What the client can do

1. Open Protocol, host, account, and a saved site if you will return.
2. Move One file, with a mode and a destination you have read.
3. Match A previewed synchronization, not a blind delete.
4. Repeat A script only after the window session already works.

Open a session

The Login dialog collects the file protocol, hostname, port, and account. Saved sites and site folders keep that information on the PC. A workspace can reopen several sites. You can clone a site, paste a session URL, or generate a session URL from a site you already saved. Import from PuTTY or FileZilla is available from the same dialog if you already have sessions stored by those programs.

Advanced Site Settings hold the protocol-specific options: SSH authentication, the FTP listing behavior, WebDAV, and S3. Raw settings exist for values that do not have their own control. Those pages are easy to misconfigure. Change one when you know why.

Move and manage files

In the Commander interface, dragging between the local and remote panels is the ordinary transfer. The Explorer interface shows the remote side and accepts a drop or a typed local destination. The transfer dialog can send the operation to the background so the panels stay usable. Transfer mode can be binary, text, or automatic. Binary is the right default for images, archives, and most application files. Text mode converts line endings and should be limited to plain text.

Resume is not universal. The product comparison documents resume for SFTP (from version 2, which added the rename command it uses) and for FTP. Resume is not available for WebDAV, and SCP resume is not supported by the client. Canceling an SCP transfer ends the session.

Renaming, creating directories, and editing remote files are available when the protocol supports the operation. SFTP permission changes run file by file. SCP can hand a recursive shell command to the server, which is faster and also easier to get wrong.

Synchronize

Commands > Synchronize compares a local directory with a remote directory. Direction can update the local copy, the remote copy, or both. Synchronize files is the normal mode. Mirror files also copies files that are older. Delete files removes items that exist only on the side being updated, and it is ignored for a both-direction sync in scripting. Preview changes lists the actions before they run. Turn that preview off only after you trust the paths.

A separate “keep remote directory up to date” command watches a local folder and repeats the update. It is still a copy of files, not a shared filesystem.

Automate

The console program winscp.com reads commands from a script file, from /command, or from standard input. open, lcd, cd, put, get, synchronize, and exit cover the usual jobs. Batch mode is implied for /script and /command, so overwrite questions are not asked. The .NET assembly is a separate programming interface, documented by the developers, for people already writing .NET code.

Protect the session

SSH sessions show a host key fingerprint before you trust a server. FTPS and HTTPS WebDAV show a TLS certificate. Stored sites can remember a password only if you confirm that storage. A master-password preference can protect the configuration database; check the security preferences in the version you have, because the label lives in preferences rather than in the transfer panels.

Limits worth remembering

• The client cannot create an account, open a firewall, or enable SFTP on a server that does not run it.
• SCP is a legacy path with weaker directory and timestamp behavior.
• S3 shows prefixes as folders. Bucket policies, not Unix modes, decide access.
• A successful transfer does not prove the file landed in the public website directory.

Procedures for these jobs live in the guide library. A one-page security pass is the checklist.

Winsaip is an independent educational resource and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the developers of WinSCP.