Volt
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Guide

An FTP and SFTP client for Mac that also edits

Most FTP clients stop at the moment you actually wanted: the file is on the server, you need to change one line, and the client hands you a download and an editor to find. Here is what to look for in an FTP or SFTP client on a Mac, what the well-known ones are good at, and what it is like when the client and the editor are the same window.

What an FTP client on a Mac should do

  • Speak all three. Plain FTP for the old shared host, FTP over TLS — explicit or implicit — for the one that insists, and SFTP for anything with SSH.
  • Behave like the Finder. Drag in, drag out, rename in the row, Return to rename, Delete to delete, Option-drag to copy. Anything else is a second set of habits.
  • Never write over a file by accident. A name that is taken should be named, and replacing it should be a decision.
  • Survive a dropped connection. A transfer that stops halfway should pick up where it stopped, and a save should never leave half a file on the server.
  • Keep passwords in the Keychain, not in a settings file.
  • Let you edit. Open, change, ⌘S — and have the change on the server.

The well-known choices

Cyberduck is free and speaks almost everything, cloud storage included. FileZilla is free and cross-platform. Transmit is a polished paid Mac client. All three are file-transfer tools first: to change a file you open it in another application and the client watches for the save.

If what you do is move large trees between many kinds of storage — S3, WebDAV, cloud drives — one of those is the right tool. If what you do is look after websites and servers, most of the job is opening a file, changing it and putting it back, and that is where an editor with a client inside it is quicker.

File ▸ FTP… in Volt

Your servers are a sidebar of favourites, with a dot for the one that is connected. The listing behaves like a Finder window: one folder at a time with the path along the top, columns you can sort by name, size or date, a field that narrows the listing, rename in the row, ⌘↑ for the enclosing folder, ⌘D to duplicate, ⌘I for permissions and ⇧⌘N for a new folder. The window opens where you left it — the same server, the same folder.

Drag and drop, both ways. Files and whole folders go out to the Finder and come in from it. Dragging onto a folder in the listing or in the path along the top moves them there, and holding Option copies instead, as it does in the Finder.

Double-click a file and it opens in a window, highlighted, indented and formatted like any other; ⌘S sends it back. Asking for a large file asks first, with the size in the question and Save a Copy beside it.

Synchronise… compares a folder here with one on the server by size and date and lists every step before anything happens. One way at a time, what matches is left alone, and what exists on only one side stays there.

The parts that make it safe

  • Resume. A fetch or a send that was stopped or dropped is taken up where it left off; only the part that is missing goes.
  • Whole or nothing. A save goes up under a name of its own and replaces the file only once every byte is there.
  • Nothing written over by accident. Moving, renaming, uploading, packing and duplicating all refuse to land on a name that is taken until you say Replace.
  • Permissions that work. A grid of read, write and execute with the number beside it — and defaults for arriving files and new folders, 644 and 755, so a page is never uploaded where the web server will not serve it.
  • Names that match. A file with an umlaut arrives spelled the way every other system spells it, so it sorts right and a sync compares it correctly.

The rest of the toolbox

  • Rename by Rule… — replace text, add before or after, number, change case, with the results on screen first.
  • Compress on the server — gzip, bzip2, xz, Zstandard or Zip, packed where it lies.
  • Places — the folders worth one click, kept with each server.
  • Copy Web Address — tell a server where its files are served from, and a file copies as the link somebody will open.
  • Open in Terminal for an SSH connection, in the folder you are looking at, and Show Hidden Files for the .htaccess and .env.
  • Activity and Transcript — what moved, and what was said to the server.
  • A speed limit per server, and an SSH key per server.
  • ftp:// and sftp:// links open straight away.

Questions

Does Volt support SFTP and FTP over TLS?

Yes: plain FTP, FTP over TLS both explicit and implicit, passive mode, and SFTP with a password or an SSH key.

Can I drag files between the Finder and the server?

Yes, files and whole folders, both ways. Option-drag copies instead of moving, as it does in the Finder.

Can it sync a local folder with a server?

Yes. Synchronise… compares the two by size and date and lists every step before anything happens. It works one way at a time, and nothing that exists on only one side is removed.

What happens if the connection drops?

A transfer is taken up where it stopped, and a file on the server is never left half written: it is replaced only once every byte has arrived.

Where are passwords kept?

In the login keychain, with every other password on the Mac.

Does it do S3, WebDAV or cloud drives?

No — FTP, FTP over TLS and SFTP. For cloud storage a dedicated client such as Cyberduck is the right tool.

Connect to your server

Volt is in free beta. Download it now — no account, no sign-up — and try it on the file you have in mind. Each build runs for seven days, and every update gives another seven.

Download Volt for Mac

macOS 13 or later, Apple silicon. About 8 MB, signed and notarised. Everything it does · what changed in this build.

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