New project
A project starts from an address. This page walks through the New project wizard: where to begin, how NeoDownloader picks a plugin for the address, and what the last step decides.
Ways to start
- Click New project above the list of projects.
- Drag a link from your browser into the NeoDownloader window. Drop the link here appears; let go, and the wizard opens with the address filled in and the plugins already asked about it.
- Copy an address, then click New project. While the first step is open and its field is empty, the wizard picks the address up from the clipboard by itself.
- New search starts from a search on a site rather than from an address; see New search.
In the free version, once you have 10 projects, NeoDownloader says so before the wizard opens: The free version keeps up to 10 projects.
What do you want to download?
Paste the address of a page with files on it, a direct link to a file, or a pattern like photo[1-20].jpg that stands for many addresses (Address patterns), and click Next - or press Enter.
To give several addresses, click Add more addresses and put one per line; pasting a list widens the field by itself. The first address decides which plugin runs the project and which site settings are asked, so keep one site per project.
On Next, NeoDownloader asks every installed plugin whether it can handle the address. Meanwhile the button says Checking…, which can take several seconds. If the check fails, the reason appears in red above the step. Change the address, and the answer is dropped: the plugins are asked again when you click Next.
Pick the plugin
Pick the plugin for this download lists the plugins, each with what it says about this address - or what it does in general - and its answer:
| Answer | What it means |
|---|---|
| a check mark, Handled | The plugin can download from this address. |
| Login needed | The plugin knows the address, but the site wants you to sign in. |
| Unreachable | The address could not be reached to check it, or the site answered with an error. |
| Unavailable | The plugin handles this address, but something it needs is missing; the line under its name says what. |
| a cross, Not handled | The plugin cannot download from this address. |
Plugins that do not handle the address are folded away under 2 more plugins do not handle this address. When a plugin found a picture while checking, the picture is shown above the list.
The best plugin is already selected. One that knows the site comes before one that reads any page, and between two that know it, the one that needs no sign-in comes first. Click another card to choose it instead. What each plugin takes is in Plugins.
When one plugin says Handled, every other one says Not handled, and you have no project for this address yet, the wizard skips this step; Back returns to it. When you do have one, the step says You already have a project for this address: …
If no plugin handles the address, the step says No plugin handles this address. The project can still be created, but nothing will run it.
As last time appears in the bottom left when you have made a project for this site before. It picks the plugin you picked then, fills in every answer you gave and takes you to the last step. The addresses, the name, the folder and the tags are not copied.
Questions from the plugin
Some plugins need answers before the project can be made.
- Where do the files come from? is asked when a plugin can read the page in more than one way - Crawler on a site it does not know by name, for example. Nothing is selected in advance, and Next waits for your choice. The settings that belong to the choice appear under it.
- Pages of settings follow, when the plugin or the site marks them as worth asking. A required field keeps Next unavailable until it is filled. Fields of the site's settings start with the answers you gave last time; the plugin's own settings start with their defaults.
The wizard asks only part of the settings; the rest are in the project's Properties.
Name and folder
The last step is Name and folder.
- Name is suggested by the plugin, or taken from the site's address.
- Destination folder is your download folder plus the project's name, and it follows the name as you type until you change the folder yourself. Here it is a plain text field; the Choose… button for picking a folder is in the project's Properties.
- Start downloading right away is ticked, and the project starts as soon as it is created. Clear it, and the project stays Not run yet until you start it.
- Open advanced settings after creating opens the Properties window before the project exists, with everything the plugin offers, not only what the wizard asked. There the button is Create project, and Cancel drops the project: nothing is created. With both boxes ticked, the wizard says The run waits until you are done with the settings.
A plugin may add its own checkbox here, such as This site needs me to sign in first; see Signing in to a site. A site may add a notice about its own terms: tick I have read this under it, and Create project becomes available.
Click Create project.