Do you want to connect to an FTP/SFTP server using already a two-factor authentication environment?

As far as I know two-factor authentication is mainly required by a server to increase security because of users always saving user name and password and let the applications (browsers, FTP clients) automatically connect using the stored data. The applications do not support automatic answering on second authorization (most likely because not standardized) which increases the security. The same security can be reached if the user does not save user name and password and instead always enter it. But users often don't like that if there is the possibility to let the application pass this authentication information automatically.

UltraEdit supports standardized methods for authentication like user name, password, SSL certificate, public key and private key in nearly all combinations with or without storing the data according to what the user prefers.

The answer is NO for FTP/SFTP.

The answer is YES for SSH/Telnet sessions as once the session is established, a script on server side executed automatically on session logon can request whatever the author of this script finds useful for additional security on user authentication. If the user who established the session does not reply to the questions like an additional code or password of the script correct, the script on server side can disconnect the session and block the access for some time for the used user account.

Which features are added to UltraEdit is based mainly on how many users request a feature by email to IDM support.

It is not clear for me if you want to download, edit and upload files via SFTP (or FTPS) using SSH/SSL as additional security, or you want to work with a SSH console.

UltraEdit for Windows has under File - FTP/Telnet the FTP Account Manager and the SSH/Telnet Account Manager.

The administrator of the server should have given you the technical information how to access the server with using SFTP connections for downloading, editing and uploading files. We cannot really help you as we don't know those technical information. The authentication method to use is defined by server administrator and should be known by you and not found out by trial and error.

Most firewalls block the incoming data channel connection from server to client (your Mac). Therefore most often either the firewall must be configured to accept incoming connections from a specific server or on tab Server the option Passive transfers (for firewalls) must be used if server supports passive transfers. You may also need to use Send after login if your server request additionally to SSH/SSL authentication a second authentication.

Also the port number on tab General could be a different one than 22 as usually used for SFTP. But all that data should have been provided by the server administrator to you.

In UltraEdit for Windows there is at Advanced - Configuration - FTP the option Show FTP log in output window which helps to find out what is the problem if something is not working. So take a look in UEM if in menu Tools in Preferences dialog there is also an FTP branch with such an option. Of course the output window must be opened when using this option to see the log on connecting to the server.

Most users asking for two-factor authentication do not know that SSH File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) –  the protocol itself – does not support two-factor or even multi-factor authentication. This is the reason why two-factor or multi-factor authentication is much harder to break by bad guys.

It is usually necessary to first establish a Secure Shell (SSH) session with a specific very limited user account and password or key phrase/file, enter one or more shell commands to get the permission to establish next an SFTP client/server connection or use Secure Copy (SCP).

UltraEdit supports establishing SFTP client/server connections and establishing an SSH session. But UE does not support both in a scripted way to pass two-factor or multi-factor authentication automated. SCP is not supported by currently latest UltraEdit v24.20 at all as far as I know.

I know that many users next write that WinSCP supports multi-factor authentication which is right. This application is designed for Secure Shell with support of SCP in addition to SFTP. But I have never read about any other application supporting two- or multi-factor authentication on Windows. Of course I have also never searched for such applications because no personal need. If anybody reading this have additional information how other Windows applications pass two-factor or even multi-factor authentication, then please let me and others know, and most important let IDM support know with an email.