HarborDrop User Guide

Version 2.1 · macOS 14.0+

📥

What is HarborDrop?

HarborDrop is a download manager for macOS. It helps you download files and videos from your browser faster and more conveniently.

🚀Faster downloads with segmented downloading

🎬Detect & download web videos

📁Auto-categorize by file type

⏰Scheduled downloads

🔗Collect all links on a page

🧩Chrome/Firefox extension

📦

Installation

App Installation

Place HarborDrop.app in your Applications folder.
Double-click to launch.
If macOS security prompt appears, click 'Open'.
Follow the setup wizard to complete initial configuration.

Browser Extension

Chrome, Edge, Brave, Arc, Comet, Opera, Vivaldi and other Chromium browsers:

Chrome extension is available in two versions:

	Web Store	Full Version
Install	Web Store	App-managed folder + Load unpacked
Auto-update	✅	❌
Video detect	✅	✅
Site-specific capture / Intercept	❌	✅

💡

Browser store policies may restrict some site-specific capture and browser intercept features. Install the Full Version only for permitted workflows that require them.

👉 Web Store Version

Chrome Full Version Setup

Choose the extension folder in HarborDrop, download the latest version, then load that same folder in Chrome with Load unpacked.

Open HarborDrop and open Install Browser Extension from Settings or onboarding.
Click Choose... and select a folder dedicated to the HarborDrop extension. You can choose any folder, but Chrome must use this same folder.
Click Download Latest Extension to download the latest extension into the selected folder.
Enter chrome://extensions in the Chrome address bar.
Turn on Developer mode.
Click Load unpacked and select the same folder configured in HarborDrop.
Confirm that the HarborDrop extension appears in Chrome.

HarborDrop Install Browser Extension settings showing the extension folder, versions, and Download Latest Extension button.

In HarborDrop, choose the folder for the Chrome Full extension and click Download Latest Extension.

Chrome Extensions page with Developer mode enabled and Load unpacked highlighted.

In Chrome, enable Developer mode, click Load unpacked, and select the same folder configured in HarborDrop.

💡

The folder selected in Chrome must match HarborDrop's Current extension folder. Select the folder, not the ZIP file itself.

Updating the Chrome Full Version

When HarborDrop shows Status: Update available, click Download Latest Extension, then click Update or reload the extension on Chrome's extensions page. Use Refresh Version in HarborDrop to verify the version if needed.

Firefox:

👉 Firefox Add-ons

Verify Connection

Click extension icon while HarborDrop is running
Connected at top of popup → OK
Disconnected → see FAQ

Extension connection status

Connected status

⬇️

How to Download

💡

When you download a file in the browser, HarborDrop automatically intercepts and handles it. No extra steps needed.

From Extension Popup

Click extension icon → download from detected media list

Auto Intercept

HarborDrop auto-catches browser downloads. Hold Delete key + click to bypass.

Direct URL Input

Click + button and paste URL. If the clipboard contains a URL, it will be auto-filled.

Right-Click / Drag & Drop

Right-click link or drag URL to app window

Extension popup media tab

Download button overlay on video

🖥️

Interface

HarborDrop main interface

Sidebar

Active	Files currently downloading
Complete	Finished downloads
Failed	Failed downloads
Scheduled	Scheduled download queue
Site Grabber	Collect all page links
Categories	Categorized by file type

Toolbar

+	Add URL to download
⏸ / ▶	Pause / Resume all
🔍	Search by name, URL, domain
ℹ️	Selected file details
⚙	Open settings

📌

Menubar Quick Control

Enable 'Menubar Quick Control' in Settings > General to control downloads directly from the top menu bar.

Add URL, pause/resume all
Recent completed files list
Retry failed downloads

Menubar quick control

Menubar expanded view

✅

Download Dialog

When 'Show IDM-style download dialog' is enabled in Settings, a confirmation dialog appears before each download.

Filename	Editable file name
Save Location	Destination folder
Category	Auto-assigned category
Connections	Segment count (more = potentially faster)
Start Now	Uncheck to queue without starting

📁

File Management

Basic Actions

Double Click	Open file
Space	Quick Look preview
⌘ + A	Select all

Right-click menu

🎬

Permitted Media Workflow

When a supported page exposes permitted, non-DRM media resources, HarborDrop detects available media and guides the page URL based workflow.

Quality selection

Permitted HLS (m3u8) Media

When the source provides downloadable non-DRM HLS (m3u8) resources, HarborDrop processes the segments and merges them into one file.

🧩

Extension Features

Media Tab

Shows detected videos, audio, and streams on the current page.

All Links Tab

Lists all downloadable links on the page, organized by type.

Links matching exclusion rules in Settings > Connection are skipped, with a 'Skipped' notice in the popup.

Extension popup — Media tab

Download button on video

🏷️

Auto-Categorize Files

Category settings

Name	Category name (e.g., Videos, Documents)
Save Folder	Destination folder for this type
Extension Rules	Match by extension (e.g., mp4 avi mkv)
Domain Rules	Match by download source domain

💡

Priority: Extension rules → Domain rules → Default folder. Items higher in the list are checked first.

