Speed Download | Manual

MY DOWNLOADS

The My Downloads section is focal point of Speed Download, from where all the downloading of your files is be done. It looks like this:

In the left section of the window are all the main Speed Download categories. Each section is explained in its own section of this manual.

As you have now noticed, the Speed Download interface has been completely changed. Many quick actions (commands) that you can perform in Speed Download are now found in the lower left section of the application:

From top to bottom:

New Folder : this adds a folder that you can store your favorite download URLS in and share with others. Note: when you share these folders, SD sorts them by putting the shared folders at the top of the list and alphabetically.
New Smart Folder : creates a smart folder that you can configure to show all files that meet your search criteria.
Edit Smart Folder : allows you to change your settings for that particular smart folder.
Rename Folder : self explanatory.
Delete Folder : self explanatory.
Connect to iDisk... : this brings up the connection window where you can enter the login info of the iDisk that you wish to connect to.
Connect to iDisk Public Folder... : this brings up the connection window where you can enter the login info of the public iDisk that you wish to connect to.
Connect to FTP Server... : this brings up the connection window where you can enter the info of the FTP that you wish to connect to.
Connect to FTP-SSL Server... : this brings up the connection window where you can enter the info of the FTP-SSL that you wish to connect to.
Connect to Speed Download... : this brings up the connection window where you can enter the info of another Mac running Speed Download that you wish to connect to.
Show Bandwidth Activity : displays a real time graph of the network activity going on while using Speed Download.

This button toggles the Download queue: ON or OFF.

This button toggles the Upload queue: ON or OFF.

Speed Download features a live search field in the toolbar that you can use to quickly find your files amongst your download library. Simply type in the first few letters of the file name, URL, etc, and Speed Download will find it for you instantly. Don't forget to clear the search field if you want to see all the items in your queue. This powerful search functionality also works across any SD, FTP, and iDisks that you are connected to.

In the right section of the window, the download queue library itself is displayed. Each line represents one file in the queue.

Each file entry in the queue can be customized/controlled by right-clicking (Control-Click) on it.

Download Again: will re-download the same file.
Send to: automatically send this file to any iDisk, FTP Server, or any other Speed Download user on your local LAN via Bonjour, or remotely, anywhere around the world.
Reveal in Finder: will automatically show you where that file is on your hard disk.
Open with : will present you with a list of applications from you Hard Disk that you may choose to open this particular file with.
Priority: select what priority level you would like to give this file (i.e. Normal, High, or Low). Files with higher priorities will be allocated more bandwidth while downloading in order to get them first.
Edit Download: opens up an edit window for a file if one was selected. (See screenshot below)

Hold Download: puts the selected file on hold.
Queue Download: adds the selected file to the download queue. (i.e. 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc).
Remove Download: Removes the selected file from the queue (disabled if status is active). You can also do this by click on the 'X' icon to the left of the row. (See screenshot below).
View Transfer Details: this will show detailed behind the scenes info for the file being downloaded.
Copy URL To Clipboard: this will copy the file's URL to the clipboard so that you may paste it in other applications and/or locations.
Add to Sensitive Servers: some servers out there may be older or on slower Internet connections and hence cannot handle the load of simultaneous connections to it. When you select this option, SD adds the domain for that file to the Sensitive Server location. What that does, is that it tells SD to only open 1 connection to that server (download rates may be slower in this case). The result is that the server to where you are connecting to is happy, and you can still get the file you want while enjoying all the benefits of SD. Note: you can remove a domain from the Sensitive server area by either right clicking on the file again (you will note that the CMM entry has changed to 'Remove from Sensitive Servers') or you can go into the Sensitive Servers section in the preferences, and remove the domain from there.
View options: You can customize your columns by selecting by selection from a variety of categories made available to you. (See screenshot below).The columns are resizable and you may sort the list by any of the columns or reposition them anywhere you like.

In the left section of the Speed Download window, if you right-click (Control-Click) on 'My Downloads', you will also be presented with a menu of options to choose from.

