How to change file permissions via FTP

This guide will show you how to change file permissions via FTP.

When managing your website, you may find that some files or directories require specific permissions to operate correctly. For example, CGI scripts need permissions set so that they’re able to be executed. You can read more about how file permissions work here.  

Using Filezilla, a popular FTP program which you can download for free, you change the file permissions by following the steps below. Alternatively, you can also change the permissions via you File Manager covered in our guide here.  

Let’s get started… 

1. Open the Filezilla FTP program and connect to your hosting. Details of how to do this can be found here. 

2. In the Remote Site window, right click on the file and select File permissions. 

3. In the pop-up window, you can tick the individual file attributes or enter a numeric value e.g. 755, click OK. 

Be cautious when changing file permissions. Selecting the wrong permissions can stop files from being accessible over the Internet or could give more access to regular site visitors than is needed. 

That’s it! You now know how to successfully manage file permissions via FTP.