Documentation

YDM documentation

Everything you need to go from first launch to a fully managed download queue.

Getting started

Install or run YDM

Use YDM-Setup.exe for a per-user install with shortcuts, or run the portable YDM.exe directly. Both are self-contained.

Meet the three faces

On launch YDM starts a tray icon, a desktop window, and a local-only server that powers the interface. Closing the window hides it — downloads keep running.

Add your first download

Paste a video or playlist link into the Home page and click Analyze — or simply copy a link to the clipboard and let YDM offer it to you.

Select & configure

Tick entries or use index expressions like 1-10, then choose quality, container, rename mode, subfolder, and save path.

Download

The job moves to the queue and the Home page is freed for the next link. Watch blended progress, speed, and ETA live.

Tip: the default profile (360p MP4, ascending numbering) means a link queued from the tray popup works with zero configuration.

Working with the queue

Job states

Every job moves through parsing → queued → downloading → finished, with paused and failed as resumable branches. Jobs interrupted by a shutdown are restored as paused and resume automatically.

Actions

Start / Pause / Stop / Delete — per-job controls in the Queues page.
Reorder — move jobs up or down; the scheduler promotes queued jobs as slots free up.
Edit — queued, paused, and failed jobs can be edited (quality, container, rename mode); downloading jobs cannot.

Resuming

Interrupted downloads continue from .part files. Recent partials are kept for a week; older ones are swept at startup. Partial files live in .ydm-temp next to the executable by default, keeping your media folders clean.

History

The History page groups your last 500 downloads by day with search, reveal-in-folder, open-in-player, and an optional duplicate-skip mode.

Settings reference

The Settings page auto-saves as you type. Values are validated and clamped by the app, so a hand-edited config file can't wedge anything.

Setting	Default	Values / purpose
`save_path`	`~\Downloads`	Where finished videos are written. Created automatically if missing.
`temp_path`	`(empty)`	Partial-file directory. Empty = .ydm-temp next to the executable.
`quality`	`360p`	best, best_mp4, 144p–2160p, audio_best, audio_mp3
`container`	`mp4`	mp4, mkv, webm, or empty to keep the source container
`rename_mode`	`asc`	normal (original titles), asc, or desc numbering for playlists
`workers`	`auto`	auto (adaptive 2–12), conservative (4), balanced (8), aggressive (12)
`retries`	`10`	0–50 whole-file and fragment retries
`port`	`3334`	1024–65535. Loopback only; falls back to a free port. Requires restart.
`max_parallel`	`3`	1–8 queue jobs downloading simultaneously
`speed_limit`	`(empty)`	Optional throttle, e.g. 1M, 2.5M, 500k
`skip_duplicates`	`false`	Mark entries already in history as done instead of re-fetching
`clipboard_watch`	`true`	Detect supported links copied to the clipboard
`clipboard_popup`	`true`	Show the action popup (off = native toast)
`notify_on_link`	`true`	Toast when a supported link is copied (popup-off mode)
`open_window_on_start`	`true`	Show the desktop window on launch
`run_in_background`	`true`	Closing the window keeps the tray and monitoring alive
`autostart`	`false`	Start YDM at sign-in (installed builds only)
`log_level`	`info`	debug, info, warning, error

Note: port, autostart, and log_level require a restart — YDM tells you instead of silently ignoring the change.

Command line & troubleshooting

Command-line flags

YDM.exe --tray-only      :: background start (used by autostart)
YDM.exe --no-window      :: background, no focus steal
YDM.exe --url LINK       :: hand a link to the running instance
YDM.exe --port 3400      :: preferred loopback port
YDM.exe --data-dir DIR   :: alternate data directory

Troubleshooting

Something looks wrong? Open the log view in the app, or read %APPDATA%\YDM\ydm.log — it is the single source of truth.
Window doesn't appear? The tray icon can reopen it; if the dedicated window can't start, the interface opens in your default browser instead — the app itself is unchanged either way.
Detection too chatty? Pause link detection from the tray menu, or disable the popup/toast in Settings.
Out of space mid-download? The disk guard pauses before that happens — free some space and resume.
Rate limiting? Adaptive workers step down automatically; fixed Conservative mode is the gentlest option.