Fetch Help > What's New > Fetch 5.3 for Fetch 5 Users
The interface and behavior of Fetch 5.3 are very similar previous versions of Fetch 5.
The major changes in Fetch 5.3 are improved compatibility and appearance on Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, support for new Mac OS X 10.5 features and technologies, and a preference to turn off automatic decoding for all file types.
The major changes in Fetch 5.2 are the new WebView feature, support for FTP with TLS/SSL (FTPS), droplet shortcuts, and a rewritten FTP networking layer.
The major changes in Fetch 5.1 were that Fetch became Universal (built to work on both Intel-based and PowerPC-based Macintosh computers), and the addition of the Fetch widget, Automator actions, and built-in StuffIt support.
Here's a quick guide to the changes to existing features in Fetch 5.3. If you are upgrading from Fetch 4, see the Fetch 5.3 for Fetch 4 Users topic instead. For a detailed list of all the changes in Fetch 5.3, see the Fetch 5.3 Release Notes.
New Features
There is now a preference to turn off automatic decoding for all file types. Choose Fetch > Preferences, click the Download tab, and check or uncheck the Allow automatic decoding of downloaded files checkbox. When the Allow automatic decoding of downloaded files checkbox is checked, you can continue to disable decoding for only certain kinds of files using the Automatically decode files like this checkbox in the Transfer Options section of the info window.
You can now upload files and folders using Copy and Paste, or use Copy and Paste to copy files and folders from one folder to another on the same server, or from one server to another.
Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard Support
The transfer window and toolbar buttons have an updated look for Mac OS X 10.5.
The Fetch application is digital signed, which among other things, will reduce or eliminate various keychain alerts.
Fetch supports the Mac OS X 10.5 application-specific firewall.
New Connection Dialog
You can now enter a path after the hostname in the Hostname field, e.g. ftp.fetchsoftworks.com/example, and be taken to the folder specified by that path.
On Mac OS X 10.5, the FTP with KClient choice in the Connect using pop-up menu is disabled, because KClient (Kerberos v4) is no longer supported on Mac OS X 10.5.
Preferences
The Allow automatic decoding of downloaded files checkbox has been added to the Download Preferences pane.
On Mac OS X 10.5, the default download location as specified by the Save downloaded files to preference is the new Downloads folder. On Mac OS X 10.4 and earlier, the default download location remains the Desktop.
Automator
On Mac OS 10.5, Automator lists the Fetch actions under the Internet category.
Changes from 5.1 to 5.2
New Features
WebView lets you easily view files in your web browser and copy web addresses while in Fetch. Once you've created a WebView entry that sets up a correspondence between the Fetch address of items on a file server and the web address of the webpage they are part of, you can easily view changes to your site in a web browser by clicking the WebView button in Fetch. You can also use the Copy Web Address command to copy a web address link (URL) of the items selected in Fetch. See the WebView help topic for more information.
Fetch now supports connecting using FTP with TLS/SSL (FTPS) — choose FTP with TLS/SSL from the Connect using pop-up menu. See the FTP with TLS/SSL help topic for more information. FTP with TLS/SSL support is only available on Mac OS X 10.4 or later. If Fetch is your default FTP helper, it will become your default FTP with TLS/SSL helper automatically.
You can use the new Save Droplet Shortcut command to create a droplet shortcut to which you can drag and drop files to in the Finder or Dock to upload those files to a specific server.
The FTP networking layer has been rewritten for improved compatibility and performance.
New Connection Dialog
The Connect using pop-up menu now lists FTP with TLS/SSL (FTPS) as one of the choices. Shortcuts and recent connections also support FTP with TLS/SSL.
Transfer Window and Toolbar
The Refresh button is no longer in the transfer window toolbar; it is now a smaller button (
) located on right-hand side of the info bar just above the file list.
A WebView button has been added to the toolbar.
You may lose some toolbar customizations when upgrading from an earlier version of Fetch to Fetch 5.2, due to the changes in the toolbar buttons. We apologize for the inconvenience.
Menus
The Save Droplet Shortcut command is available in the File menu when you select no files or a single folder in the file list.
