Jdownloader
Will Stapley reveals how he gets round Chrome’s lack of download options
Browsing the web and downloading files go hand in hand. So why, then, do web browsers have so few options to customise downloads. Chrome, for example, lets me choose a folder in which to dump all my downloads, but it won’t let me prioritise them, resume those that have been interrupted nor choose where to save specific file types.
Thankfully, the free download manager Jdownloader ( www.snipca.
com/33925) lets me do all this and more. Instead of left-clicking links in Chrome, I divert them to Jdownloader by right-clicking them and selecting ‘Copy link address’. Jdownloader then grabs the links from my clipboard and places them in its Linkgrabber tab. By default, the files only start downloading when you click the Play button (top left). But if you’re as impatient as me, you’ll want to set them to start downloading immediately. To do so, open the Linkgrabber tab, click the screwdriver icon bottom right, then select ‘Auto confirm’.
Jdownloader also helps me organise my downloads using rules. I’ve set up rules for saving all video, image and audio downloads in a subfolder called Media, all PDFS and other text files in Documents, and so on. This not only makes it easier to find my downloads, but also stops the default Downloads folder from ballooning in size (and taking an age to load as a result).
To create a rule, open Settings (Ctrl+p), select the Packagizer option, then click Add. Next, tick File Type (see screenshot above), then choose from the list of file types or enter the file extensions yourself. Finally, tick ‘Download directory’, then
choose where to save them.
I’ve also installed the Jdownloader app on my phone (you need to create a free Jdownloader account, then sign into both the PC and app version). The official app is only available for Android devices ( www.snipca. com/33926), but there’s an unofficial version for IOS that that works in much the same way ( www.snipca. com/33927).
As well as letting me keep an eye on downloads from afar, the mobile app lets me queue new downloads from the comfort of my phone. I simply long-press the download link, then select ‘Copy link to clipboard’. When I’ve finished, I swipe down from the top of the screen and select Linkgrabber, then tap History, select the links I want to download, and finally Send Links (see screenshot left). Each link is then sent to my computer, ready for download.
If you want to give it a go, you need to first enable the app’s Clipboard Manager feature – you’ll find this by tapping the Menu button (three horizontal lines).