Paste, drop or ⌘N

Every way to hand Ladle a link, from the link bar and the Add sheet to drag and drop, your clipboard and the ladle:// link.

2 min read
Updated October 2026

Paste into the link bar

The bar at the top of Ladle’s window does two jobs. Paste a link and it shows the file’s name, size and destination, with Download now and More options. More options opens the Add sheet with the link filled in, so you can pick a folder or start it tonight. Type anything else and it searches your list.

Press ⌘K to jump to the bar from anywhere in Ladle.

Use the Add sheet

Press ⌘N, or click the + button, to open the Add sheet. Paste one link, or several with one per line, then choose when to start:

Now starts straight away, or as soon as a slot is free in the main queue.
Tonight, 1:00 AM waits for the Tonight queue.

The sheet also shows where each file will be saved. Lists and numbered series like ep-[01-12].mp3 have their own guide: Many links and numbered series.

Copy a link anywhere

When Ladle is the frontmost app, or you open its menu bar menu, it checks your clipboard. If there’s a link to a file it recognizes, like a .zip, .dmg or .mp4, it shows Link on your clipboard with Download and Not now.

Ladle reads the clipboard on your Mac and never sends it anywhere. To stop the suggestions, turn off Watch the clipboard for links in Ladle › Settings › General.

Drag and drop

Drag a link from a browser onto Ladle’s window. You can also drop a .webloc file from Finder onto the window or onto Ladle’s icon in the Dock.

From your browser

With Ladle’s browser extension turned on, clicking a download link hands it to Ladle. See Set up your browser. The extension also adds two items when you right-click a page:

Download with Ladle sends the link you right-clicked.
Download All Links with Ladle… opens the Add sheet listing the page’s file links, all checked. Uncheck any you don’t want, then add the rest.

From scripts and Shortcuts

Ladle opens ladle:// links, so other apps, scripts and Shortcuts can add downloads too:

ladle://add?url=<link>&referrer=<page>&filename=<name>&cookies=<cookies>

Percent-encode each value. Only url is required:

Parameter	What it is
`url`	The file to download.
`referrer`	The page the link came from. Some sites need it.
`filename`	The name to save the file as.
`cookies`	Cookies the site needs for this download. Ladle only ever sends them to the download’s own site.

For example, in Terminal:

open "ladle://add?url=https%3A%2F%2Fexample.com%2Ffiles%2Freport.pdf"