FTP directory listing is empty

Symptoms

It is a common issue for an FTP account to be created, and then when you log into the account, there are no files. Often, the directory that the FTP user has access to is not the one it was intended to access.

Description 

The most common reason for this issue is that the home directory may not have been set as outlined in our FTP Accounts documentation:

4. Enter the FTP account's home directory.
Note:

The Directory text box defines the new FTP account's top level of directory 
access. For example, if you enter example in the Directory text box, the FTP
account can access the /home/$user/example/ directory and all of its
subdirectories.

The system automatically populates this text box with 
public_html/domain.tld/account, where account represents the username that
you entered in the Login text box and domain.tld represents the domain you 
selected in the Domain menu.

For example, if I create FTP user "bob@domain.tld", then just set the password and create the account without first changing the directory, then Bob's directory is going to be empty because it will be in /home/user/public_html/bob or /home/user/public_html/domain.tld/bob.

Workaround

The directory of an existing FTP account cannot be changed. The workaround would be to remove the account and add it back, being sure to specify the directory during creation.

Additionally, you may consider using a more secure method of file management. FTP is now disabled by default in cPanel & WHM version 86. Data transmitted using FTP is vulnerable to brute force attacks, spoofing, and sniffing. Removing the protocol from the product provides a more secure default cPanel & WHM setup and allows further server customization.

We recommend that you use transfer methods that use encryption, such as the scp command or cPanel’s File Manager interface (cPanel >> Home >> Files >> File Manager).

There are several safer alternatives to transferring data to and from your servers, including SFTP and the Web Disk feature. Now might also be a good time to look into "Git Version Control."

Note that several of these features, including SFTP, only allow access by a cPanel user rather than an FTP user.