# Adding downloads

There are several ways to give MDM something to download. Most of them end in the same window, **Download File Info**, where you choose where the file goes.

## Add URL

1. Copy the file's address (in a browser: right-click the link → **Copy link**).
2. Click **Add URL** on the toolbar, choose **Tasks → Add new download**, or press **Ctrl+N**.
3. **Enter new address to download** opens. If the clipboard holds a web address, it is already filled in. The arrow at the end of **Address** lists the last 20 addresses you entered; pick one to use it again. Right-click the box for **Cut**, **Copy**, **Paste**, **Delete** and **Select all**.
4. If the server needs a user name and password, tick **Use authorization** and type them.
5. Click **OK**.

MDM takes `http://`, `https://`, `ftp://`, `ftps://`, `ftpes://` and `magnet:` addresses. Anything else gets **Invalid address**.

![Add URL](https://misterdownloadmanager.com/help/images/add-url.png)

If the address is a video's page (YouTube, Vimeo, TikTok and others), the video window opens instead. See [Video downloads](https://misterdownloadmanager.com/help/video.html). A magnet link opens **Add torrent**; see [Torrents](https://misterdownloadmanager.com/help/torrents.html).

## FTP and FTPS

FTP downloads work like web downloads: several connections at once, pause and resume, and the
same progress window.

- `ftp://` — plain FTP.
- `ftpes://` — FTP secured with TLS from the start of the session (explicit FTPS, `AUTH TLS`, usually port 21). Use it when the server says it supports TLS.
- `ftps://` — implicit FTPS, port 990 unless the address gives another.

The server's certificate is checked against Windows' (or the system's) trusted certificates, as
for `https://`.

**Logging in.** Write the login in the address (`ftp://user:password@server/folder/file.iso`),
tick **Use authorization**, or save it in **Options → Sites Logins**. Without one, MDM logs in as
`anonymous`. The path is relative to the folder the login starts in; to start from the server's
root, write `%2F` after the server (`ftp://server/%2Fpub/file.iso`).

**Resuming.** MDM keeps the file's size and modification time. If either has changed when you
resume, it says the file changed on the server instead of mixing two versions
(**Options → Downloads → Ignore file modification time changes** skips the time check). The
password is not written to the resume file next to the download: MDM gives it again when it
resumes.

**Connections.** Passive mode is used by default. **Options → Proxy / Socks → Use FTP in PASV
mode** switches it off for servers that only take active connections. FTP connects to the
server directly, not through the HTTP proxy.

Browsers no longer download `ftp://` links themselves. Right-click one and choose **Download with
Mister Download Manager**, or copy it and use **Add URL**.

## Download File Info

MDM asks the server for the file's name and size, and shows them in **Download File Info**:

- **URL** — the address.
- **Category** — chosen from the file's type (Compressed, Documents, Music, Programs, Video or General). Each category has its own folder. **+** beside it makes a new category.
- **Save As** — the folder and file name. You can type another, pick one of the last 20 folders you saved to from the arrow at its end, or choose a folder with **...**.
- **Remember this path for "…" category** — tick it to make the folder you typed the category's folder from now on.
- **Description** — a note of your own. It shows in the list's **Description** column and Find can search it.

Then choose:

- **Start Download** (or **Enter**) — download now. The progress window opens.
- **Download Later** — add it to a queue without starting. See below.
- **Cancel** (or **Esc**) — add nothing.

By default MDM starts downloading while this window is open, so no time is lost while you decide. **Cancel** drops what it fetched. You can turn this off in **Options → Downloads → Start downloading immediately while displaying "Download File Info" dialog**.

If the folder doesn't exist yet, MDM asks **Do you want to create it?** before it starts.

## Download Later

**Download Later** puts the download in a queue instead of starting it. By default MDM asks which one: pick the queue under **Add to queue**, and tick **Start the queue now** if you want it to run straight away. **Cancel** leaves the download in the list, in no queue.

To skip that question and always use the **Main download queue**, turn off **Options → Downloads → Show queue selection panel on pressing "Download Later" button**.

More about queues in [Queues and the Scheduler](https://misterdownloadmanager.com/help/queues-and-scheduler.html).

## From the clipboard

With **Options → General → Offer to download links copied to the clipboard** ticked (it is, unless you turned it off), when you copy a link to a file type in **Options → File types** (ZIP, EXE, MP4, PDF and many more), **Download File Info** opens with it filled in, ready for **Start Download**. Links to other pages are left alone. With **Options → Downloads → Show start download dialog** off, the download starts at once instead. Only links copied while MDM runs are taken, never one that was already there.

## Drag and drop

1. Choose **Tasks → Show drop target**. A small box with the MDM icon appears and stays on top of other windows.
2. Drag a link from your browser onto it. MDM adds it as if you had used **Add URL**.

You can also drop magnet links and `.torrent` files on it. Drag the box to move it, and double-click it to bring the main window back. Right-click it for **Show Mister Download Manager**, **Add new download** and **Hide drop target**.

## Batch download: many numbered files

For files whose names differ only by a number or a letter, such as `photo001.jpg` to `photo150.jpg`:

1. Choose **Tasks → Add batch download**. (**Tasks → Add batch download from clipboard** fills in a copied address.)
2. In **Address**, write the address with one asterisk where the number or letter changes: `https://example.com/photo*.jpg`.
3. Under **Replace asterisk to**, choose **Numbers** or **Letters**, then **From** and **To**.
4. For numbers, set **Wildcard size** to the number of digits. With 3, the files are `photo001.jpg`, `photo002.jpg` and so on.
5. If the server needs a login, tick **Use authorization**.
6. Check **First file**, **Second file** and **Last file**, then click **OK**.

The downloads go to a queue. As with Download Later, MDM asks which queue unless you turn off **Options → Downloads → Show queue selection panel on closing batch download dialogs**.

![Batch download](https://misterdownloadmanager.com/help/images/batch.png)

## A list of links

To add every link in a text file:

1. Choose **Tasks → Import → From text file**.
2. Pick the file. **Import downloads** lists every web address MDM found in it.
3. Untick the addresses you don't want (**Select all** and **Select none** help), then click **OK**.

The downloads join the **Main download queue**, ready to start. **Tasks → Import → From IDM export file** reads an `.ef2` file, with each download's referrer and cookies.

To save your own list, use **Tasks → Export → To text file** (one address per line) or **To IDM export file**.

## When the address is already in the list

By default MDM asks what to do when you add an address it already has. You can choose a fixed answer in **Options → Downloads → If a duplicate download link is added**:

- **Show a dialog and ask what to do.**
- **Add the duplicate with a numbered file name**
- **Add the duplicate and overwrite the existing file**
- **If existing file is complete, show download complete dialog; otherwise resume it.**

## Next steps

- [Send browser downloads to MDM →](https://misterdownloadmanager.com/help/browser-integration.html)
- [Watch a download in the progress window →](https://misterdownloadmanager.com/help/connections-and-speed.html)
- [Queue downloads for later →](https://misterdownloadmanager.com/help/queues-and-scheduler.html)