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Sift

Downloads

Downloads is where you choose how Sift downloads from a link: the quality, the limits, where files land and what they’re named. To open it, go to Settings > Downloads.

Come here to set a download folder, a name template or a size limit. Sift downloads videos with yt-dlp and galleries of photos with gallery-dl.

The Downloads pane in Settings

On this pane

Section titled “On this pane”

The pane draws these groups, in this order:

  • What gets downloaded: the video quality, skipping links you already downloaded, and adding creators to People.
  • Limits: the smallest and largest file to keep, and the free space to leave on the disk.
  • When a download finishes: the message and the sound.
  • Folders and file names: the download folder, the name template and its presets.
  • Per-Site settings: settings of a Site’s own.

Rows the pane draws by hand

Section titled “Rows the pane draws by hand”
  • Download folder: where a download lands when you don’t choose a folder for it. Choose a folder sets it.
  • Name template for other addresses: the file name for a link from an address Sift has no Site for.
  • Name presets: a ready-made rule. Choosing one fills the template.
  • Give a Site its own settings: Select a Site to give it its own folder, name template or downloader.
  • More settings: Edit opens how many downloads run at the same time, the speed limit, the wait between requests, retries and time-outs.

What a name template can hold

Section titled “What a name template can hold”

Choose one of these to add it to the name:

  • {site}: the Site it came from.
  • {creator}: whoever posted it, where the Site says.
  • {name}: the name the file already had, which is usually the Site’s own title for it.
  • {date}: the date it was downloaded.
  • {time}: the time it was downloaded.
  • {id}: the post’s own ID on the Site.
  • {n}: which file of the post it is, as 1, 2, 3.
  • {title}: the post’s title or caption, where the Site has one.
  • {posted}: the date it was posted, where the Site says.

Every setting

Section titled “Every setting”

Add creators you download to People

Section titled “Add creators you download to People”

A download from a creator’s page, on PMV Haven or another Site, is added to the person who posted it.

Only on Sites where a username belongs to a person, such as PMV Haven, TikTok, Instagram and YouTube. A subreddit never becomes a person.

Section titled “Skip links you have already downloaded”

Sift skips a link you have already downloaded. Your history is kept either way.

Downloads at the same time

Section titled “Downloads at the same time”

How many downloads run at the same time.

Minimum free space

Section titled “Minimum free space”

A download that would take free space below this fails, so the disk never fills up.

Play a sound when finished

Section titled “Play a sound when finished”

Plays a short tone when a download finishes, fails or needs you to sign in.

Sound volume

Section titled “Sound volume”

How loud those tones are.

Say when a download finishes

Section titled “Say when a download finishes”

Shows a message on any screen when downloads finish.

Each download names every file as it finishes, with Open once it’s in your library. Once for many waits until nothing is left downloading, then shows one message: the file’s name when only one finished, or how many did. The sound is a separate setting.

Pause downloads

Section titled “Pause downloads”

Nothing new starts while this is on.

Downloads already running finish. A transfer can’t be paused halfway and resumed later.

Wait between requests

Section titled “Wait between requests”

A pause between one request and the next, on every Site. 0 sends them without a pause.

Retries per download

Section titled “Retries per download”

How many times Sift retries a failed download, on every Site. 0 means it doesn’t retry.

Stopped responding for

Section titled “Stopped responding for”

How long Sift waits on a download that has stopped sending anything before it gives up on that try. Applies to every Site.

Raise it on a slow connection. Lower it if stuck downloads are holding up the others. A Site that never answers costs one wait rather than one for every retry, and a download that stalls partway through is tried again.

Wait after a rate limit

Section titled “Wait after a rate limit”

How long Sift waits before downloading from a Site again when it says it has too many requests. Applies to every Site.

Download speed limit

Section titled “Download speed limit”

Limits how fast each download can go, on every Site. Leave it empty for no limit.

Skip files smaller than

Section titled “Skip files smaller than”

Skips files below this size on every Site, such as a thumbnail sent instead of the real file. Leave it empty to skip nothing.

Skip files larger than

Section titled “Skip files larger than”

Skips files above this size, on every Site.

Leave it empty to skip nothing. Sift goes by the size a Site states in advance, so use Minimum free space to protect your disk.

Video quality

Section titled “Video quality”

Which version to download when a Site offers several. Best compatible plays everywhere but stops at 1080p on YouTube; best available gets 4K.

Best compatible picks H.264 video in an MP4 file, which plays in every browser and on every device, and on YouTube it stops at 1080p. Best available picks the highest resolution and frame rate on offer, often in the newer AV1 or VP9 formats that some older devices can’t play. When a Site doesn’t offer the version you prefer, the best one it does offer is taken, and some Sites offer only one. Nothing converts a download, so the file is kept exactly as the Site sent it.

  • Path: Settings > Downloads > Video quality
  • Default: Best compatible (1080p)
  • Choices: Best compatible (1080p), Best available (4K)
  • Who sets it: an admin, for everyone on this Sift