If you hold down the Option key when choosing Get, the command will change to Get As, and Fetch will prompt you to choose a folder on your Macintosh to which it should download the selected files and folders. This lets you temporarily override the download folder specified by the Save downloaded files to preference in the Download Preferences pane.
The Copy URL command has become Copy Fetch Address and Copy Web Address.
The Copy Plain and Copy Plain URL commands have been removed; all URLs are now copied without angle brackets.
Preferences
The Preferences window has a new pane, WebView, for viewing and modifying your WebView entries.
The Contact server during long transfers preference has been removed from the Obscure pane, because it is no longer necessary as a result of the rewritten FTP networking layer.
Changes from 5 to 5.1
New Connection Dialog
The New Connection dialog is now modeless — you can use other Fetch windows and most Fetch menu commands while the New Connection dialog is open.
The Recent Connections
pop-up menu now has a Clear Menu command at the bottom of the menu for removing all the entries from the menu.
Shortcuts and Passwords
Fetch 5.1 and later store shortcuts in a different format than previous versions of Fetch, so while you can continue to use Fetch 5.1 and an earlier version of Fetch on the same Macintosh, you will not see changes you make to the Fetch 5.1 shortcuts in the previous versions of Fetch, and vice versa. The first time you open Fetch 5.1, it will automatically read and upgrade your shortcuts from your previous version of Fetch.
While previous versions of Fetch allowed you to save a shortcut password in the shortcut itself, in Fetch 5.1 all shortcut passwords are saved in your keychain. When you upgrade to Fetch 5.1, your shortcut passwords will be automatically moved to the keychain if they are not stored there already.
The file where Fetch stores your shortcuts has changed. They are now stored in a file named "com.fetchsoftworks.Fetch.Shortcuts.plist" in the Preferences folder in the Library folder in your home folder. Fetch 5 stored shortcuts in a file named "Fetch Shortcuts" in that same location. (After you upgrade, you will have both files — the older file is saved both as a backup, and in case you want to continue to use Fetch 5.)
If you have created separate shortcut list documents, they will be upgraded to the new format the first time you open them with Fetch 5.1. After they have been upgraded, you cannot use them with earlier versions of Fetch anymore. Fetch does not make a backup during the upgrade, so if you think you may want to continue to use them with an older version of Fetch, please make a backup of your shortcut list documents before opening them in Fetch 5.1.
StuffIt and Archive Support
The StuffIt Engine is now built into the Fetch application. A separate installation or updating of StuffIt is no longer required to use StuffIt and Archive support in Fetch.
In Fetch 5.1 and later, the Zip Archive format now preserves Macintosh information. That is, like the Compress (Create Archive) command in the Finder, Fetch's creates .zip files that preserve both data and resource forks, long file names, and other Macintosh Finder information.
If a Windows user downloads a Zip archive created by Fetch, it may contain extra data that cannot be interpreted on Windows. Windows users can easily ignore this extra Macintosh-only information. There is no way to create a Zip archive without the extra Macintosh information when uploading in Fetch, although the extra information is usually only added when necessary.
Fetch's automatic decoding will now properly decode Zip archives that contain Macintosh information.
Fetch Widget
New to Fetch 5.1 is the Fetch Dashboard widget. The Fetch widget lets you easily upload files and folders to a specific server by dragging and dropping items on the widget. After the upload has started, the Fetch widget displays the progress of the transfer. When you first open Fetch 5.1, you will be asked if you want to install the Fetch widget. For more information, see the Fetch widget and using the Fetch widget for uploading help topics.
Automator
Also new to Fetch 5.1 are a number of actions for Mac OS X's Automator, allowing you to create simple workflows that can automate a variety of Fetch tasks. The actions are: Delete Fetch Items, Download Fetch Items, Filter Fetch Items, Generate Fetch Item Report, Get Fetch Folder Contents, Get Selected Fetch Items, Get Specified Fetch Items, Move Fetch Items, Rename Fetch Items, Set Fetch Item Permissions, and Upload Files. See the introduction to using Automator with Fetch, Automator actions and more examples of using Automator with Fetch help topics for more information.
AppleScript
The AppleScript dictionary in Fetch 5.1 has a variety of additions and changes in order to support new features and make Fetch even more scriptable than before. See the AppleScript changes help topic for more information.