Export to FTP with Lightroom
When you’re making webgalleries in Lightroom you are able to upload your gallery directly to an FTP-server. But if you are a photographer who just wants to upload your files to an FTP-server, without the gallery files (html, flash etc.) you’re toast… until now.
Scott (Principal Photographer) mailed me and asked if I knew any good way to be able to just export the images to an FTP server.
He just needed a quick way to export his clients images into a folder on a server.
After some Googling without great results, I downloaded the Adobe Lightroom SDK and started to play around. Fortunately a sample plugin for FTP-uploads was available! So within a couple of hours I think I have saved, not only Scotts’ workflow-time in Lightroom, but a bunch of others who are looking for this feature in Lightroom. This is actually just a rip-off the sample plug-in that Adobe delivers with the Lightroom SDK. I’ve just put a logo on it and made it public to the rest of you!
Screenshots:
Download the PH FTP Upload Plug-in and see the installation/usage video tutorial below:
Update (091031): Due to complaints from Sean McCormack (see comment below) I have removed my PH logo in the plugin. If you want to have a “clean” plug-in you have to download the new one.
NEW: FTP Upload for Lightroom 3.0:
4530 Downloads
FTP Upload for Lightroom 2.0:
3957 Downloads
Please read:
In this video above I’ve just put my plugin on my desktop. You should put your plugins in a folder you won’t delete since Lightroom uses the plugin from that directory. If you delete the plugin from that directory, your plugin will be removed from Lightroom! Make a new folder called “Plugins” and place all of your plugins in it…
For LR2 users, you can place your plugins in this folder for convenient storage/usage (create the “plugin” folder):
| Windows XP | %APPDATA%\Adobe\Lightroom\Plugins\ |
| Windows Vista | \Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Lightroom\Plugins\ |
| Mac OSX | ~/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Lightroom/Plugins/ |
Thx Jeffrey for the “Plugin”-folder tip.
Hi and welcome to my heaven! If you are a Lightroom lover like myself you probably going to adore this place. It's the paradise for all people who are looking for Lightroom presets. Make sure you subscribe to my posts to be first with the latest contributions. I wish you a very pleasant stay. Regards, Pierre
October 27th, 2009 at 9:59 pm
Hi Pierre,
Works great. Thanks for the effort. Do you test this plugin also against LR3? Keep up the good work!
October 27th, 2009 at 10:07 pm
Hi Joop,
Sure, I’ll check to see if it works in LR3, but since it still just a Beta release I think I wait.
Thanks,
Pierre
October 28th, 2009 at 7:59 am
great little tool. Thank you!
October 31st, 2009 at 3:00 am
You added a PNG to the sample SDK code and you say it’s a new plugin?
October 31st, 2009 at 11:47 am
Yes I added a PNG, but NO, I didn’t say it was a new plugin. I just made it visible/usable to all who doesn’t know what a SDK is. Most Lightroom users don’t even know what a plugin is, they just want their work flow to be faster and I think I helped them by revealing this plugin.
Thanks for your comment.
//P
October 31st, 2009 at 4:47 pm
You imply that by spending a few hours at it, you created a tool which was already available. I’m delighted that you have made this more readily available, because people are afraid of ‘SDK’s’ for no good reason. But by putting your logo into someone else’s work as the ‘Presets Heaven FTP plugin’ is, to me, fraudulent.
October 31st, 2009 at 9:13 pm
Well Sean, since you think this is “fraudulent” I have removed the PH logo in the plug-in and replaced the download file with a new one. Case closed.
October 31st, 2009 at 9:35 pm
Pierre,
That absolutely was not what I was driving at. Having a PH branded plugin breaks no rules. My issues was that the text implied that your hard work led to the plugin based on the FTP sample, when you simply added a logo.
I just think it would’ve better presented as ‘There was an FTP plugin with the SDK. With a little tweaking, I’m presenting you with a little gift, a Presets Heaven version of the FTP plugin’. No foul. That’s the height of it. Please, put back the PH version.
