Of all the FTP clients, SmartFTP has the most robust and unique set of tools for monitoring your file transfers. SmartFTP offers several components to keep you apprised of your file transfers:

• The Message Log
• The Transfer Queue
• The Speed pane
• The Statistics Pop-up
• Event Pop-ups

All of the monitoring tools can be accessed from the View menu.

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One of the neat things about SmartFTP is it's ability to connect to more than one FTP site at a time. Therefore, each Remote Browser window has it's own message log

Remember that you can turn the Remote Browser's windows on and off. However, setting them to Auto Hide will probably offer you the greatest flexibility.

The message log is used to show a detailed, command-by-command view of the file transfer. When you are having a problem with a transfer, then this is probably the place to look. However, you will probably find that the window is a bit small to work with, and that it cannot be docked outside of the Remote Browser window. To overcome this problem, you'll want to export the log:

1. Right click in the Log pane
2. Select Save As
3. Give the saved log file a meaningful name.
   E.g.: Fred's upload 01-Apri1-2010.rtf

SmartFTP's developers have done a great job of de-geek-ifying FTP messages. Here's some actual examples:

 [20:45:41] SmartFTP v4.0.1082.0
 [20:45:41] Resolving host name "badpassword.exavault.com"
 [20:45:41] Connecting to 67.208.64.236 Port: 22
 [20:45:42] Authentication request. Method: "password"
 [20:45:42] User authentication failed.

 [20:45:41] SmartFTP v4.0.1082.0
 [19:51:07] SSH session established.
 [19:51:07] Connected to test.exavault.com.
 [19:55:17] Getting attributes of "/Test_File.txt"
 [19:55:17] Attributes successfully obtained.
 [19:55:52] Disconnecting.
 [19:55:52] Client closed the connection.

If you are ever having trouble connecting and you cannot figure out why, the message log will almost certainly tell you exactly what is going on.

• At ExaVault, we speak fluent FTP-ese. Feel free to send in a copy of your message log to support@exavault.com.

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The Transfer Queue is the pane that appears at the bottom of the SmartFTP application window. The transfer queue is what you watch while a file is transferring.

During an active transfer, you'll see information about:

• The file names being transferred.
• The size of files being transferred.
• The destination (and folder) of the files being transferred.
• the average speed of the file transfer.
• The current speed of the file transfer.

You can also right click on the column headers and select the columns that you want to appear in the Transfer Queue.

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The Speed Pane and the Statistics Pop-up essentially show you the same thing: A line graph of how fast your files are transferring. As a file is being transferred, you get to see the peaks of speed.

• The Speed pane will give you a long term picture while transferring a large queue of files.
• The Statistics Pop-up is a smaller window that gives an overview of many file transfers.

To turn on (or off) the Speed Pane, click the View menu > Other Windows > Speed.

To turn on (or off) the Statistics Pop-up, click the View menu > Other Windows > Statistic Pop-up.

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One of the best tools that SmartFTP offers to monitor files are the Event Pop-ups. Using Event Pop-ups give you a message box when something important happens. There are a number of events that you'll probably want to enable (E.g. Login failed) so that you make best use of your time.

Event Pop-ups are enabled in the Settings window:

1. Click: Tools menu > Settings
2. In the Settings Window: Select the General Page > Events sub-page.

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1. Select the event.
2. Select the type of notification you wish to use.
3. Check ☑ the Show Pop-up box.

While it is completely up to you, you probably want to be notified if any of the following events occur:

• Login Failed
• Transfer Failed
• Disconnect

• SmartFTP's website also has a great video on how to use the transfer queue.
• They also offer another video about monitoring folders.

If you are looking for a way to be notified when someone uploads a file to your FTP site, then the SmartFTP Monitoring Folders video is worth a look.