What is "Download by Internet Download Manager" extension and how does it work?

This extension is configured to integrate your browser with the well-known IDM download manager. Note that IDM offers an official integrator which is too aggressive in my opinion. If you prefer this one over the official one, I would recommend disabling that extension from the extension manager of your browser. When the extension is installed, you will get a toolbar icon. Press it once to enable the network observer and the second time to disable it. The current status of the network observer can be viewed by placing your mouse over the toolbar button. When the network observer is enabled, the extension listens for all top-level requests that are not in text or HTML format. If the file-size and multi-threading status are met with user-defined configurations then the downloading job will be sent to the IDM executable and your browser will display a new page containing the download information such as its content-type or file-size. If for any reason you prefer your browser to handle this type of files, use the "Add to the exception list" in this page to permanently exclude them from being sent to IDM. You can add or remove file-types from the options page as well. Note that on the first run, you will be asked to install a native client. This is the only reliable method to communicate with an external executable. In this application, I use an open-source native-client written based on NodeJS. Note that even if the network observer is disabled from the toolbar area, you can still send link, image, video, and audio sources to the external download manager by using the provided right-click context menu items.

List of available download manager integrators:

• Internet Download Manager Chrome WebStore, Firefox Add-ons
• Free Download Manager Chrome WebStore, Firefox Add-ons

What is the meaning of "Executable" in the options page?

This is the actual path to the external executable that this addon is calling when an external download request is about to send. In Windows and Linux it should be the exact path to your external download manager. In Mac OS, it should be the open command

What is the meaning of "Arguments" in the options page?

These are command-line arguments that will be sent to the external executable. "[URL]" keyword will be replaced with the actual downloadable link and "[referrer]" will be replaced with the page link.

What's new in this version?

Please check the Logs section.

What is the meaning of "Exception List" on the options page?

This is a comma-separated list of file-types that the extension will allow your browser to handle them. For instance, let's say you would prefer to view PDF files in the browser itself instead of downloading them by the external download manager. In this case, add "application/pdf" to the list. To find the correct mime-type, simply allow the extension to handle one job and in the information page, you will get the mime-type. Now click on the exception button to add this mime-type to the list and redirect you back to the original page.

Is it possible to only send large files to the external download manager?

Yes, there is an option for that in the options page. You can define the minimum file-size that causes the extension to trigger the external download manager. It is also recommended to enable the "multi-threading" options as well. If this option is checked, only downloading jobs that support multi-threading will be sent to the external download manager as there is no point on using an external download manager if the server is not supporting simultaneous downloads from different ranges

Is it possible for other extensions to proceed their downloading jobs using this extension?

This extension processes external requests of the following format:

chrome.runtime.sendMessage('the extension ID (depends on the browser)', {
  method: 'download',
  passphrase: 'user-defined passphrase (required)',
  url: 'the actual downloading URL (required)',
  referrer: 'optional referrer URL'
});

Notes that all requests must have the passphrase for the request to be considered, otherwise the extension displays desktop notification about the ignored request. The user must set the passphrase in the options page of both extensions.

When the automatic downloading method is enabled, still some URLs are not being sent to the external download manager. Why is this happening?

By default, this extension only sends download requests with at least one matching keyword. You can set these keywords in the options page of the extension. If a URL (the final downloadable URL) has at least one matching keyword, then the download request will be sent to the external download manager. Note that you can disable this feature by clearing the list entirely, although it is not recommended.