Connect Dreamweaver to a DreamHost server

Adobe Dreamweaver is a powerful web development tool that helps you create a custom website from scratch. It combines a simple-to-use WYSIWYG editor, basic templates, the ability to code (and view) your website for various screen sizes (i.e., mobile and tablet), and an FTP/SFTP interface.

The following article provides instructions on how to use Dreamweaver to connect to DreamHost’s servers via FTP. For more information on using Dreamweaver to build a website, please visit Adobe.

When you open Dreamweaver, you’ll see various options in the top toolbar.

To set up a new site in Dreamweaver:

1. Open Dreamweaver.

   

   

2. Click the Manage Sites link in the top toolbar and then click the New Site button when the Manage Sites box opens.

   The Site Setup box opens:

   

3. Enter the following:
   • Site Name: You can use any name you wish for your site name.
   • Local Site Folder: Enter the path on your local computer where you’ll save your files for your site.

To add a new server connection in Dreamweaver:

1. Open the Site Setup box.

   

2. On the top left of the Site Setup box, select the Servers tab.
3. Click the plus (+) sign that appears directly beneath the ‘Name' field.

   The server settings box opens:

   

4. Enter the DreamHost server settings in the following fields. This information is used to connect Dreamweaver to your DreamHost web server:
   • Server Name: Name of the site without the http://. For example, if your site is https://www.example.com, enter example.com.
   • Connect Using: Depending on how the user is set up, enter either FTP or SFTP. View the Creating a user with Shell (SSH) access article for further details on choosing a type of user.
   • FTP Address: Name of the DreamHost server or the name of the site itself. View the Finding your FTP server hostname article for details on how to obtain your servername.
   • Username: Name of the FTP user with which the domain has been set up. View the FTP overview and credentials article for instructions on how to locate this.
   • Password: The password you entered when you set up the domain for the user. View the Change password article for instructions on how to update this.
   • Root Directory: This is also known as the Web Directory. It’s most likely your site name with a forward slash at the end. View the Changing the web directory article for instructions on how to view this.
   • Web URL: This is the site name. Enter the full URL here, including the http:// or https:// if you are using an SSL certificate.
   • Port: For an FTP user, enter port 21. For an SFTP or Shell user, enter port 22.
5. After you enter the server settings, click the Test button to confirm the connection.

   The following box appears showing a successful connection:

   

6. Click the Save button to save these settings.

Once you set up and saved a successful connection to your server, you can use Dreamweaver to upload your site files at any time.

Follow these steps to upload your files from your local folder to the remote DreamHost server:

1. Expand the far right panel (CSS Designer, Files, Assets, and Insert tabs) that contains all of your sites information.

   

2. Select the Files tab. (Be sure not to confuse this with the File tab within the top toolbar).
3. Select the site you wish to upload from the first dropdown menu. This is the Site Name that you created during the setup process.
4. Select Local view from the second dropdown menu that appears next to your site. This allows you to view and upload the site files that you saved locally on your computer.
5. Click the 'up' arrow. When you scroll over the up arrow, it says: Put file(s) to “Remote Server example.com”, which is the site hosted on DreamHost’s servers.
6. Wait until the files finish to upload. A dialog box appears showing the progress.
7. Click the second dropdown menu and select Remote server to view the files on your DreamHost server.

   The following shows that the DH Test Pic.jpg file was successfully uploaded to the remote server folder. You can drag and drop it into and of the Dreamweaver directories as needed: