Drag and Drop
On desktop platforms (Windows, macOS, Linux), the dual-pane SFTP browser supports drag-and-drop for transferring files. You can drag between the local and remote panes, or drag files from your operating system’s file manager directly into ZestSSH.
Between panes
Section titled “Between panes”The dual-pane layout places your local filesystem on the left and the remote SFTP server on the right. To transfer files:
- Upload: Drag a file from the local (left) pane and drop it on the remote (right) pane. The file is uploaded to the current remote directory.
- Download: Drag a file from the remote (right) pane and drop it on the local (left) pane. The file is downloaded to the current local directory.
When you drag an item over a valid drop target, the receiving pane highlights with a colored border — green for the remote pane (upload), orange for the local pane (download). This visual feedback confirms you are dropping in the right place.
Each dropped file is added to the transfer queue and processed according to the concurrency limit (default: 3 simultaneous transfers). You can drag multiple files by selecting them first, then dragging the selection.
From the OS file manager
Section titled “From the OS file manager”You can also drag files from Finder (macOS), Explorer (Windows), or Nautilus/Dolphin (Linux) directly onto the remote pane in ZestSSH. ZestSSH uses the desktop_drop package to receive these external drop events.
When files are dropped from the OS:
- ZestSSH reads the file path, name, and size of each dropped item.
- Each file is queued as an upload to the current remote directory.
- The transfer queue processes them with progress reporting.
- Directories dropped from the OS are currently skipped — only files are uploaded.
The remote pane shows a highlight border when an external drag enters the drop zone, so you can see that ZestSSH is ready to accept the drop.
Platform differences
Section titled “Platform differences”| Platform | OS drag into ZestSSH | Between panes | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Windows | Yes | Yes | Works with Explorer and most third-party file managers. |
| macOS | Yes | Yes | Works with Finder. Files dragged from Finder appear as standard file URLs. |
| Linux | Yes | Yes | Works with Nautilus, Dolphin, Thunar, and other GTK/Qt file managers that support the XDND protocol. |
| Android | No | N/A | Mobile uses the single-pane browser with upload via file picker. |
| iOS | No | N/A | Mobile uses the single-pane browser with upload via file picker. |
On mobile platforms, file transfers are initiated through the upload button (file picker) or the multi-select download action rather than drag-and-drop.
- Drop zone accuracy. Make sure you drop files on the pane itself, not on the header bar or transfer queue. The colored highlight border confirms you are in the correct area.
- Large batches. Dropping many files at once is fine — they all enter the transfer queue and process concurrently up to the configured limit. Monitor progress in the transfer queue panel at the bottom of the screen.
- Directories. Recursive directory upload via drag-and-drop is not yet supported. To upload a directory’s contents, select the files inside it and drag those, or use the upload button in the local pane.
Related
Section titled “Related”- SFTP Browser — full overview of the SFTP interface on mobile and desktop.
- Parallel Transfers — how concurrent transfers are managed.