Install, update and remove

NeoDownloader 6 runs on Windows, macOS and Linux. This page covers setting it up, moving to a new version and removing it, on Windows, on a Mac and on Linux. Download NeoDownloader from the download page.

On Windows

On Windows it comes in two forms, an installer and a portable version.

Installer or portable version

It is the same program. What differs is where it keeps things:

• The installed version keeps its projects and settings in your user profile and downloads into your Downloads folder, inside NeoDownloader.
• The portable version keeps everything in its own folder: projects and settings in data, downloads in downloads, both beside NeoDownloader.exe. Move the folder - to another disk or a USB drive - and all of it moves along.

Premium is tied to the computer it was activated on, so on another computer the portable version has to be activated again. More in Five computers.

The file portable.txt beside NeoDownloader.exe is what makes the folder portable. Keep it: without it, NeoDownloader keeps its data in your user profile instead and does not see the projects in data.

Install NeoDownloader

On Windows, the installer is the file whose name ends in -setup.exe. Run it and follow the wizard:

• It asks who to install NeoDownloader for. Only for me is the default and needs no administrator rights; Anyone who uses this computer (all users) asks for them. Either way, every Windows user has their own projects and settings.
• You can choose another folder for the program.
• When it finishes, NeoDownloader has shortcuts on the desktop and in the Start menu.

The portable version is the zip whose name ends in -portable.zip. Inside is a single folder, NeoDownloader. Unpack the zip to a place you can write to - anywhere on your disk or a USB drive, but not Program Files - and run NeoDownloader.exe.

The first time you run a new release, Windows may show Windows protected your PC. Click More info, then Run anyway.

NeoDownloader 5 can stay: version 6 is a separate program with its own folders, and the two run side by side. Projects and settings from version 5 are not carried over.

Install the new version

NeoDownloader does not update itself: download the new version from the site, the same way you got the first one.

• Installed version: close NeoDownloader and run the new installer. It replaces the program, and your projects, settings and downloads stay as they were.
• Portable version:
  1. Close NeoDownloader.
  2. Unpack the new zip somewhere else, not over the old folder: unpacked over it, the files the new version no longer has would stay behind.
  3. Move the data and downloads folders from the old NeoDownloader folder into the new one, beside the new NeoDownloader.exe.
  4. Run the new NeoDownloader.exe. Once you see your projects, delete the old folder.

Remove the installed version

If you have Premium, see Before you remove it first.

Close NeoDownloader and remove it like any other program: open Windows Settings → Apps → Installed apps, find NeoDownloader, open the … menu beside it and choose Uninstall. In Windows 10 the list is called Apps & features.

Two things stay on the computer:

• your downloads, wherever they are;
• NeoDownloader's data folder, %LOCALAPPDATA%\Neowise\NeoDownloader: projects, settings, the licence and your sign-ins to sites.

Install NeoDownloader again, and the projects are back.

To remove the data as well, paste %LOCALAPPDATA%\Neowise into the address bar of File Explorer and delete the NeoDownloader folder in it. Leave the rest of Neowise alone: it may hold folders of other Neowise Software programs.

Remove the portable version

If you have Premium, see Before you remove it first.

Close NeoDownloader and delete its folder. The downloads folder inside goes with it, so first move out anything you want to keep. Projects whose folder you chose somewhere else keep their files there.

On a Mac

Install NeoDownloader

NeoDownloader for macOS needs macOS 12 or later and comes as two disk images, files whose names end in .dmg: one for a Mac with Apple silicon, with arm64 in its name, and one for a Mac with an Intel processor, with x64 in its name. To find out which Mac you have, open the Apple menu and choose About This Mac: a line called Chip means Apple silicon, a line called Processor means Intel.

Open it, and a window shows NeoDownloader beside the Applications folder. Drag NeoDownloader onto Applications, then open it from there: run from the disk image itself, it is gone once the image is closed.

A Mac has no portable version. NeoDownloader keeps its projects and settings in ~/Library/Application Support/Neowise/NeoDownloader and downloads into your Downloads folder.

The first start on a Mac

The first time you open NeoDownloader, macOS says it is an app downloaded from the Internet and asks whether to open it. Click Open. NeoDownloader is signed and checked by Apple; macOS asks this about every app that comes from the Internet.

When a project first saves into Downloads - or into Documents, onto the desktop or an external drive - macOS asks whether NeoDownloader may access files there. Click Allow: without it NeoDownloader cannot save into that folder.