November 2nd, 2009 at 10:43 pm
You turned a sample into a tool and were up front about it. Logo it.
November 15th, 2009 at 12:16 pm
Pierre,
May you can add some useful adjustments to the plugin. For instance during export the plugin shows the text Uploading x photo(s) by FTP. It would be nice to use the Preset name of the FTP settings. So as a user I’m sure I upload to the right site. I created a ShutterStock FTP Upload preset called ShutterStock and it would be nice to see during export Uploading x photo(s) to ShutterStock.
February 6th, 2010 at 10:39 pm
Doesnt seem to work on Lightroom 2.5 64 Bits :(
February 8th, 2010 at 11:36 am
Hi Ruben,
What error do you get?
Are you using Windows (version) or Mac (version)?
February 8th, 2010 at 12:34 pm
Hi there, thanks for replying.
Im using windows 7 64bits and Lightroom 2.5 (64bits)
The plugin shows in the plugin manager but not on the export windows :S
February 8th, 2010 at 1:01 pm
Ruben,
I think I know what the problem is…
If you look at the second screenshot image above you’ll see that the FTP-plugin is chosen by the name of the title and my logo in the top. In the right corner you can also see 2 small arrows (one up and one down). Press this “button” and you’ll be able to chose the plugin.
Did that solve your problem?
February 8th, 2010 at 1:12 pm
Ok you got me there xD problem fixed :D thanks
was looking for it on the user preset –’
Thanks :D
February 8th, 2010 at 1:41 pm
Great! :-)
February 9th, 2010 at 1:43 pm
Hi Pierre,
I am trying to use the plugin but am having problems. Every time I try to upload an image Lightroom says that it can’t create the directory. I am trying to place my images into an existing directory that the plugin can view from the setup screen. The priviliges are set to 777 and I am usind Lightroom 2.6 on Mac OS x 10.6 (Snow Leopard).
Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Rob
February 9th, 2010 at 9:28 pm
Hi Rob,
It’s hard to say what the problem might be.
Have you tried to change the “passive mode” transfer setting under “custom settings”?
See screenshot: http://img.skitch.com/20100209-m1ijju3hcrdcbybhi7rqf41aet.png
//Pierre
April 27th, 2010 at 9:26 pm
Hi Pierre,
It took me a while to realise you had replied – sorry about that. I am using SFTP to log in to my server, so I don’t have the ability to change the passive mode. The plugin can access my server to get a directory listing, but when I try to export it still says that it can’t create the directory.
Thanks for your help on the matter.
Rob
April 27th, 2010 at 10:32 pm
You’re welcome Rob.
Perhaps you can change the permissions on a folder via your ftp-client first, might work?
Best regards,
Pierre
April 28th, 2010 at 8:52 am
Hi Pierre,
I set the folder up as 777 and tried to upload some images, but still no joy. I don’t have any access to the server’s logs so can’t look into that either. I guess I will have to keep uploading my images manually..
Cheers,
Rob
May 15th, 2010 at 11:17 pm
Windows 7 64bit
Lightroom 2.7 64bit
openSUSE 11.2 x86_64
openssh-5.2p1-9.1.x86_64
It also fails for me for SFTP on 64bit Win7. When editing the preset, I have an IP address, username and password set. If I browse I get an error dialog saying that “Cannot browse the FTP server, because invalid login.”. If I store a path, say for example “/tmp” and save the preset, then try to use it, I get an error saying “The specified FTP preset is incomplete and cannot be used.”
In the plugin manager is says I have version “2.0.0.200000″
I can log in to the server perfectly using putty ssh terminal.
June 28th, 2010 at 9:45 pm
With an FTP client I can create directory, but Lightroom 2 and 3 both fail (passive, non-passive, passive extended) to create directories. Once a directory created with the FTPclient, lightroom can ftp photos in that directory.
June 28th, 2010 at 11:47 pm
Hi Eric,
I’ve heard a couple of people have had problems with this plugin.
Please check out the new version for LR 3.0 above and let me know if it works better for you.
Thanks!
September 11th, 2010 at 9:12 pm
Sorry for this late reaction, I’ve been to Venice on vacation :-)
I installed the new version, but the problem persists.
I read this on the net:
It seems that the export plugin doesn’t like symbolic links. on my shared hosting, I have both a directory in my home called ‘www’ and “public_html”
I used public_html instead of www as the full path and the plugin worked.
so my full path (and I just typed this manually instead of browsing for it) is:
home/public_html/xxxx/xxxx/
That seems to work.
I have just the IP adres and a personal folder/password for the FTP-server…
Regards,
Eric
October 31st, 2010 at 8:02 pm
After replacing my router with a newer model, even uploading photos to an existing folder fails. Passive mode works fine with my website account, but a client uses an FTP-server that only accepts active mode (they say they can’t change this). I tried Aperture with Überupload, but this also refuses to upload. Only a ftp-client seems to work with that FTP-server. I asked for the full path to the specific folder I need to upload my photos, but haven’t had an answer from them. I’ll contact the people from überupload to see if they know what’s going on…
November 17th, 2010 at 6:19 pm
Works great!
You saved me a lot of clicking, thank you very much!
Radu
November 17th, 2010 at 7:53 pm
Thanks Radu!
December 16th, 2010 at 7:25 am
thanks worked great for me.
December 22nd, 2010 at 1:45 pm
Doesn’t work with Lightroom 3.2. Plugin is ‘installed and running’ but it’s absent in Create New Publish Connection services list.
January 8th, 2011 at 10:07 am
is there a way to upload a zip file that includes all the exported files? if not are there any plans to ad this feature to the next update?
Thanks
January 8th, 2011 at 9:16 pm
Hi Amir,
No there is no function for that. Depending on what OS (win/mac) you’re running I think you could do a macro for that.
Ex. Export images to a specific folder that is being scanned by a macro that executes a command to zip the files and finally upload them by FTP. Not sure how to do it but I think it’s possible. On mac… try searching Google for automator ftp scripts. Not sure what software to use for windows though.
January 15th, 2011 at 11:57 pm
Pierre,
I just installed this plugin into my LR 3 and I see it as option for “Export”.
However, it would be nice if ftp is available also in Publish Connection
services (like HardDrive or SmugMug or Flicker is). In that way LH
manage the information about what pictures needs to be published or
republished after beeing updated. Do you believe, you can extend this
plugin for also this functionality?
Thanks,
Peter
January 16th, 2011 at 1:40 am
Hi Peter,
I understand your request. Timothy Armes is the Guru of Lightroom plugins. He has made the plugin you’re looking for. You can find it here: http://www.photographers-toolbox.com/products/ftppublisher.php
Thanks!, Pierre
February 21st, 2011 at 2:09 pm
After half a year without ftp to an active/non passive ftp server, I finally found this solution:
Using Transmit allows me to mount the mentioned ftp as a disk, and I can FTP by standard export function as if it was a physical hard drive. Works great!
July 12th, 2011 at 8:07 pm
Hi,
Just testing your plugin and othervise working great put it can not handle the “scandinavian” characters like å ä ö. :(
So having any of those non english chars in the folder name or in the file name will cause the transfer to fail. Anything you could do to fix that?
July 13th, 2011 at 12:53 am
Hi Hannu.
You shouldn’t use characters like space, å, ä, ö, comma etc, in your file- and folder names. This because not all web browsers (language specific OS) support them and therefor it might be impossible for a user to even see your images. This is probably the reason why the ftp plugin for LR won’t work. Name the folders and files and replace those characters with compatible ones… Å & Ä becomes A, Ö becomes O. “space” becomes _ and so on.