Getting around in Downie

Downie is a powerful web application for downloading videos from over 1100 different websites, including YouTube. You can view sites with explicit support in Preferences.

Main Window

After opening Downie, you are presented with this main window. The main window in its initial state is empty and contains 4 major sections.

Drop Zone

The most obvious part is the drop zone which allows you to drop links onto the main window. Using drag&drop to add downloads to Downie can be quite tedious, however. There are several ways that you can add downloads to Downie:

Drag&drop a link from a browser (or any other app for that matter) onto Downie's main window or Dock icon.
Use one of the browser extensions that are bundled with Downie. For more information on how to install them and how to use them, see help on Browser Extensions.
In Downie, select File > Open URLs…. You can paste link (or multiple links) into the text area and let Downie work its magic.
While the main window is active, press Command-V to load links that are in your clipboard.

After sending the link to Downie, it will start processing the link(s). See Processing Help for more information.

Search Field

Downie allows you to search various websites for videos directly from within the app. Enter your search query, let Downie load the results and select one either by double-clicking the row or by selecting it with arrow keys on your keyboard and confirming the selection using Return.

Blue Button

Next to the zoom button in the top-left corner, you can find a bluish button that will display popular videos among other users.

Support

In the top-right corner, you can find the Support button via which you can always contact us, report an issue with downloading a video or request support for a new site. For more information see Reporting Issues.

History

In the bottom-right corner, you can find the History button which will open the history window where you can view your past downloads. For more information see help on History.