You can now access your files stored on Infinite Uploads directly with S3 API credentials if you have a Business plan. In this tutorial you will learn how it works and how to use it with the most popular clients: S3 Browser, WinSCP, CyberDuck and of course Filezilla Pro.

Infinite Uploads makes it easy to manage and upload files right from the media library, but sometimes you need direct access. This new featured allows any customer to access their own files after a successful sync with their site. Manage files on the Infinite Uploads cloud directly and even upload files into the cloud for easy handling. It is based on the Amazon S3 API and requires credentials, your custom folder and the hostname to connect. But before we get into that, let’s connect your account and sync your data.

Connect your Infinite Uploads account

If you’re new to Infinite Uploads, connecting a site to your account is as easy as downloading and installing our plugin and following the connect wizard in the WordPress dashboard.

After you connect a site, you will sync the account, which will show in the dashboard. If you are on a business plan, you can use any of the SFTP clients listed in this tutorial to manage your files using the S3 API.

Connect a new site to Infinite Uploads to get access to your S3 API credentials. From your member dashboard, click the right button for the site that you want access to.

In the image you can see the important values that you are going to use on most clients. We blurred out the information to protect the account, but here is an example of what those fields will look like. These are examples of credentials:

• Endpoint (hostname): s3.us-west-000.backblazeb2.com
• Bucket (remote folder): /iup-usa/999/qfziya9p/
• Key: 12382835df7e317000351db
• Secret: K25412wZ7eEFmt2ZDEyklIHLR354lcc4

To make this practical, we will call the Endpoint hostname and the Bucket folder remote folder. Remember that you must add a single slash at the beginning of your remote folder data provided for your bucket as all the programs stated here will require it.

So in this case, the information provided is:

iup-usa/999/qfziya9p/

and you will add the slash like this:

/iup-usa/999/qfziya9p/

Now that you have everything you need, let’s proceed with the clients. We will cover the configuration and usage of the following programs:

• S3 Browser
• WinSCP
• CyberDuck
• Filezilla Pro

Now let’s get on with it!

S3 Browser

S3 Browser will allow you to connect to Amazon S3 or any S3 compatible API service. The program is mostly free. Although it will allow you to connect, you will need the paid version to be able to download/upload more than 2 threads at a time, which is really handy for when you have lots of files to upload.

To configure, select S3 Compatible Storage for the account type, then proceed to add the hostname on the REST Endpoint tab.

After the values for Key Access and Secret are added, go into the Advanced S3-compatible storage settings and enable Signature V4. Infinite Uploads does not support Signature V2.

When everything is in place you will receive a warning from S3 Browser, click on No to proceed. This warning comes from S3 Browser trying to list all folders. Since only your bucket (remote folder) can be listed and you do not have access to any other folders, the listing will fail with an error.

Unfortunately this error is unavoidable on S3 Browser because it will keep trying to list all files and all folders.

Now we will add your bucket manually. This will allow you to list and manage your folder for the site.

It is important to remember that you need to add the first “/” before adding the rest of the folder information.

When this is done, you will be able to see the actual files that were synched for your site. You can now manage your files at this point. The S3 Browser will allow you to download/upload files at will but only at a maximum of 2 simultaneous threads at once. You will need to purchase the program in order to be able to upload/download at a higher thread count.

Next in the list is the WinSCP

WinSCP

WinSCP is another popular SSH and SFTP client software. You can download the software here.

Once you have the program installed, create the connection by pressing on New Session and select Amazon S3 as our protocol for the connection.

After all the information about hostname, access key and secret are added, you can go ahead and select Advanced.

Here on the Advanced option you will add your remote folder (bucket) and click on remember last used directory. This will allow you to access your website files directly, without having to go to that folder every time you login.

Now that you have your session ready, click the option to save password, even if it’s stated as not recommended as you will want to have an easy way to access this folder and adding the password every time is not useful nor practical.

After you connect, you will be able to list files and do other file functions. In the example we are copying files over to our local storage.

CyberDuck

Next we have CyberDuck. CyberDuck is one of the easiest programs to configure and pretty quick to work with, the only drawback is the lack of a commander like panels in WinSCP and Filezilla Pro.

CyberDuck is very similar to WinSCP in the way everything is configured. We need to use Amazon S3 as the profile with port 443, then input the Access Key and Secret. Now here is the important part, go to More Options and click on it. Add the remote path exactly as it was added on WinSCP by adding the first slash and then the value that you’ve taken from our interface. This will allow you to access your personal folder directly without having to input that folder manually after the connection is established.

It is important to remember that when downloading, always select the “Download To” option instead of just download, otherwise it will start downloading directly into your profile folder.

That’s it!. CyberDuck is even easier to configure than WinSCP and S3 Browser, and it allows multiple threads at once without having to purchase it so it is one of our favorites.

Now let’s proceed with the last on our list.

Filezilla Pro

Filezilla Pro is paid software, the free version does not allow you to connect to an S3 bucket or any other service besides FTP, but the paid version has even more features than all the other programs explained here combined. Let’s start by downloading, installing and opening the program.

After the software is installed you will be able to access the Site Manager interface where all your connections can be added.

For Filezilla Pro we need to choose Backblaze B2 as our protocol with Port 443. The host is going to be our hostname, the Account ID is our Key and the Application Key field is our Secret. The login type should be set to Normal.

Do not click on OK or Connect yet. Go into the Advanced tab instead.

Add the remote folder by adding the first slash and then the remote folder listed in Infinite Uploads as bucket, then click OK. After everything has been added, let’s connect.

You will see this warning. Click on both checkboxes and then proceed by clicking on OK. You will not be required to check on this box again for this connection.

One thing that separates Filezilla Pro from the rest is that even if you do not add the remote folder, the listing for the session won’t throw any errors as Filezilla Pro will simply “ignore” the errors so you will only see your folder as visible.

This makes Filezilla Pro the most suitable client as it is perfectly capable of handling sessions without displaying errors, which makes it more practical. If a directory listing is denied, the software simply won’t list that folder.

You can see that our folder is the only one available. If we select this folder as our default remote folder, we will be logged in directly into it without skipping an error such on the other programs.

Filezilla Pro allows for any number of simultaneous connection threads and it is the fastest of all the programs in this tutorial for listing, uploading and downloading files and directories.

Wrapping Up

In this tutorial we have covered how to manage your Infinite Uploads site folders and files directly by using the most common clients supporting S3 compatible API. We hope you can take advantage of this new feature that is really convenient to handle and control your files directly.

We hope this has been helpful for connecting your site and makes it easier to manage your files. Using a different client to connect your account? tell us in the comments. Your feedback is valuable to us.