The Computer Specialist

Home / Books

The Perfect File Upload Manager - Myth?
By Steve Cloverson

The perfect file upload manager is a great concept. You want to upload and share files online or through email. It could act as a built in backup system and help save hard drive space as well as keep things organized. In theory it could save you hours a month and lots of headaches. In addition to that, the perfect file upload manager would allow the users a simpler interface thus allowing non-techie users the ability to do what the gurus do, well some of what they do anyway. But does the perfect file upload manager exist? Is remote file transfer something that everyone can use-really?br />
First off we have to establish what a remote file transfer is to understand how this benefits anyone at all. Remote file transfer refers to File Transfer Protocol (FTP) which is a standard network protocol used to copy a file from one host (computer) to another over a network, such as the Internet. This process was originally accomplished through interactive command-line tools with command lines, but graphic based user interfaces have been developed for all operating systems in use today. So we're closer now to the perfect file sharing software than ever before; but is there a perfect tool available?

What does this mean to you, the home and/or business user? Well it's pretty straight forward; you need to send a picture of your kid eating a popsicle with a goat to all you goat loving friends or you need to send a very important presentation to your staff in a hurry, you can drag the file to a drop box (icon) drop it in and be done with it. A perfect file upload manager would take care of the rest for you. The list is predetermined by you; the connection is secure and automatic. No fuss and no muss. Remote file transfers should be that easy, but sometimes they are not. There are a lot of factors to take into consideration; are you uploading to an online (or offsite) server or should this be emailed? Will there be email notifications sent to your recipients? How secure is the upload- or the site/client you are downloading from? All of these can be pretty major factors.

Every year consumers spend lots of money on FTP file upload managers without really getting everything they hoped for. There are often complicated steps to setting up your remote file upload software so that you can easily transfer things later; this seems like a backwards way of thinking in my mind. Most often little gems in the software, parts of the app that can really be useful, are overlooked because of all the hassle associated with setting up new software. A simpler interface for set-up is best. This builds confidence in the new user and doesn't annoy the professional. We reviewed some of the pluses and minuses of three of the more popular programs on the internet for download.

ESudManager is a file download/upload management system that was written for webmasters to allow members, users and guests easy to download/upload files to and from a website. This is not a bad program for business-especially where multiple users telecommute on a regular basis. There are built in security protocols that allow for login tracking area access restrictions. The problem with this is that unless you are an IT guy by profession working in a physical server environment, this is too much techie stuff. A lot of the more useful aspects are a little hard to get to, and emailing files directly on a mailing list more or less requires a degree.

There is a Firefox extension that lets you upload files to the most popular image/video/document sharing sites from a single interface as well. Fire Uploader attaches its self to Firefox and works with the web browser to accomplish these feats. This extension supports YouTube, Flickr, Picasa Web Albums, Webshots, Box.net, Omnidrive and Facebook currently. The big seller is being able to upload to all of these sites at once. The downside is that this is site only oriented. Getting your goat pictures to Aunt Edna is definitely out of the question, though possible.

Filezilla is another FTP upload manager. It's pretty solid in that you can upload files to your website and come with more than a couple of bells and whistles. Probably the biggest drawback is that it is file based software, not graphic; you really have to do some reading to get into all the features and know how to use them. The interface can be a little confusing to a new webmaster and emailing files is not really an option at all.

TThese three represent the three biggest file upload managers on the market today. With some research and a little searching there are smaller programs on the internet that have all of these options combined and make a true graphic interface possible. Once these programs catch on everyone will be able to enjoy the capabilities of remote file sharing transfer easily. Right now these treasures have to be dug for.

Learn more about File Upload Manager best practices.