Menu bar, Dock and notifications
Keep an eye on downloads without opening Ladle’s window. The menu bar, the Dock icon and notifications all show what’s pouring.
- 1 min read
- Updated October 2026
The menu bar
Section titled “The menu bar”Ladle’s icon in the menu bar shows your total download speed. Click it for a menu with:
- Link on your clipboard, when you’ve copied a link to a file, with a button to download it.
- What’s downloading right now, with each file’s progress.
- What’s up next, including anything waiting for the Tonight queue.
- A Limit speed switch that caps your total speed, handy when you’re on a video call.
- Open Ladle, to bring up the main window.
Don’t want it there? Turn off Show Ladle in the menu bar in Ladle › Settings › General.
The Dock
Section titled “The Dock”While files are downloading, Ladle’s Dock icon shows a progress bar for everything at once and a badge with how many files are downloading.
You can also drop links, or .webloc files from Finder, onto Ladle’s Dock icon to add them.
Notifications
Section titled “Notifications”When a download finishes, Ladle sends a notification with Open and Show in Finder buttons.
These settings live in Ladle › Settings › General:
| Setting | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Notify me when downloads finish | On | Sends a notification for each finished download. |
| Play a sound too | Off | Adds a sound to that notification. |
The first time Ladle wants to notify you, macOS asks whether to allow it. To change your answer later, open System Settings › Notifications and click Ladle.
Prefer to have the file open, or shown in Finder, as soon as it’s done? Change When a download finishes in Ladle › Settings › Downloads.