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WinSCP Plugin To FAR File Manager
WinSCP is also available as a plugin to FAR. FAR is shareware console filemanager for Windows. FAR version 1.70 beta 5 or later is required. You may download the plugin from download section.
There are several ways to open WinSCP in FAR. By default WinSCP integrates to disc menu (Alt-F1 and Alt-F2) and plugins menu (F11). The list of stored sessions is then displayed in the file panel. Select a session you want to connect to and press Enter. You may also create new sessions (Shift-F4). When you are connected, you may work with remote files, just as if they are on the local drive. Another way to open sessions is to type winscp://sessionname/directory on FAR command line. To configure how the plugin integrates with FAR, go to Options/Plugin configuration/WinSCP/Interface options.
What it can do?
WinSCP plugin, together with integrated FAR features (editor, directory comparison, etc.), implements most of the WinSCP application functionality, and even more (find file, viewer, macros, etc.). The following list contains the most significant features of the plugin:
- Basic file operations (copy, move, delete, make folder, rename).
- Change file attributes: permissions, owner and group (Ctrl-A).
- Add/edit hard and symbolic links (Alt-F6).
- Manage stored sessions list. To add a new session press Shift-F4, to edit an existing session press F4. You may export/import session settings to/from INI file. To do so, “copy” session to/from the plugin panel. Sessions can also be duplicated (Ctrl-F5) and renames (Shift-F6).
- Setup individual settings for detailed panel mode (LCtrl-5). In addition to standard FAR column types, you may add group (G) and permissions in rwxrwxrwx (R) or octal (RO) format.
- Execute command on remote server. To do so, just type the command on the FAR command line, while the WinSCP panel is the active one. Output of the command is displayed on the console. Warning: Do NOT execute commands that require user-input. Note: “cd” command is always processed by FAR.
- Apply command on file(s) on remote server.
- Keep remote directory up to date.
What it cannot do?
The features of the WinSCP application supported neither by the WinSCP plugin nor by FAR are listed below.
- Location profiles. Only bookmarks are supported.
- Synchronize browsing.
- Check for updates.
- Open more sessions simultaneously and switch between them. Of course, you may open two sessions, each in a different panel.
- Store configuration to INI file instead of Windows registry.
- Continue of error option.
- Show inaccesible directories option.
- Predefined custom commands. For ad hoc commands use “Apply command” (Ctrl-G).
- Import the session list from PuTTY.
- Cleanup application data.
Public Key Tools
You can authenticate using public keys with the plugin. To read more about public keys see “Connection to remote computer”. To generate a public key file, use the PuTTYgen application. Read also how to use the Pageant application for public keys authentication. You can find more information on the PuTTY homepage. Both programs are part of an plugin installation package. You can download them separately too (you should place them to “PuTTY” subdirectory of the plugin directory). To run them, go to menu Options/Plugin configuration/WinSCP.
Version History
To see what is new, see version history.