downloads

Enables extensions to interact with the browser's download manager. You can use this API module to download files, cancel, pause, resume downloads, and show downloaded files in the file manager.

To use this API you need to have the "downloads" API permission specified in your manifest.json file.

Types

downloads.FilenameConflictAction

Defines options for what to do if the name of a downloaded file conflicts with an existing file.

downloads.InterruptReason

Defines a set of possible reasons why a download was interrupted.

downloads.DangerType

Defines a set of common warnings of possible dangers associated with downloadable files.

downloads.State

Defines different states that a current download can be in.

downloads.DownloadItem

Represents a downloaded file.

downloads.StringDelta

Represents the difference between two strings.

downloads.DoubleDelta

Represents the difference between two doubles.

downloads.BooleanDelta

Represents the difference between two booleans.

downloads.DownloadTime

Represents the time a download took to complete.

downloads.DownloadQuery

Defines a set of parameters that can be used to search the downloads manager for a specific set of downloads.

Functions

downloads.download()

Downloads a file, given its URL and other optional preferences.

downloads.search()

Queries the DownloadItems available in the browser's downloads manager, and returns those that match the specified search criteria.

downloads.pause()

Pauses a download.

downloads.resume()

Resumes a paused download.

downloads.cancel()

Cancels a download.

downloads.getFileIcon()

Retrieves an icon for the specified download.

downloads.open()

Opens the downloaded file with its associated application.

downloads.show()

Opens the platform's file manager application to show the downloaded file in its containing folder.

downloads.showDefaultFolder()

Opens the platform's file manager application to show the default downloads folder.

downloads.erase()

Erases matching DownloadItems from the browser's download history, without deleting the downloaded files from disk.

downloads.removeFile()

Removes a downloaded file from disk, but not from the browser's download history.

downloads.acceptDanger()

Prompts the user to accept or cancel a dangerous download.

downloads.setShelfEnabled()

Enables or disables the gray shelf at the bottom of every window associated with the current browser profile. The shelf will be disabled as long as at least one extension has disabled it.

Events

downloads.onCreated

Fires with the DownloadItem object when a download begins.

downloads.onErased

Fires with the downloadId when a download is erased from history.

downloads.onChanged

When any of a DownloadItem's properties except bytesReceived changes, this event fires with the downloadId and an object containing the properties that changed.

Browser compatibility

Report problems with this compatibility data on GitHub
desktopmobile
Chrome
Edge
Firefox
Opera
Safari
Firefox for Android
Safari on iOS
downloads
BooleanDelta
DangerType
DoubleDelta
DownloadQuery
DownloadQuery.bytesReceived
DownloadQuery.cookieStoreId
DownloadQuery.danger
DownloadQuery.endTime
DownloadQuery.endedAfter
DownloadQuery.endedBefore
DownloadQuery.error
DownloadQuery.exists
DownloadQuery.fileSize
DownloadQuery.filename
DownloadQuery.filenameRegex
DownloadQuery.id
DownloadQuery.limit
DownloadQuery.mime
DownloadQuery.orderBy
DownloadQuery.paused
DownloadQuery.query
DownloadQuery.startTime
DownloadQuery.startedAfter
DownloadQuery.startedBefore
DownloadQuery.state
DownloadQuery.totalBytes
DownloadQuery.totalBytesGreater
DownloadQuery.totalBytesLess
DownloadQuery.url
DownloadQuery.urlRegex
DownloadTime
FilenameConflictAction
FilenameConflictAction.prompt
InterruptReason
State
StringDelta
acceptDanger
cancel
download
download.allowHttpErrors
download.body
download.conflictAction
download.cookieStoreId
download.filename
download.headers
download.incognito
download.method
download.saveAs
erase
getFileIcon
onChanged
onCreated
onErased
open
pause
removeFile
resume
search
setShelfEnabled
show
showDefaultFolder

Legend

Tip: you can click/tap on a cell for more information.

Full support
Full support
Partial support
Partial support
No support
No support
See implementation notes.
Uses a non-standard name.
Has more compatibility info.

Example extensions

Note: This API is based on Chromium's chrome.downloads API.