Install the new version

NeoDownloader does not update itself: download the new version from the site, the same way you got the first one.

Quit NeoDownloader with Cmd+Q, open the new disk image and drag NeoDownloader onto Applications again. When Finder asks about the copy already there, click Replace. Your projects, settings and downloads stay as they were.

Remove NeoDownloader

If you have Premium, see Before you remove it first.

Quit NeoDownloader with Cmd+Q and drag it from Applications to the Trash.

Your downloads stay, and so does NeoDownloader's data folder, ~/Library/Application Support/Neowise/NeoDownloader: projects, settings, the licence and your sign-ins to sites. Install NeoDownloader again, and the projects are back.

To remove the data as well, in Finder choose Go → Go to Folder…, enter ~/Library/Application Support/Neowise and delete the NeoDownloader folder in it. Leave the rest of Neowise alone: it may hold folders of other Neowise Software programs.

On Linux

Install NeoDownloader

NeoDownloader for Linux needs a 64-bit system and comes in two forms:

• The package is the file whose name ends in .deb, for Ubuntu, Debian, Linux Mint and other systems built on them. Open it, and the system offers to install it; or open a terminal in the folder with the file and run sudo apt install ./NeoDownloader-*.deb. NeoDownloader then appears among your applications.
• The portable version is the archive whose name ends in -portable.tar.gz, for any system. Inside is a single folder, NeoDownloader. Unpack it to a place you can write to and run neodownloader in it. As on Windows, it keeps projects and settings in data and downloads in downloads beside it, and the file portable.txt is what keeps it portable.

On Ubuntu 23.10 and later, install the package: the portable version does not start there. The browser inside NeoDownloader runs in a sandbox, and these versions of Ubuntu allow the sandbox only to programs that come with a security profile for it. The package brings one; an unpacked archive cannot.

The package keeps projects and settings in ~/.local/share/Neowise/NeoDownloader and downloads into your Downloads folder.

Install the new version

NeoDownloader does not update itself: download the new version from the site, the same way you got the first one.

• Package: close NeoDownloader and install the new package the same way as the first one. It replaces the program, and your projects, settings and downloads stay as they were.
• Portable version:
  1. Close NeoDownloader.
  2. Unpack the new archive somewhere else, not over the old folder.
  3. Move the data and downloads folders from the old NeoDownloader folder into the new one, beside the new neodownloader.
  4. Run the new neodownloader. Once you see your projects, delete the old folder.

Remove NeoDownloader

If you have Premium, see Before you remove it first.

The package: close NeoDownloader and remove it in your system's software manager, or in a terminal with sudo apt remove neodownloader.

Your downloads stay, and so does NeoDownloader's data folder, ~/.local/share/Neowise/NeoDownloader: projects, settings, the licence and your sign-ins to sites. Install NeoDownloader again, and the projects are back.

To remove the data as well, delete the NeoDownloader folder in ~/.local/share/Neowise. The .local folder is hidden: in the file manager, Ctrl+H shows it. Leave the rest of Neowise alone: it may hold folders of other Neowise Software programs.

The portable version: close NeoDownloader and delete its folder. The downloads folder inside goes with it, so first move out anything you want to keep.

Update NeoDownloader

NeoDownloader tells you when a new version is out, and you install it yourself. Plugins are part of the program and are updated with it: when a site changes and a plugin needs a fix, the fix comes in a new version of NeoDownloader.

How to install a new version: on Windows, on a Mac, on Linux.

When a new version is out

Once a day NeoDownloader checks whether a new version has come out. When there is one, a strip at the bottom of the window says New version available, with its number:

• Download opens the download page in your browser.
• More info opens the notes on what is new in it.

Both leave the strip in place. The cross at its right edge closes it until NeoDownloader starts again.

To check right now, open the menu, choose About… and click Check for updates. The answer appears beside the button: You have the latest version, or Could not check for updates if the check did not get through.

The daily check can be turned off: Settings… → Program → General → Check for updates. The button in About… works either way.

Updates and Premium

Premium includes a year of updates, and every version released during that year stays Premium for good. If a new version came out after your year ended, the strip also says Without a renewal it works with the free version's limits and offers Renew.

Installed without a renewal, such a version works with the free version's limits, and a strip saying This build is outside your update window… offers two ways out: Renew, or Get that version - the newest version your licence covers.

Before you remove it: Premium

If you have Premium and will not use NeoDownloader on this computer again, first open Licence in the menu and click Deactivate. That frees this computer's seat on your licence for another one. More in Move to another computer.