WFDownloader App Changelog (0.89 released!)

WFDownloader App 0.89 released! Tried a new approach, this release was research/test driven. The initial goal of trying to stress load the software using real-world test data led to other discoveries (i.e., inadequacies in the software). There was an ongoing effort to keep downloading new batches day after day (as time permitted), even for a few weeks. In the process, some needed features were discovered. While there were other sites, the main site used for this test was Instagram (as it allowed mass downloading without needing an account). In the end, over 400 Instagram accounts were downloaded, and the total download links were close to 300k. So far, the software handled all these massive links without any noticeable performance degradation while using it. Now for the features this test lead to (Not all could be added due to the deadline, but the rest will come in the next release).

1. Batch stats. You can now view batch statistics so you know how many download links you've downloaded so far. Some of you might be shocked when you see yours.
   
2. Batch reorganization. You can find this when you right-click "Batch download jobs".
   
   This has two parts:
   1. You can quickly rename all batches using their source URLs.
      
   2. You can quickly categorize all batches into different folders based the the websites the batches came from.
      
3. More options to queued batch-run (i.e. the process where you tell WFDownloader App to run/update all batches one by one).
   1. You can now limit which batches to run/update. For example, if the Instagram website is currently giving you issues and messing up your update process, you can just type in instagram.com so that during the batch run, all Instagram batches will be skipped.
   2. You can also limit the total number of batches that can be run before stopping. This can also help if a website is too restrictive or if you want to update just a few.
      
4. You can also right-click a batch and specify whether it should be skipped or not during the batch-run process. You can also select multiple batches and do the same. This is useful for problematic batches you want to skip for the time being.
   
5. You can now continue running batches from a specific point (i.e., batch) instead of having to start from the beginning all the time. Also in the image above.
6. Whenever you update a batch (whether directly or via queuing), there is now a "Last update summary". You can now know how long it took to update, how many new downloads were added, etc.  See sample below.
   
   
7. You can now restrict which downloads in a batch are allowed to complete based on the size of the file. For example, if you aren't interested in downloading the large files found in a batch, you can set a size limit and all those links above that won't be downloaded. This was a necessary addition, since during the test, some Instagram accounts had videos of hundreds of megabytes, which needed to be skipped since it was just a test.
   
8. The UI has been modified to add an in-batch filter. You can now filter the links in the batches. You can also show all items, only completed, or only failed.
   
9. If you have downloaded a lot of batches, you can now quickly find any batch by typing its name in the batch section on the left. The search textfield will pop up, and you can press the Up or Down key to go to the next item in search.
   
10. You can now select all items under a category in case you want to remove, move, etc.
    
11. Moving batches to categories got easier. Instead of having to drag and drop (in a location that is far from where you're dragging), you can just send to the category you want by selecting the batch or batches you want.
    
12. You can now change the location of a batch. You can move it along with the files to a new storage and the software will point to the new location so that you can continue updating from the new location. If you want to do this for multiple batches, select them and right-click.
    
    
13. The "Tasks" menu has been modified to add new batch functions.
    
14. Batch link search received some upgrades.
    1. You can now set the category in batch link search. This will save you from having to move multiple batches after batch link search completes.
       
    2. When you chose the option to a batch per search link, you can now specify how the batches are named before they are created. This will save  you from having to rename all created batches after batch link search has completed.
       
15. You can now globally override some batch properties. Over time, some users may realize that they've made some mistakes while creating batches. This gives a quick temporary fix that can be turned on and off (instead of having to correct every batch). You can make app-wide download restrictions and batch-update settings.
    
16. The programmable mode editor now has line numbers and allows undo/redo. If you have no clue about the programmable mode, you can learn more about it by checking out the introduction and viewing some samples.
    
