Fetch Help > Using Fetch > What is Fetch?

Fetch is a Macintosh program that makes it easy to transfer files — such as webpage, text, and image files — between your Macintosh and other computers over networks such as the Internet.

Typical uses of Fetch are:

- Publishing and maintaining a website at a web hosting provider
- Transferring documents to a printing company, service bureau, or clients you are working with
- Submitting advertisements or articles to newspapers and magazines
- Moving files between your Macintosh and Macintosh, UNIX, Windows, or other sorts of computers, as well as specialized equipment including medical imaging machines, image editing systems, and photo processing equipment

To transfer files via the Internet, you need two things: a client program on your Macintosh, and permission to access another computer, referred to as a server. You use the client program to connect to the server, and then you can either transfer files to the server (called uploading), or request that files be transferred back to your Macintosh (called downloading).

The client and the server use a special language and set of rules, called a protocol, for communicating and transferring files between the two computers. FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is one of the oldest and most established ways of moving files between two computers on the Internet.

Fetch is an FTP client for your Macintosh, that transfers files to and from FTP servers.

Fetch also supports SFTP and FTP with TLS/SSL, which are newer, more secure file transfer protocols.

Fetch has features that make it easy to update and maintain your files on the server. For example, you can:

- Quickly access frequently used servers by creating shortcuts
- Rename, move, delete, and change the permissions of files on the server
- Edit files on the server and have those changes uploaded back to the server automatically
- Upload only new or changed files with the Mirror command
- Create a droplet shortcut that lets you drag files to its icon to automatically connect and start uploading them
- Automate tasks using Automator and AppleScript (not available in Fetch 5.8)

Fetch can transfer any kind of file, including text, HTML, image, audio, movie, Flash, Microsoft Office, and compressed archive files. You can use Fetch to transfer files to and from multiple different servers.

Normally your hosting company or the organization you are working with have already set up an FTP server, and you just need Fetch to communicate with it; you do not have to set up your own server. Neither Fetch the program nor Fetch Softworks the company provide a service or server for storing files. If you need a place to store your website or files, you should contact a hosting provider, and they can help set up an account on a server for you. See the What do I enter in the hostname, username, and password fields? topic for more information.

Fetch's goal is to be an easy-to-use, friendly, and reliable FTP client that you can use transferring your files with servers on the Internet. For more information on using Fetch, read the quick start guide or the introductory tutorial, see the list of how-to topics, browse the Reference help section, or use the Help search box to search for topics.

For information about licensing and buying Fetch, see the Licensing Fetch help topic.