Use Transmit to create 'quick upload' droplets
Transmit by Panic is one of my favorite apps. If you ever move files from one computer to another, you owe it to yourself to test this one out.
Today I want to highlight a feature called "Save To Droplet" which is not new, but is very handy. However, it's not immediately obvious how to use it.
The first step is to open a new window:
A dual-pane window will open, showing your local files on the left, and server settings on the right. Be sure to change the server type at the top to SFTP. You do not want to use FTP across the Internet, as it will send your password in plain text. Bad bad, very bad!
This image just shows the right pane.
Fill in your information, including the hostname of the server you want to connect to (shown as "nightwing.dreamhost.com" in this example), your username on the remote server ("tjluoma" in this example), password and "Initial Path" which is the folder on the remote server.
Note that "Initial Path" is relative to your Home directory when using SFTP.
Port 22 is the default port for SFTP and should be used unless you know that the server does not use it:
Once you have have the information filled out, click the Plus Sign (+) just to the left of the "Port" field, and the pane will flip around and show this pane:
This image just shows the right pane.
You should not need to change any settings here, but you can change the visible ones, or click "More Options" to see, well, more options.
Click "Save As Droplet..." and you will see this prompt:
I recommend changing the "Where" to "Applications" and change the "Save As" to whatever you want your app / droplet to be called.
If the "Save Password in Droplet" button is checked, anyone who can launch this application will be able to connect to the server. Use with caution.
When you are done, select "Save" and a new application will appear in your /Applications/ folder with an icon like the one shown here.
"Ok, but now how do I use this?"
This droplet is meant to do one thing: quickly upload files to the server. Simply drag and drop files onto the app icon (I recommend dragging the app to the dock) and Transmit will launch, upload, your files and then quit.
Whammo, presto, done!
You can make as many of these as you want, for different servers and different folders.
Unfortunately, I can't find any way to edit these droplet apps and change the settings once you have created one, but since they're so easy to create, it's not difficult to make a new one.
