Main program window
The main window shows a list of downloaded files. This list includes additional information about downloaded files like file size, download status, estimated time to complete, current download speed and download description. You can sort the list by any column by clicking on a column header.
Download control buttons (Add URL, Start/Resume, Stop, Stop All, Delete, Delete All Completed, Options,
Scheduler, Start Queue, Stop Queue, Tell A Friend) are located above the list. They can be in active or disabled state depending on what actions are possible for the current selection of downloads.
Click on Tell a Friend button to tell your friends about Internet Download Manager!
You can add a new file to download with Add URL button. You can either enter new URL in the text box or select URL from existing ones. You can also specify login information if the server demands authorization by checking "Use authorization" box.
If URL format is valid, "Save As" dialog will appear where you can type file description and choose the path where the file is to be saved. Alternatively you can add description later in "Download Properties" dialog. There are three buttons on the bottom of the dialog window. If you want to cancel the download, press on Cancel button.
If you want to start downloading immediately, press on Start/Resume Download. That will bring file IDM file
download dialog. The dialog let you get an additional control over the download. It also shows download progress, average download speed, estimated time to complete, current download state, whether resume is supported by the server, etc. The dialog also has a chart to display download progress for each downloaded file segment.
You can press Pause button to postpone downloading, or Cancel to stop download and to close the dialog. You can always resume download at any time. Note that Resume button restarts download from the last saved position only if remote server supports this function.
Stop button stops downloads for selected files. You can also stop download by pushing Cancel button in File Download dialog or by closing the dialog. Stop All button stops all downloads in progress.
Delete button deletes selected files from the download list. It's enabled only for complete or paused file downloads. If file download is not complete, IDM will ask for the confirmation to delete it from the list.
Delete Completed button (available only in registered versions) deletes all complete downloads from the list.
Scheduler button starts
Scheduler dialog window where you can set a time to download files in queues or assign synchronization tasks.
All main controls are also available in File menu as well as in Popup menu with the right mouse click on a file in the Download List.
You can pick Properties item in popup menu to see/edit properties of the selected file. You can change the location to save file, add description, change URL or server login information (username and password).
Categories
In the left side of the main part of the window is a tree of download
categories. Internet Download Manager offers the categories feature to organize
and manage your files. If you don't need it, you may simply
close Categories window and don't select any categories when downloading
files. Every download category has a name, a default download directory and a
list of associated file types. IDM has several predefined categories like Music,
Video, Programs, Documents, etc. You may delete, edit them, or add your own
categories.
Right clicking on a categories item will show a menu to allow you to add a
new categories, or to edit or delete existing items. When adding a category, you
may choose the file extensions to associate with the category, and you may
select the default download directory where to place the files of this category.
For example, Documents category could have the following extensions "doc
pdf xls txt" and the following default download category
"c:\downloads\documents".
IDM will suggest the category and the folder
automatically when you download or save files that match the list of file types.
If you disable save file dialogs in IDM options, IDM will place downloads to
their designated folders automatically.
IDM Queues
IDM has 2 main queues: download queue and synchronization queue. Also you can create any number of additional queues.
You can schedule the start and the stop times of download/synchronization queues, or you can start and stop download queues manually. The main IDM list of downloads has "Q" column that shows which queue downloads belong to.
The icon with three yellow files means that the download belongs to the main download queue, three green files icon stands for the main synchronization queue. The icon with two yellow and the icon with two green files show that the download belongs to an additional download queue and an additional synchronization queue correspondingly. If a queue is scheduled for the start, then its icon has a small clock sign.
The categories field of the main IDM window has "Queues" node that shows the list of queues.
When you select a queue in the list, the main IDM list of downloads shows only the files that belong to the selected queue. The queues in this list have a simple and convenient context menu.
To display context menu you can either right click on the queue, or select the queue and press context menu button on the keyboard.
When you add a new file to download, IDM adds it to the main download queue by default, and IDM deletes the file form the download queue when its download is complete.
You can move or add files from one queue to another with the following ways:
- using corresponding menu item in the context menu of the main download list
- using "drag and drop" from the main download list to the list of queues on the main IDM window
- using "drag and drop" from the list of files to the list of queues on IDM scheduler dialog, Note that downloaded files won't move to the download queues (only to synchronization queues)
Starting and stopping queues
When IDM queue is started, IDM downloads one or several files from the queue at the same time. The number of files to download at the same time can be set for each queue individually on Scheduler -> "Files in the queue" tab.
You can also start (stop) queue processing with the following ways:
- you can press "Start Queue" and "Stop queue" on the main IDM toolbar to start and stop main download queue
- you can use drop-down buttons located near "Start Queue" and "Stop queue" buttons on the toolbar to start/stop other queues. When you click on drop-down buttons, IDM shows the list of queues to select from.
- you can pick "Downloads->Start Queue->[Corresponding Queue name]" or "Downloads->Stop Queue->[Corresponding Queue name]" menu items from IDM main menu
- you can pick Start or Stop menu items from queue context menu in the list of queues in "Categories" window
- you can start and stop queues in Scheduler dialog using "Start Now" and "Stop" buttons
- you can also schedule the time to start the queue as well as the time to stop queue processing on Scheduler dialog