Add Download: will open a new download window where you can manually enter the download information for a file(s) you wish to retrieve. (See screenshot below)
Add Files from URL: gives you the power to download all kinds of media from a website (see screenshot below).
Clear Inactive: will prompt you delete all inactive downloads.
Clear Cancelled: will prompt you delete all cancelled downloads..
Clear all downloads: will prompt you delete all your downloaded items.
Refresh list: self explanatory.
View Options: will take you to the INTERFACE section of the Speed Download preferences, where you can customize the Speed Download user interface.

File URL: this is the actual Internet address location for the file to be downloaded. You can edit this manually if you like.
Save to: this is where the file will be downloaded to on your hard disk. By default, SD downloads to the location set in the preferences, but you can edit this location for each file manually.
HTTP-Referrer tells a web page where you have come from, (i.e. which web page you were on before). This is used by some web servers to prevent you from linking directly to their files; they check that the http-referrer is a page on their server. Hence, if you are having trouble with some servers because of this, you can easily remedy the problem by manually entering a HTTP-Referrer page that is on their server.
Connections: this is the number of connections SD opens to download a file.
Position in Queue: select in what order sequence you would like SD to download this file (i.e. 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc).
Priority: select what priority level you would like to give this file (i.e. Normal, High, or Low). Files with higher priorities will be allocated more bandwidth while downloading in order to get them first.
When download is complete: pick from a list of actions that you would like SD to perform once the file is downloaded.
Authentication required to download: enter your username and password here if the server you are downloading from requires you to authenticate in order to download.

Using Download Queue Schedules

You can setup schedules for the download queue, that is, predefined dates and times when the queue will be started. This could be used for example to download files at night when there is less activity on the Internet or when the computer is not being used.

To edit Queue schedules, select "Schedule" from the Queue menu (CMD-T). The following window appears:

Adding a file to the queue manually

To add a file to the queue, click on the "Add…" button in the main window. The following dialog will appear:

Next to "File URL" enter or paste the address of the file to download. You must start the URL with http:// or ftp://

For ftp downloads, if the server you are accessing needs a login and password you must type the URL like this: "ftp://username:password@restOfTheURL"

If you wish to add a download with multiple URLs, separate the URLs with a [return].

Save To: is where Speed Download will put all the files you downloading from the Internet on your hard disk. You may manually define a separate download location for each file you download if you like as well. However, if you don't, this is where you will find all your Speed Downloaded files.
HTTP-Referrer tells a web page where you have come from, (i.e. which web page you were on before). This is used by some web servers to prevent you from linking directly to their files; they check that the http-referrer is a page on their server. Hence, if you are having trouble with some servers because of this, you can easily remedy the problem by manually entering a HTTP-Referrer page that is on their server.
Connections is the number of simultaneous connections to use for this download. As a general rule, the more connections the faster, but only until a certain point. The default settings is the one defined in the Preferences.
Add at this queue position: select in what order sequence you would like SD to download this file (i.e. 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc).
Priority: select what priority level you would like to give this file (i.e. Normal, High, or Low). Files with higher priorities will be allocated more bandwidth while downloading in order to get them first.
When download is complete: pick from a list of actions that you would like SD to perform once the file is downloaded.
Authentication required to download: enter your username and password here if the server you are downloading from requires you to authenticate in order to download.

When you are finished, click "Add" to add this download to the queue. This does not necessarily start the download.

Adding a file to the queue using drag and drop

When you drag a URL onto SD, then the URL is added straight to the queue.

Note: You can paste a URL (from your clipboard) directly into Speed Download to download it as well.

Adding a file to the queue using the floater

To add a file to the queue using the floater, just drag the URL onto the floater window. This also works when the floater is collapsed. The floater is a small window which "floats" above all other windows. It is opened when Speed Download is started if the "Show Floater" option is turned on under the 'Window' menu (CMD-F).

Downloading Multiple files

Speed Download provides a very powerful feature allowing you to easily download multiple files.

The new syntax allows for any combination of the following:

You may use any the above syntax individually, or even use all at once.
For example, sticking these all together you could have:

http://www.example.com/reports/[2000-2001]/financial/q[1-4][a-c].{pdf,doc}

which produces the following links: