Uploading Word documents via SFTP causes problems

[Matt]

I am not quite sure where the issue is, but it seems that the only way I can get Word documents to properly load in a browser is if I upload them in Binary mode via FTP. Attempting to upload via SFTP doesn't work.

Is this a known bug and something experienced by others, or is this something isolated to a program I am using (SecureFX)?

Thanks,
Matt

[Melissa]

In testing uploading .doc files via SFTP (FileZilla) to my personal account, I'm not seeing any problems. May want to give it a try and see if it works for you :dunno:
http://filezilla.sourceforge.net/documentation/

[Randall]

No issues for me either, using WinSCP (http://winscp.net) in SFTP mode.

Randall

[jenili]

Me neither, using scp on Mac and *nix platforms, nor ssh.com's client on Windows. Is your sftp client configured to use binary as the default file transfer mode?

[Matt]

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for the responses. It's nice knowing it's just me. I'll try out those other packages in the future. -Matt

[Velimir]

I have seen your post only now... I have also problems when using SecureFX, SFTP and MovableType blogging software... I do all according instructions and my blog just falls apart when it is created and rebuilt... like something was uploaded in a wrong way. I will do it again tomorrow and I'll show you what I mean. using any other FTP client creates no such problems.
Regards,
vee

I am not quite sure where the issue is, but it seems that the only way I can get Word documents to properly load in a browser is if I upload them in Binary mode via FTP. Attempting to upload via SFTP doesn't work.

Is this a known bug and something experienced by others, or is this something isolated to a program I am using (SecureFX)?

Thanks,
Matt

[kitchin]

You can easily check whether the file was uploaded as binary or ASCII/text. If the file sizes in bytes differ, and the file is more than one line, then it was uploaded as text/ASCII. Word docs should be binary.

I had the opposite problem when I tried Filezilla last year... all SFTP transfers were binary. Now I'm using WinSCP happily.

[Velimir]

I have found 2 interesting links, which I am also trying to read/undestand now... I am not sure if it will help your/mine issues, but well have a look at it...

http://www.itc.virginia.edu/desktop/securefx/securefx.html#diagram

http://www.cam.ac.uk/cs/filetransfer/ascii.html

As MT is mainly cgi I might be on tack to something. Also this:
In FTP (unlike SFTP or SCP) you have to decide whether your transfers are to be in ASCII or binary mode (in SFTP or SCP all transfers are in binary). is something I didn't know.

Regards,
vee


Hi Everyone,

Thanks for the responses. It's nice knowing it's just me. I'll try out those other packages in the future. -Matt

[kitchin]

In FTP (unlike SFTP or SCP) you have to decide whether your transfers are to be in ASCII or binary mode (in SFTP or SCP all transfers are in binary).

Not really.

http://winscp.net/eng/docs/protocols#protocol_comparison
Text (ASCII) [mode:]

[SCP:] Not supported by protocol. WinSCP emulates text mode by converting file before transfer. It is necessary to configure line-ending sequence.

[SFTP:] Supported by protocol since version 4. For older versions WinSCP emulates text mode by converting file before transfer. It is necessary to configure line-ending sequence.

Despite its name, the "WinSCP" program actually uses SFTP as a default, but can fall back to SCP. I did not have to configure a line-ending sequence, in my situation: I use WinXP and my web site is at FutureQuest, which uses Linux. Everything just worked out of the box, virtually speaking.

This protocol thing explains the Filezilla problem I had.