by Devon Jensen
This extension for Mozilla Firefox allows you view and manage downloads from a tidy statusbar.

If you are new to Download Statusbar, please keep reading for information on how to use this extension.  To view this help screen again in the future, you will need to go to the Download Statusbar options, and press the "About" button.
  

To be honest, I spent a lot of time making this extension.  If it makes your Firefox experience better, please consider making a small donation.  (Paypal account is not necessary.  Credit cards accepted.  Choose Shipping not required.)

Jump to:
Introduction
New in version 0.9.3
Hints and Tips
Preferences Help

Introduction
This extension is for people who like to keep track of their downloads, but don't want extra windows, tabs, or sidebars getting in the way of their web browsing.  Your downloads are kept in a tidy statusbar at the bottom of your browser window.  The statusbar auto-hides when it's not in use, so there's never any interruptions.  Simple, clean, and efficient.  

New in version 0.9.3

• Mini mode that integrates into Firefox's statusbar and allows the same easy download management at the click of a button.  Switching between Full mode is Mini mode is also quick and painless.
• Customize the appearance!  Why should I decide what color your downloads are?  Or what size they are?  Take control of your download destiny.
• Speed Colors - You can make the color of a download's progress bar depend on its speed.  This allows you to visually "see" how fast a download is progressing by glancing at its color.
• Rename a finished download
• Lots of polish and other fixes that are too long to list here.  Get the full list on the website.

Hints and Tips

• Download Statusbar is meant to be a temporary storage location for your in-progress and recently finished downloads.  Keep it clean - it is much less useful when the downloads get scrunched so small you can't tell which is which.  You can always see your complete download history by opening up Firefox's standard download manager (Tools | Downloads)  Continue reading for more tips on easy ways to clear finished downloads.
• You can get a list of actions for managing a download by right-clicking on it, but there are several quicker ways to do common actions:
• To clear a single finished download, middle-click on it.  (on most mice, the middle-click is pressing down on the scroll wheel)
• To clear ALL finished downloads, double-click on an empty part of the statusbar.  
• To open a finished download, double-click on it.
• To delete a finished download, hold down the control key and then middle-click on it.
• To pause or resume an in-progress download, (single) left-click on it.
• To rename a finished download, hold down the shift key and left-click on it
• Tooltips:  Sometimes you just want more detailed information about a download.  To show a download's statistics, position your mouse cursor over a download and wait for a short bit for the tooltip to appear.  In-progress downloads will show a continuously updating tooltip with information like current speed, size so far and remaining time.  Finished downloads will show information like where the download was saved, its size, how long the download took, and the average speed.
• Turn off animations to speed up management actions.  Animations can provide valuable feedback on what is happening to your download (For instance, a red X will indicate when you have requested to delete a finished download), but they can also slow you down.  Uncheck the "Use Animation" option in the Appearance tab of the Download Statusbar preferences to keep things speedy.  
• Stop a download to save it for later.  Firefox cannot currently resume a download after you have closed the program (this is planned for the future), but you can stop a download and start it anew the next time you open Firefox.  Stop a download by right-clicking on it and selecting Stop.  Start a stopped download by right-clicking on it and selecting Start - or just double-click on it.
• Right-clicking on an empty part of the statusbar (or on the Mini mode button) will provide options for managing several downloads at once.  Remove all finished downloads, and pause, stop or cancel all in-progress downloads.  You can also switch between Full mode and Mini mode.
• Mini Mode:  To view the list of downloads, left click on the mini mode download button in the Firefox statusbar.  Once the downloads have popped up, you can manage them in the usual way - right-click to get management actions, middle-click to clear etc.  Right-click on the mini mode button to get the options for managing several downloads at once.  The download button will be hidden if there is nothing in the downloads list.
• If you have a problem with downloads disappearing right away once they finish downloading, then you need to set your download history preference to "When Firefox Exits" or "Manually".  Goto Tools menu, select Options, click Privacy button, select Download History

Preferences Help
To get to the Download Statusbar preferences:  Click on the Tools menu at the top of your browser window.  Select Extensions.  A new Extensions window will pop up.  Find Download Statusbar in the list and double click on it.

