Getting your files to Merrill over the Internet is a simple three-step process:
Step 1. Contact your Customer Service Representative (CSR) to obtain a login to our site
Your CSR will have an account created for you so you can login to our FTP server to upload files. Merrill uses FTP, or File Transfer Protocol, which is the standard way to send and receive files on the Internet. Once your account is created your CSR will contact you to provide you with your login information.
Step 2. Prepare your files for uploading using a compression utility such as Stuffit or WinZip.
Macintosh Files
Prior to uploading your Macintosh files to Merrill you must first use Stuffit to compress them. File compression is necessary to maintain the integrity of the Macintosh file during the upload process.
Stuffit files will have a ".sit" extension add to the filename. Stuffit is available at: www.aladdinsys.com/downloads/index.html
Windows Files
Windows files can be uploaded as is without file compression; however, compressing Windows files prior to uploading them to Merrill will help to reduce the uploading time, since the file size can be dramatically reduced. The compression process is generally referred to as "zipping" a file. WinZip is the most popular compression or zipping utility on the Windows platform.
WinZip is available at: www.winzip.com/ddchomea.htm
File Naming Restrictions
In order to expedite the upload of your file, the following guidelines need to be followed:
- Spaces are not allowed in file names.
- File names are limited to a total of 31 characters.
- The file names must contain a file extension. This allows for 27 characters for the name and 4 characters for the file extension. (examples: .sit, .zip).
- Besides letters and numbers, the following are the only symbols that are allowed in the file name: . (period) - (dash) _ (underscore).
Step 3. Uploading Your Files using an FTP Client Application
An FTP client is a software application designed especially for file transfer over the Internet. It is your most reliable means for uploading files to Merrill. There are many FTP clients available for download from the Internet - some are free. We have listed two reliable applications below:
Transmit for Macintosh - www.panic.com/transmit/
FTP Wanderer for Windows - www.pablovandermeer.nl/downloads.html
Note: Both of these FTP Clients are very small files and will take only a few minutes to download.
Setting Up Your FTP Client
FTP clients will vary slightly, but all will be equipped with fields to enter the following:
Hostname: corpftp.merrillcorp.com
Username: yyy (provided to you by your CSR)
Password: xxx (provided to you by your CSR)
Click on the connect button to log into the Merrill FTP server. You will see the contents of your home directory displayed in the remote window. You will be using the "pub" directory. There are two directories within the pub directory: upload and download.
Because of security settings on our server, you can only upload (send) files to the "upload" directory and download (receive) files from the "download" directory.
Troubleshooting
If your FTP client did not connect, check the information listed above for accuracy, or consult your FTP client's documentation. Be sure your Host Name/Address, user ID and password are exact.
IMPORTANT: Usernames and Passwords are CASE SENSITIVE.
If your computer must pass through a proxy server to connect to the Internet, then you may not be able to upload files from behind your proxy server. Contact your company's network administrator for more information.
A few words on using FTP from a Browser…
We don't recommend or support the use of Internet browsers as a means of uploading files to Merrill. However, some specific versions of Internet browsers are FTP capable.
