Usage Guide

This guide covers the primary features of the MeTube web interface and how to use them effectively.

The Main Interface

The interface is divided into three main sections: the URL submission form, the 'Downloading' queue, and the 'Completed' list.

The submission form at the top of the page is where you initiate all downloads.

URL Input: Paste the URL of the video or playlist you want to download.
Download Button: Click this to add the URL to the download queue with the selected options.
Quality Selector: Choose the desired video resolution or audio quality. 'Best' will attempt to download the highest available quality.
Format Selector: Select the desired file container (e.g., MP4, MP3) or format (e.g., audio-only, thumbnail).
Advanced Options: Click to reveal more specific download controls.

Clicking the "Advanced Options" button reveals several additional settings:

Auto Start: When set to 'Yes' (default), downloads begin immediately after being added. When 'No', they are added to the queue with a 'pending' status and must be started manually.
Download Folder: If enabled in the configuration, you can specify a subdirectory within your main downloads directory to save the file. You can also type a new folder name to create it on-the-fly (if enabled).
Custom Name Prefix: Text entered here will be prepended to the final filename. For example, a prefix of [MyChannel] for a video titled My Video.mp4 would result in [MyChannel].My Video.mp4.
Items Limit: When downloading a playlist, this sets the maximum number of items to download. 0 means no limit.
Strict Playlist Mode: If enabled, MeTube only treats a URL as a playlist if it explicitly points to the playlist itself. A URL for a video that is part of a playlist will be treated as a single video download.

This section lists all active, preparing, and pending downloads. For each item, you can see:

Title: The title of the video.
Progress Bar: A visual indicator of download progress.
Speed: The current download speed.
ETA: The estimated time until completion.
Actions:
- Start: (For pending items) Manually start the download.
- Cancel: Stop and remove the download from the queue.
- Source Link: Opens the original video URL in a new tab.

This section lists all finished downloads, including both successful and failed ones.

Status Icon: A green checkmark for success, a red 'X' for failure.
Title: The title and filename of the downloaded media. Clicking it opens the file directly from the server.
File Size: The size of the completed file.
Actions:
- Retry: (For failed items) Re-queues the download with the same settings.
- Download: Downloads the file from the MeTube server to your local machine.
- Source Link: Opens the original video URL.
- Clear: Removes the item from the completed list. (This may also delete the file if DELETE_FILE_ON_TRASHCAN is enabled).

Each list has a set of bulk actions that operate on selected items.

Cancel/Clear Selected: Cancels all selected items in the queue or clears them from the completed list.
Start Selected: Manually starts all selected pending downloads.
Clear/Retry Failed: Clears or retries all failed downloads in the completed list.
Download Selected: Downloads all selected completed files to your local machine.

MeTube supports various integrations to make adding downloads easier. See the Integrations & Automation page for details on: