I’ve been recently frustrated by the lack of a good download manager for Firefox. The download manager within Firefox is fine for single file downloads, though it has no resume or pause capability nor ability to capture multiple downloads at once. The download manager I currently use works only with IE and not Firefox (which is a separate issue). So I went searching through the catalog of Firefox Add-ons and discovered DownThemAll!
DownThemAll! will find every link on a webpage and attempt to download the file that is associated with each link. While it grabs links to HTML, ASP, and PHP pages, I find its main use is for downloading PDFs, MP3s and other large files (including executables).
I can grab the files I want in one of two ways. DownThemAll! will find all possible files to be downloaded and I can select from the list which files I want. I can also set up filters that will only find the files I am interested in. For example, if I only want to download PDF and MP3 files off a website, I can set up a filter to do so. The filters can be created very simply by telling DTA what file extensions to look for. Advanced users can setup regular expressions to create a filter.
The other way I can download files is with DTA OneClick. With one click, DTA recalls the last setting it used and will try to download the files on the current page with those settings. This is useful for tasks which require lots of downloading off of multiple pages/sites.
One of the great things about a download manager is the ability to pause and resume downloads. I can pause a download, exit from Firefox, even shutdown my machine, and return later to the DTA Manager and resume the download. This is especially helpful with very large files. There are times when I need the bandwidth to perform a certain task. I can pause the downloads, do the task, then pick up the downloads where they left off.
DTA has definitely made the “downloading” portion of my life much easier.
The screenshot below shows the file selection screen. I have my PDF filter on to capture only PDF files.
This screenshot demonstrates the download screen. It shows what files are downloading, how much of that file has been downloaded, estimated time left in the download and shows all files in queue.
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About the Author
Paul Flyer loves to research the web and find resources and tools for building, maintaining and promoting websites. Based in Saint Louis, MO, he works in management and spends his free time sharpening his web development and copy writing skills. Feel free to contact Paul with any questions, comments or ideas. He is also available to help you with your own website.
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Hey. Every time I download a mpg or any other video it tells me the video cant be opened. Why?
Hank,
Thanks for the comment. I don’t think the download manager is the cause of your inability to watch a video.
You need to make sure you have a video player that can play the videos you have downloaded. Are you using Windows Media Player? Personally, its the only Microsoft product that I really like. It should play most video formats.
If you have downloaded .mov format movies, you will need QuickTime.
nice download manager
While DownThemAll is a fine download manager, I found it to be very slow compared to GetRight when downloading large files. I only use DownThemAll casually now, and for small files onlybecause of this.
I agree with the above bteck (#4) comments. DownThemAll used to stop downloading a file and could not resume later while the same file from its download site could be downloaded with Internet Download Manager.
I worked with firefox before it is a good menager
I agree with the above comments. DownThemAll used to stop downloading a file and could not resume later while the same file from its download site could be downloaded with Internet Download Manager.
Hey. Every time I download a mpg or any other video it tells me the video cant be opened. Why?
its very good
good
it is good for work
I like using FreeDownloadManager, which used to work just fine in Firefox, but lately nothing I do will make it resume function. Its almost as if the Firefox box is unchecked in the ‘Monitoring’ tab and integration is not working anymore.
I have even reinstalled FDM after an advanced uninstall with Revo, checking and double-checking all settings for errors, but to no avail.
A solution would be greatly appreciated. Feel free to contact the required email that I entered here with a fix, or post here. I will return often to check. Thanx
i have downloaded and installed free download manager but it is not becoming the default downloader for firefox.. previously when i installed fdm and when i download anything through firefox fdm was started and asked for the location.. but now it is not asking.. all downloads are starting through firefox downloader..
i have installed with the same fdm installer and on the same system..
please help me..
thank u
Did you restart Firefox? Most extensions won’t take affect until Firefox is restarted.
best download manager for future.
I am trying but still useless
are the downloads affected or stops when firefox is closed or crashed?
Excelleent
thanks for share
thankyo
Is verry good
When I upgraded to FF5, I got a warning notice that FDM is not compatible woth FF5
rp8382,
I am using Down Them all version 2.0.7 using Firefox 5.0. It is installed and running properly. Try installing it again. Restart Firefox and post back here with the results.
i like it.
OK
need best download manager