17. For website fixes. Note that some of you might have already accessed some of these fixes via a previous patch, but it is documented here.
    • Instagram:
      • The software stopped working due to Instagram moving to a new API. This has been fixed.
      • Note that the new API isn't still mature (i.e. it's incomplete) so some features may not work like before.
    • Pinterest:
      • Fixed the software so that it works with the new website changes.
      • Fixes for created pins, search, and occasional failed downloads.
      • Added support for the new "Pinterest carousel" type of pins. This is different from "Pinterest story" pins which are already supported.
      • Made the software much faster when link searching Pinterest by taking some shortcuts and performing fewer requests. Link search should complete much faster now.
    • Twitter:
      • Moved to new API.
      • Fixed getting followers/following.
      • Added support for the new note-tweets.
      • Added support for community and list downloading.
      • Fixed bug where it failed to work for quoted tweets that have the tweet deleted.
    • Tumblr:
      • Fixed an issue that affected downloading from hidden/restricted blogs. You no longer need to import cookies to download from those.
    • DeviantArt:
      • Added support for subscriptions page (note: no bypass, you must have a valid subscription)
      • Now handles DeviantArt rate-limits better.
      • Fixed refreshing of expired links in the software.
    • Bluesky:
      • Fixed a bug where it failed to download from hidden/restricted accounts.
    • Lemmy:
      • Updated to work with the new Lemmy changes.
    • Mastodon:
      • Added option to mass-export Mastodon posts for accounts (as json).
    • VK:
      • Added wall support.
    • YouTube:
      • Fixed no links found issue.
    • Behance:
      • Moved to the new API.
18. Added support for Weibo website (needs importing cookies to work).
19. Fixed json export bug.

Thanks a lot to all those who reported issues and offered great suggestions.

You can download the latest version of WFDownloader App for your operating system at the official download page.

If you encounter any issues or have any suggestions or criticism, use the contact form.

Thank you for your time.

ARCHIVED RELEASES

[May 20, 2024] WFDownloader App 0.88 released

WFDownloader App 0.88 released! This release contains many important improvements and QOL features. See details below:

1. The user interface has some slight modifications. The most noticeable is that the big "Start" button now has a dropdown arrow next to it for more options.
   
2. As can already be seen from the image above. You can now "Start" or "Update" all batches at once with a single click! You can either do it from "Start" as shown above or you can right-click "Batch download jobs" as shown below.
   
3. You now have batch categorization. That is, you can group related batches into folders you want. For example, you can create a category called "Twitter" and move all Twitter batches into it.
   1. One advantage of categorization is that you can run/update just the batches in a category as shown below. For example, I can update only batches under Twitter if I want.
      
   2. You can also add a sub-category and reorganize further if you feel a category is getting too large.
      
   3. To move batches into any category of your choice, just drag and drop the selected batches into the category you want. To select multiple batches at once, hold either the SHIFT or CTRL key and select the batches you want to move.
      
4. You can now sort your batches by name (both in ascending and descending order). In the preview below, you can see that it's sorted ascending.
   
5. When you set the software to update or run all batches, you get a batch run monitor to view the progress. Note that Instagram batches are skipped by default and aren't run/updated unless you enable that. It's so that you are aware of the danger of mass-updating Instagram batches.
   
6. Complete revamp of the generic image search feature making it now more powerful than ever.
   
   Features include:
   1. A "Show more" button you can click to show more or less of the config area.
   2. A login button so that you can use the inbuilt WFDownloader App to log in. A lot of people make the mistake of thinking because they are logged in in their browser, WFDownloader App should be able to get the links. No, you also need to be logged in in WFDownloader App for such sites.
   3. Smart image search mode - now improved to work for many more sites out-of-the-box (as long as the page doesn't require scrolling). It will get just the images you want without you needing to filter anything out (most of the time, that is, *disclaimer*).
   4. Manual image search mode - for cases where smart image search fails. You have quick, standard, and deep modes. You can use these modes in connection with the filter box on the right to get just the image links you want.
   5. You also have the option to make WFDownloader App automatically grab linked/embedded images from known image hosts such as Imgur, Imagebam, etc, during the link search operation.
   6. You can specify whether the page requires JavaScript enabled in order to grab the links.
   7. You can now also specify whether you need WFDownloader App to scroll down the page to get the images you want. You can even configure how many scrolls you want, etc. Use this in combination with the filter results box on the right so that you extract only the images you want and remove all unwanted ones.
   8. You now have an in-search filter box on the right. That is, the filter will be applied during the image link search process. Note that this is different from the other filter box at the bottom which can only be used after the search has been completed. This filter can be used in conjunction with the "Save" button so that you can support new sites yourself!
   9. At the far right, you have the "Save", "Load", "Export", and "Import" buttons. You can hover your mouse on any of the buttons to know which is which. This lets you support new websites in WFDownloader App all by yourself! Once you are okay with a search, you can save your setting by attaching it to the website's URL and then next time, WFDownloader App will automatically apply the setting whenever you put any link of that website, making it behave like a supported site. You can see an example of this here. This feature was previously only possible in the Forum mode, Crawler mode, Open directory mode, and Programmable mode.
7. Open directory mode now has an extra setting whether to skip query URLs or not. This is to help with some ODs that are non-standard.
   
