How to download all PDFs and files linked on a web page

Download every linked file with IDM - Bulk Download Manager Extension

1. Open the page with the links

   A course page, a report archive, a list of manuals or any page that links to files. The files themselves don't need to be open.

2. Click the IDM icon

   The This page tab scans the page and its frames and lists the files under Files, each with its name, type and the site it comes from.

3. Switch off the types you don't need

   Click Images to hide the pictures. Documents covers PDFs, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, text and e-book files; Archives covers ZIP, RAR, 7z and similar; Other covers installers and disk images.

4. Narrow it down with search

   Type part of a name or an extension, such as pdf, xlsx or 2026. The search looks at the file name, the link text and the address.

5. Check the selection

   Matching files start out selected. Click a row to leave it out, or use the Select all / Select none button above the list.

6. Download

   Click Download selected to save each file separately, or ZIP to get them all in one file. The downloads keep running after you close the popup.

What counts as a file

The extension recognises a link as a file when its address ends in a known file extension, or when the link is marked for download by the website. That includes:

• Documents: PDF, DOC and DOCX, XLS and XLSX, PPT and PPTX, ODT, RTF, TXT, CSV, EPUB and more.
• Archives: ZIP, RAR, 7Z, TAR, GZ and similar.
• Other: installers, disk images and packages, such as EXE, MSI, DMG, APK and ISO.
• Media: linked video and audio files, under Videos and Audio.

Without opening the popup

Right-click an empty part of the page and choose Download all files on this page. It downloads every file the page links to except images, straight into your download folder.

Download a list of links

If you already have the addresses, for example copied from an email or a spreadsheet, you don't need the page at all. Click the link button at the top of the popup, paste the links one per line and click Check links. Only links that start with http or https are accepted, and duplicates are removed.

The links are then listed like the files on a page, with the same type buttons, search and selection. Click Download selected or ZIP. You can paste up to 10,000 links at a time.

Files inside embedded frames

Course portals, document viewers and file listings often sit inside a frame from another site. The popup looks through the page and every frame in it, so links in those frames are listed together with the rest, each file once.

Files behind a login

Downloads are handed to your browser, which sends the same cookies as when you click a link yourself. So if you can open the files while signed in, for example on a school or company portal, the extension can download them too. Nothing passes through any other server.

Without an extension

Chrome can save linked files one at a time:

• Save link as. Right-click the link and choose Save link as. This works for any link and lets you pick the folder each time.
• Alt-click. Hold Alt (Option on a Mac) and click the link. Chrome downloads it straight away instead of opening it.
• From the PDF viewer. If a PDF opens in the browser, use the download button in the viewer's toolbar.

All three are fine for a few files. For a page with dozens of links, a bulk downloader saves a lot of clicking and keeps the files together in one folder.

Tips

• Files keep the name from their link, unless you choose another style under File names in the settings. If two in one batch have the same name, the second gets a number, like report-2.pdf, and by default the browser adds a number to files already in the folder, so nothing is overwritten.
• Saving a lot of files? Put them in a folder per site and day with {host}/{date}; see saving downloads into folders.
• A large file failed halfway? Open the Downloads tab and click Retry. Read more in pause, resume and retry downloads.

FAQ