Starting Downloads with IDM

There are several ways to start your downloads with Internet Download Manager.
1) IDM monitors clicks in Internet Explorer, MSN Explorer, AOL, Opera, Mozilla,
Netscape, and many other browsers.
This method is the easiest one. If you click on a download link in Internet Expl
orer or in another browser IDM will take over and accelerate this download. In t
his case you don't need to do anything special, just browse the Internet as you
usually do. IDM takes over a download from Internet Explorer if its type matches
the list of types/extensions. The list of file types/extensions to download wit
h IDM can be edited in Options->General. If IDM has taken over a download, it sh
ows the following dialog
Image ie-capture.png
If you click on Download Later button, URL (web address) will be added to the li
st of downloads, but the download process doesn't start. If you click on Start D
ownload button, IDM will start downloading the file immediately. IDM lets you as
sociate your downloads with IDM categories. IDM suggests the category and the de
fault download directory according to file type. You may edit categories, delete
and add new categories in the main IDM window. If you want to see the contents
of a zip file before downloading, you may click on Preview button.
IDM will take over any download if you hold down the CTRL key while clicking its
download link in Internet Explorer. (you should check "Use CTRL key with IE cli
ck monitoring" box in "IDM Options->General").
If you hold down the ALT key while clicking on a download link in IE, IDM will n
ot take over the download and let Internet Explorer download the file. (you shou
ld check "Use ALT key with IE click monitoring" box in "IDM Options->General")
If you don't want IDM to take over any downloads from a browser, turn off the br
owser integration in IDM options. After turning off or on the browser integratio
n in "IDM Options->General", don't forget to restart the browser.
Remember if Internet Download Manager had problems downloading file, you should
press Alt while clicking on a link to let the browser process the download.
2) IDM monitors clipboard for valid URLs (web addresses).
IDM monitors system clipboard for URLs with special extension types. When a web
address is being copied to the clipboard, IDM shows its dialog to start Download
.
Image clip-capture.png
If you click on OK button, IDM will start downloading.
3) IDM
ozilla
If you
item.
n html

integrates into right click link menu of IE based (MSN, AOL, Avant) and M
based (Firefox, Netscape) browsers
right click on a link in a browser, you will see "Download with IDM" menu
You can download a specific link or all links in the selected text from a
page.

Image ie-menu.png
This way of downloading files is useful if IDM couldn't take over the download a
utomatically. Just pick this item to start downloading a link with IDM. You may
also select a text in Internet Explorer, and pick "Download with IDM" to add all
links in the selected text to IDM.

4) You can add URL (web address) manually with Add URL button.
See Main Dialog topic for more details
5) Drag and Drop links from Internet Explorer to IDM main window or download bas
ket
Drop target is a window that accepts hyperlinks dragged from Internet Explorer,
Netscape or Opera browsers. You can drag a link from your browser and drop it to
this window in order to start your downloads with IDM.
Image drop.png
If you want to hide this window simply close it. Later you can pick "Url-> Show
drop target" from the main menu (or tray menu) if you want this window to appear
again.
6) You may start downloads from command line using command line parameters
You may start IDM from the command line using the following parameters
idman /s
or idman /d URL [/p local_path] [/f local_file_name] [/q] [/h] [/n] [/a]
Parameters:
/d URL - downloads a file, eg.
IDMan.exe /d "http://www.internetdownloadmanager.com/path/File Name.zip"
/s - starts queue in scheduler
/p local_path - defines the local path where to save the file
/f local_file_name - defines the local file name to save the file
/q - IDM will exit after the successful downloading. This parameter works only f
or the first copy
/h - IDM will hang up your connection after the successful downloading
/n - turns on the silent mode when IDM doesn't ask any questions
/a - add a file, specified with /d, to download queue, but don't start downloadi
ng
Parameters /a, /h, /n, /q, /f local_file_name, /p local_path work only if you s
pecified the file to download with /d URL