⏰

Scheduled Downloads

Schedule settings

Select 'Scheduled' from sidebar
Click 'Add Queue', enter name
Set desired time
Add URLs → auto-starts at scheduled time

After Completion

None	No action
Quit App	Close HarborDrop
Sleep	Put Mac to sleep
Shutdown	Shut down Mac

💡

If the app was closed and missed a scheduled time, a notification will appear on next launch.

🔗

Site Grabber

Site Grabber interface

Select 'Site Grabber' from sidebar
Enter URL and start scanning
Set depth and filters (e.g., mp4,zip,pdf)
Select items and download

⚡

Post-Download Actions

Post-download action settings

Add Finder Tag	Tag files for organization
Log Record	Log download history
Date Rename	Prepend date to filename
Domain Rename	Prepend source domain to filename
Auto-install DMG	Auto-copy DMG app to Applications
Reveal in Finder	Open file location after download
Date Folder	Auto-move to today's date folder
Source URL Comment	Write source URL to Finder comment

Available Variables

%FILE_PATH%	Full file path
%FILE_NAME%	File name
%FILE_DIR%	Containing folder path
%SOURCE_URL%	Original download URL
%SOURCE_DOMAIN%	Source domain
%DATE_YYYYMMDD%	Today's date

📖 View Detailed Variables Guide →

⚙️

Settings

HarborDrop settings are organized into six areas: General, Extension, Categories, Connection, Security, and About.

General

Default Folder	Default save location
Max Concurrent	Files downloaded at the same time (1–10)
Download Dialog	Confirm filename, folder, and segments
Prevent Sleep	Prevent sleep only during active downloads
Notifications	Completion/failure notifications and sounds
Organization	Auto-categorize and remember save locations
App Presence	Dock, menubar, and browser-handoff activation
Language	Korean / English / System
Appearance	Light / Dark / System

Extension

Chrome Full	Install folder and version management
Update	Install the new version, then reload the browser extension
Firefox	Install and update through Firefox Add-ons
NMH	Connection status and registered browsers
External Tools	yt-dlp / ffmpeg

Connection

Segments	Connections used for one file (1–32)
Bandwidth	Speed limit (0 = unlimited)
User-Agent	Applies only to manually added URLs
Proxy	HTTP, HTTPS, SOCKS5, and authentication
HTTP Auth	Credentials and allowed domains
Exclusions	Files, sites, or URLs left for the browser

Security

TLS Exceptions	Allow certificate bypass only for required domains
Script Security	Allow advanced post-download actions
Remembered Credentials	Review or remove credentials by host
Quarantine	Apply macOS Quarantine to downloaded files

About

License	Activation, trial, and deactivation
Updates	Current version and update check
Feedback	General feedback and feature requests
Bug Report	Report with diagnostics and system information
Official Links	Product page and support documentation

💡

Max Concurrent Downloads controls how many files run at once. Default Segments controls the connections used for one file. These are different settings.

💡

Preference changes apply when you click Save. Action buttons such as install, reinstall, credential removal, and update checks run immediately. Dock and menubar changes preview immediately and are restored by Cancel.

Site Exclusion vs URL Pattern Exclusion

Site Exclusion

Leaves matching domains to the browser instead of HarborDrop. Supports subdomain wildcards.

*.google.com

URL Pattern Exclusion

Leaves only matching URL patterns, including path and query, to the browser.

*://mail.google.com/mail/u/*?*view=att*

💡

Use URL Pattern Exclusion to leave specific URL formats, such as Gmail attachments, to the browser. Use Site Exclusion for an entire domain.

⚠️

TLS exception domains pose security risks. Use only when absolutely necessary.

⌨️

Keyboard Shortcuts

⌘ + A	Select all
⌘ + ⇧ + A	Deselect all
Space	Quick Look preview
Double Click	Open file
Delete + Click	Bypass auto-intercept

❓

FAQ

Extension shows 'Disconnected'

Check app is running → Settings > General > Reinstall NMH → Reload browser extension

Download button clicked but fails

The media URL may have expired or may no longer be exposed by the source page. Refresh the page and try again. From the failed item menu, use Retry (same URL) or Redownload from Source URL (re-fetch from original page).

Filename looks weird

Edit filename in the download dialog, or set rename rules in category actions.

Download doesn't work on a specific site

Check Settings > Connection > Exclusion rules for the site.

TLS/certificate error appears

For special cases like internal company servers, add the site to Settings > Security > TLS Exception Domains.

Browser shows 'Extension context invalidated' error

Reload the extension, then reopen the affected tab.

⚠️

Only download files and media that you own, created, or have explicit permission to save. HarborDrop does not support unauthorized downloads or DRM-protected content.

Enable	Enable or disable each category
Priority	Categories higher in the list are checked first
Save Folder	Fixed folder or date/domain variables
Matching Rules	Extension, domain, MIME, and filename patterns
Post Actions	Automation for each category