SFTP for Sublime Text

FAQ

Since this is one of the most frequent questions, the Sidebar page has information and workflows to help you efficiently edit remote files.

How do I ignore files or folders?

The ignore_regexes setting in the sftp-config.json file allows setting rules for ignoring both files and folders. The regular expressions are compared against the full path of the file or folder. Below are some examples of how to use it:

  • Ignore a specific file
    "/file_name\\.ext"
  • Ignore a complete folder
    "/folder_name/"
  • Ignore files with a specific extension
    "\\.ext"

Does SFTP support proxies?

Currently there is no built-in support for proxy servers. It may be possible to use with a socks proxy server.

On Windows it may be possible to configure a PuTTY session to use a socks proxy server and then tell SFTP to use it via sftp_flags.

Are SSH keys supported and how do I use them?

SSH key authentication is supported on all three operating systems.

For Mac and Linux, SFTP uses OpenSSH’s command line sftp program. This means the SSH key located in your ~/.ssh folder will automatically be used. Likewise, any running ssh-agent will also be used.

For Windows, SFTP uses PSFTP, which is released alongside PuTTY. Any key loaded into Pageant will automatically be used. It is also possible to supply a .ppk private key file as the ssh_key_file setting for an SFTP remote. .ppk files can be generated from scratch, or an existing OpenSSH private key, via PuTTYgen. All of these utilities can be downloaded from the PuTTY site, however none are required for SFTP to fully function.

I purchased a license, so why do I still get the license popup?

There are a couple of reasons this could be happening:

  • The license reminder may be for Sublime Text itself, and not the SFTP package. Make sure the license popup says SFTP.
  • You may have entered the license information in the wrong file. It goes in the file that is opened by the menu Preferences ▶ Package Settings ▶ SFTP▶ Settings – User
  • Sublime Text sometimes won’t read the new user settings file until it is restarted

Why do I get Error trying to parse settings after pasting my license key?

This has been reported once or twice by users. It seems some email clients convert the spaces into non-breaking space characters, which messes up the Sublime Text settings parser. To fix it:

  1. Remove all spaces between the beginning of the line and "email" / "product_key"
  2. You are done!

Can I change the behavior of the bottom panel?

The hiding behavior of the SFTP output panel can be changed via the hide_output_panel setting.

How can I re-open the bottom panel?

Use the Show SFTP Panel command.