Transmit Help

# Setting the transfer mode

FTP transfers can take place in one of two possible modes: ASCII or binary.

- ASCII mode is intended for files that contain only plain text data and nothing else. ASCII mode ensures that line endings are correctly translated when transferring to and from non-Macintosh systems. This is sometimes also referred to as Text mode.
- Binary mode is for all other file types. Binary mode transfers the file to the server exactly as it appears on your computer.

By default, Transmit is set to automatically determine the transfer mode based on the type of the file it is transferring. This behavior can be manually overridden.

To change the transfer mode, select the desired mode from Transfer > Mode.

In auto mode, Transmit will default to binary transfer mode unless it encounters a file type that it knows to be ASCII (plain text). You can edit the list of known ASCII file types.

To edit the list of known ASCII file types, choose Transmit > Preferences.

Click the Files button.

In the box labeled ASCII File Extensions:

- to edit an existing ASCII file extension, double click it.

- to add a new ASCII file extension, click the plus sign button, type in the extension, and press return.

- to delete an existing ASCII file extension, select it, then click the minus sign button.

If a plain text file appears to be double-spaced, or all on one line after being transferred, it was probably incorrectly sent in binary mode. Try again in ASCII mode.

If a binary file is unusable, or appears corrupt (such as a graphic file where the image appears scrambled) after being transferred, it was probably incorrectly sent in ASCII mode. Try again in binary mode.

Unless you are having a specific problem of this nature, it is best to leave Transmit in auto mode.

The transfer mode setting affects only FTP transfers. Other types of connections, such as SFTP or WebDAV, always use binary mode.