it allows you to move files around on remote servers without having to download them to your computer first; and - most importantly - it's fast and flexible (thanks to the NcFTP engine). The authors are also responsive to suggestions for improvement. If you need a powerful and easy-to-use FTP client for Mac OS X, Transmit should be one of your first considerations.

User Reviews

"Transmit is the most user-friendly and feature-filled FTP clients I have ever used (including [Interarchy] and Fetch). Its drag and drop feature emulates that of Mac OS 8+ and its ability to resume uploads is unique. The 1.5.1 update included a favorites (bookmarks) editor, providing the one aspect that seemed to be missing form prior versions. While I love this program, I still have to use another FTP client because Tramsit is very unstable; it crashes at least once a day. However, with the ease of use and its unique features, it is definitely worth it."
—Kath Wong

"Transmit 2.0 is an excellent follow-up to an already popular program. While version 1.7 was Carbonized for OS X, version 2.0 was written to fully take advantage of Cocoa. The new additions (such as saving commonly used paths that you upload from/download to) made the upgrade a no-brainer for me. I've used earlier versions of Fetch and even that Captain FTP software, but nothing compares to Transmit 2.0. It's been stable on my G4/Dual 450 and is used quite heavily. Heck, it's what I use to maintain pcweenies.com -- Download it today! :)"
—Krishna Sadasivam

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Also See . . .

Can't find what you're looking for? Try a search:

Also, if you have an older Mac, be sure to check out the "Classic" applications page for more options.

Finally, take a look at ALEMIA if you think you know that name of an application, but aren't quite sure.

Also Consider . . .

These are applications that are newer and of potential interest, but which I haven't yet selected for permanent inclusion. Have a look, and let me know if you think they deserve to be part of the permanent collection!