A month or so ago I stumbled upon a problem that needs fixing. A Twitter friend of mine was searching for a solution that would allow him to grant controlled access to his FTP server without having to setup a temporary account and teach someone how to use an FTP program.
Once I became aware of this problem, I immediately began searching the internet for some piece of software or service that could make this happen. I was unable to find a single solution so I decided to create the solution myself.
So how does ftpmailer.com work? Basically you can add an FTP account in the administration area which creates a temporary email addresses that grants access to a particular directory on your server. The email format is username-driectoryalias@ftpmailer.com. A Directory Alias is a short term that represents a directory on your server. It sort of works like a password so don’t give it out to strangers! Ex: You might setup the alias “sitepics728″ for your “/images” directory. Then you simply hand out the email address “ericbieller-sitepics728@ftpmailer.net” and every attachment (excluding potentially harmful files like .exe) is uploaded the the corresponding directory!
Once an email is sent to “ericbieller-sitepics728@ftpmailer.net”, the sender receives a bounce back letting them know how everything went. If the file was uploaded successfully, a link to that file (in long and short form!) is shared back to the sender. This also creates a super easy way to share small files with your friends. Just send a file to your custom email and share the link that’s sent back to you!
So head over to ftpmailer.com and sign-up for the beta! The launch date is tentative but we are shooting for about 2 or 3 months from now. You can also follow ftpmailer on Twitter at twitter.com/ftpmailer
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