<page xmlns="http://projectmallard.org/1.0/"
      type="topic" style="task"
      id="gedit-open-on-server">

  <info>
    <link type="guide" xref="gedit-files-basic" group="sixth"/>
    <revision pkgversion="3.0" version="1.0" date="2011-03-25" status="final"/>
    <credit type="author">
      <name>Jim Campbell</name>
      <email>jwcampbell@gmail.com</email>
    </credit>
  </info>

  <title>Open a file that is located on a server</title>

  <p>Prior to opening a file on a server from within <app>gedit</app>, you need to know some technical information about the server.  For example, you will need to know the IP Address or URL of the server, and may need to know what kind of server it is (e.g., HTTP, FTP, etc.).</p>

  <p>Also, some types of servers impose restrictions on what you can do with files stored on the server. For example, you may be able to open a file from a server, but may need to save any changes to the file locally, on your own computer.</p>

  <p>With these caveats in mind, perform the following steps to open a file from a server using <app>gedit</app>:</p>

    <steps>
      <item><p>Choose <guiseq><gui>File</gui><gui>Open</gui></guiseq> to display the <gui>Open Files</gui> dialog.</p></item>
      <item><p>Select the <gui>Pencil</gui> icon near the top of the <gui>Open Files</gui> dialog.</p></item>
      <item><p>Enter the IP Address or URL of the appropriate server.</p></item>
      <item><p>Find and select the file that you wish to open.</p></item>
      <item><p>Use the Character coding drop-down list to select the appropriate character coding.</p></item>
      <item><p>Click <gui>Open</gui>.</p></item>
    </steps>

  <p>Valid types of URI include http:, ftp:, file:, and all of the methods supported by <app>gvfs</app>.</p>

  <note>
    <p>Files from some types of URI are opened as read-only, and any changes you make must be saved to a different location. For example, HTTP only allows files to be read. Files opened from FTP are read-only because not all FTP servers may correctly work with saving remote files.</p>
  </note>

</page>