General Tab

• Progress Notifications - In-progress downloads can have have more detailed information updated in small text on the download itself.  Choose which notifications you want to see or choose none at all.  Two should fit in the default download size but you can change the text size in the Appearance Tab.
• Mode - Choose Full mode (separate statusbar) or Mini mode (integrated into Firefox's statusbar).  Try each one to see which you like best.
• Trim the download history... - By default, Firefox keeps all your downloads in the download manager.  After awhile, this list can get very long and slow Firefox down.  Use this to trim the list every time Firefox closes and keep the list to a manageable size.  If you have Firefox set to remove downloads "When Firefox exits" or "Upon successful download" then this feature won't do anything.  Note: this feature is in Download Statusbar, but does not directly affect the statusbar itself.
• Automatically continue downloads in the download manager... - If you have downloads in progress and you try to close Firefox, it will popup a warning about canceling the downloads.  Using this feature, the Firefox's download manager will popup instead and continue downloading even though the browser window has closed.  
• Clear finished downloads when the browser closes - Clears the finished downloads from statusbar, but does not remove the downloads from the download manager history.  This has no effect on the downloaded file itself.
• Confirm before deleting a file from the system - This will cause a confirmation message before a file is actually deleted.  Once you delete a file there is no way to get it back (other than re-downloading).
• Clear a finished download after opening it - Does not remove the download from the download manager history.
• Clear a finished download after opening containing folder - Does not remove the download from the download manager history.
• Show the 'Downloads Completed' notification - This is actually a preference built into Firefox but there isn't an easy way to access it.  Recommended off because it is really not necessary when using Download Statusbar
• Automatically clear these filetypes...- Once a download finishes, this will set a timer for it to clear off the statusbar after a set number of seconds.  This is useful because you can see that the download was successful, but you don't have to manage it further unless you want to.  Each filetype should be separated by a comma, and spaces don't matter.  Example: "jpg, jpeg, png, gif"  (without quotes)  If you would like all files to auto-clear, type in "all" and nothing else (without quotes).
• Ignore these filetypes - When downloading these filetypes, they won't show up on the Download Statusbar at all, but they will still be in Firefox's download history.  Each filetype should be separated by a comma, and spaces don't matter.  Example: "jpg, jpeg, png, gif"  (without quotes)

Appearance Tab

• Default or Custom Style - Selecting "Custom Style" will enable all the color-pickers and size boxes.  Selecting "Default Style" will allow you to quickly switch back to the original style, but the custom style settings are still saved.
• Colors - Click on a color box to open a color-picker window for that item.  Click and drag around the palette to find a color you like or just select one of the predefined colors.  If you want to duplicate a color, copy its Hex value and enter it manually in the next color-picker.  You can also press the "Use Theme Default" button to blank out a previous color choice and let the theme default color show through.  This is generally only useful for the Text color and Statusbar Background color.
• Text Sizes - Set the size of the filename text or the progress notification text in "points" (pt)
• Download Item Sizes - Set the width and height of each download item in pixels.
• Use Color Gradients - If selected, this will overlay a white-to-transparent image over the background color giving your download items a nice 3D feel.  Works in both default and custom styles.
• Use Animation - Several download management actions have corresponding animations.  The animations are generally short and hopefully not obnoxious, but they can be turned off.
• Speed Colors - Turning this on will dynamically change the color of an in-progress download's progress bar based on how fast the download is going.  This allows you can visually "see" how fast a download is progressing by glancing at its color.  First, enable speed colors.  Then, set reasonable speed intervals by changing the numbers based on your internet connection type.  (The default settings are based on cable modem speeds)  Finally, click on the color boxes to set a color for each speed interval.  There are several ways this feature could be used.  One idea is to make faster downloads appear brighter than slower downloads.  Another idea is to have the top 3 speed intervals show the same color (no changes), but make the slowest speed interval a warning color so, for example, you will notice if a download drops below 10 KB/sec when the progress bar changes to red.  

Virus Scan Tab

• Manually scan completed downloads - Click the checkbox to enable this feature.  You must agree to the Anti-Virus Feature Agreement before it will work.  
• Don't scan these filetypes - Each filetype should be separated by a comma, and spaces don't matter.  Example: "jpg, jpeg, png, gif"  (without quotes)
• Anti-virus program location - You must already have an anti-virus program installed that is able to accept command-line requests for a manual scan.  Press the "..." button and find the program in your filesystem.
• Arguments - Enter any necessary or optional arguments specific to your anti-virus program.  %1 represents the file that will be scanned (this was previously [Path]) and should appear somewhere in the arguments.  Many programs will work if %1 is the only argument.  I don't have a list of arguments for every program out there.  If you have set this up successfully it would be nice for you to share your settings in the Download Scan Forum.