Printing Services Made Simple with FTP at Ries Graphics

Send Your Printing Files Online Securely With Our File Transfer Protocol

You may transfer your printing files to and from Ries Graphics 24/7/365 via our FTP site. Please read these instructions carefully, especially if you are new to FTP. They're a bit long, but most of the potential problems you may encounter are covered.

Because of customer confidentiality agreements and the potential for abuse of our site, we have established the following policies:

• For the most part, all customers must have their own dedicated folder with username and password.
• If you are a new customer, or have not previously used our FTP site: Please contact your salesperson or CSR and ask them to have an FTP folder set up for you. Your username and password will be e-mailed to you once your folder is activated.
• While we will continue to maintain an "anonymous" site, we have modified it to contain specific "incoming" and "outgoing" folders, both of which are password protected. You will need to contact your CSR for username and password information. This site is intended for one-time users — if you intend to do business with us more than once (which, of course, is our goal), your CSR will make your life easier by establishing a personal FTP folder.
• If you choose to use the anonymous site, your files will not be viewable once the transfer has completed (for your privacy!). If you are concerned whether your files were successfully transferred, please contact Ries— our team has internal access to the FTP site and can inform you of the status of your files.

As always, we ask that you contact your Ries Customer Service Representative before sending something so that we can watch for your files.

Naming Your Printing File Properly

Due to compatibility issues between Macintosh and Windows systems, certain naming conventions must be used when uploading the FTP files:

• File names of up to 31 characters — including the dot extension — are okay. File names that are 32 characters will not transfer. This is the most common reason for errors when attempting to transfer files.
• Do not use spaces within the file name — use a hyphen (-) or underscore (_) instead.
• Do not use spaces for the first or last character in the file name. (While uploading, the file will be visible but the server will report that it cannot be found.)
• Add the "dot-three" file extension. Windows machines cannot determine the file type automatically like a Mac can. Also, some FTP software will break the file type association, thus requiring a file extension to be added before it will open again.
• Only use alphanumeric characters, dots (.), hyphens (-) or underscores (_). All other characters are illegal and must not be used. (While uploading, the file will be visible but the server will report that it cannot be found.)

New to Online Printing Services?

If you've never used FTP before, here are a few basic instructions for both Mac and Windows users on how to get started:

1. Get compression/decompression software.
2. Get FTP software. While there are ways to use FTP with a web browser, using dedicated FTP software is more stable and user-friendly. There are a number of free and low-cost FTP clients available for both Windows and Mac; a quick web search should give you some good choices (we've listed a few in the box on the right).
3. Connect to our FTP site. Make sure you're connected to the Internet, then start your FTP software. Following the instructions, look for the place where you enter Host name (may also be called address), Username (may also be called User ID) and Password. The Host name is ftp.riesgraphics.com, while the Username and Password are the ones provided by your salesperson or CSR. If there is a space for Directory, you may leave it blank.
4. When sending files to Ries, compress them first for best results, using the compression software you downloaded earlier. Ries can handle files saved in BinHex (.hqx), Stuffit (.sit) or Zip (.zip, preferred for Windows) formats. Be sure to note the location of your file(s) on your hard drive or server.
5. Transfer your files. Simply follow the directions for your FTP software to transfer your files to or from our site. (For the most part, this is a drag-and-drop or "highlight the file name and click the arrow" procedure.)

Avoid Web Browsing Access Troubles When Sending Print Files Online

Ries Graphics require usernames and passwords to access our FTP site, users who prefer using their web browser for accessing FTP sites will receive an error message when trying to access the site. To avoid this, you will need to include the username and password in the URL, using the following format:
ftp://username:password@ftp.riesgraphics.com

Additional instructions for Windows/Internet Explorer users:

1. Once you are connected, you should see a directory list of the contents of the FTP folder, along with the following instructions: "To view this site in Windows Explorer, click Page, and then Open FTP Site in Windows Explorer." You will find Page in the upper right corner of the window. Click it. This will reveal a menu; Open FTP Site in Windows Explorer is toward the bottom of that menu. Click that, too.
2. A new Window Explorer folder window will open. However, you will probably also receive an error message that states "Windows cannot access this folder. Make sure you have typed the file name correctly and that you have permission to access the folder," along with some error codes. If you receive the error message, don't panic — simply click "OK" and go to step 3. (For some reason, this seems to be normal.) If you don't receive the error message, exhale a sigh of relief and go on to step 4.
3. Type the ftp://username:password@ftp.riesgraphics.com URL (that's right, the same one you just used in Internet Explorer) into the address bar of the new Windows Explorer folder window.
4. You should now be able to see the folder's contents, and you can drag and drop files and folders from your computer into this window.

(NOTE: While this method came from Microsoft's Internet Explorer for Windows support site, we have successfully tested it using the Mac version of Internet Explorer, as well as Safari for Mac.)

Printing Files for Mac users: Connect using "Connect to Server"

Users of Mac OS 10.2 or above can use the Connect to Server function (located in the Finder's "Go" menu). Enter ftp://ftp.riesgraphics.com as the server name and click Connect. A username and password box will appear. Once they are entered, the main folder of the FTP site will appear on your desktop. However, this appears to be a READ ONLY process in OS 10.4 and above — you can drag files TO your computer, but if you need to copy files from your computer to ours, you will need FTP software.

Helpful Tips to Easily Share Print Files Online With Ries Graphics

• Avoid creating self-expanding files. Occasionally, such files will not self-extract due to some of the data conversions that occur in the FTP process.
• Windows users should download files in BINARY mode; Mac users should use BIN HEX mode.

Connection problems?

If you experience problems connecting to the Ries Graphics FTP server, you may need to turn on a setting called PASSIVE. Check your configuration setting in your FTP program for an option called PASSIVE or PASSV, or PASSIVE LISTEN FOR CONNECTION. Depending upon your Internet connection, you may need to turn passive on or off. In most FTP programs, passive is off by default, and turning passive on usually corrects most connection problems to the Ries FTP server. Try connecting to the Ries FTP server again. If you still experience connection problems, please contact us at (262) 781-5720 and we will work to resolve any connection problems you might experience.