8. WFDownloader App now by default saves the modified time info from the URLs after the files are downloaded. The effect of this is that you should now be able to sort by "Date modified" in your file explorer and it should give you the same order/arrangement from the website you downloaded from. Note that this only works if the website includes the info in the download link itself (and not just on the website page alone). For sites like Twitter and Instagram it works, but for Bluesky, it doesn't. You can turn it off from General Settings if you don't like this change.
   
9. Changed the way cookies are imported internally so that it can work for sites like Vk.com. You can always change it back to the old/legacy method from General Settings.
10. The "Updater Config" for batches now has a third option. This is for a special case where some users need to move old downloaded files elsewhere and want the update to not re-download the moved files. That is, this option makes it remember already downloaded files even if they have been moved elsewhere.
    
11. Fixed several issues.
    • Twitter/X:
      • Changed support from Twitter to X (due to site change from Twitter to X which broke the software).
      • Added new options in the X config.
      • Note that anyone previously using WFDownloader App to download from Twitter (which has now become X) should log out of their browser (on Twitter), log back in (via X.com), and then re-import cookies for X. The software now expects X cookies (and not Twitter cookies) so any update of previous batches will fail after updating the software to version 0.88 unless you have done this.
    • Pinterest:
      • Fixed a duplicate issue for Pins that were uploaded wrongly.
      • Fixed issues that occurred when downloading from the "/_created" and "/pins/" pages of a user profile.
      • Added ability to bulk download results from Pinterest search pages.
    • Instagram:
      • Fixed the "Couldn't extract user id" error that happened from some users.
      • Added ability to add date to be included in the filenames.
    • Vk (Vkontakte)
      • Fixed the software to work with the new site changes.
      • Can now download albums, all albums, playlists, photo, and video pages.
      • Note that if the page requires login access to download, you should use either the app's inbuilt browser to log in or import cookies from login.vk.com/home page only.
    • Behance: Fixed download issue as a result of the website change.
    • DeviantArt:
      • Fixed downloading from art post pages caused by website change.
      • Note that there is currently a bug in the DeviantArt API (which the site owners may not fix any time soon). This causes their API to sometimes not return the original image when using the API method in WFDownloader App. To make WFDownloader App always check and make extra API calls to get the original, click the DeviantArt "Config" button and select "Original" for resolution. Note that DeviantArt limits the number of API calls you can make, so that option will limit the number of galleries you can download before hitting their temporary website block.
    • Tumblr:
      • Fixed to now work with the website changes.
      • WFDownloader App can now download from websites with Tumblr backend. Even if you get an error mentioning the site is not supported, just click on the "Generic image search" button and it should now work.
    • Fandom:
      • Fixed an issue where in some cases it misses some media.
    • Google:
      • Fixed bulk downloading to work with the new Google Image search page changes.
    • Mastodon:
      • Improved the naming to be more informative.
      • Can now download from profiles, profiles media, hashtag, favorites, and bookmark pages.
12. Added support for a few sites. The most notable ones are BlueSky (bsky.app), Lemmy instances, and Shopify instances. A lot of their instances have been added to the support list, but if the one you're trying to download from isn't added, just use the "Generic image search" mode and it will still work.
    • BlueSky: can download from, user profiles, search, hashtag, user likes, and user post pages.
    • Lemmy: can download from a site's home page, community pages, search pages, and user pages.
    • Shopify: can download from product and collection pages.
13. Improved the error messages in the link search section to be more informative.
14. Fixed some issues for those using the programmable mode:
    • Fixed scrolling issue where it doesn't get links from subsequent scrolls for some sites like Kavyar.
    • Added more options for the scroll script such as filter regex and three search modes.

Thanks a lot to all those who reported issues and offered great suggestions.

You can download the latest version of WFDownloader App for your operating system at the official download page.

If you encounter any issues or have any suggestions or criticism, use the contact form.

Thank you for your time.