Tray notifications and startup

Tray, notifications and startup

This page covers Rookparcel's tray icon, closing and minimizing to the tray, the notification when a download completes, starting Rookparcel when you log in, and making Rookparcel the program that opens .torrent files and magnet: links.

The tray icon (Windows)

While Rookparcel runs, its icon is in the notification area of the taskbar. Pointing at it shows the version and the current download and upload speeds.

• A left click (or a double-click) hides the main window, or brings it back.
• A right click opens the tray menu:

Item	What it does
Hide Rookparcel / Show Rookparcel	Hides the main window, or shows it again
Add Torrent...	Opens a .torrent file, as File > Add Torrent... does
Add Torrent from URL...	Adds a magnet link or a web address
Start All Torrents	Starts every torrent in the list
Stop All Torrents	Stops every torrent in the list
Exit	Quits Rookparcel

Close and minimize to the tray

Two settings decide what happens to the window:

Setting	Default	What it does
Close to tray	On	The window's close button (and Alt+F4) hides Rookparcel in the tray instead of exiting, so transfers go on.
Minimize to tray	Off	Minimizing hides the window in the tray instead of the taskbar.

Set them in Options > Preferences > UI Settings under System Tray, or tick them straight in the Options menu (Close to Tray and Minimize to Tray).

To quit Rookparcel while Close to tray is on, use File > Exit or Exit in the tray menu. Rookparcel then stops its torrents and saves their progress. If that takes more than a moment (for example while files are still moving to another drive), a window shows what it is waiting for, with a Quit Now button.

The Web UI that the Windows window serves runs only while Rookparcel runs, so closing to the tray keeps it available. See Web UI.

Notification when a download completes

With Show balloon notifications in tray on (the default), Rookparcel shows a "Download Complete" notification with the torrent's name each time a download finishes. Turn it off in Options > Preferences > UI Settings.

When an update is available, Rookparcel says so in the status bar instead; see Updating Rookparcel.

Show the speed in the title bar

Show current speed in the title bar (Preferences > UI Settings, off by default) puts the download and upload speeds at the start of the window's title, so you can read them on the taskbar button.

Start Rookparcel when you log in

1. Open Options > Preferences > General.
2. Tick Start Rookparcel on system startup.
3. To have it start in the tray without showing its window, also tick Start minimized.
4. Click OK.

On Windows this is an entry in your user account's startup programs. No administrator rights are needed, and a portable copy can use it too. If you move a portable copy to another folder, tick the box again: it is ticked only while the entry starts this very copy.

With profiles, each profile has its own startup entry, so you can start several at login. Per-profile entries are new in 1.1.46; not in a published release yet.

The Setup Guide offers the same choice on its last page.

Open .torrent files and magnet links with Rookparcel

1. Open Options > Preferences > General.
2. Tick Associate with .torrent files and Associate with magnet: links.
3. Click OK.

Double-clicking a .torrent file, or clicking a magnet link in your browser, then hands it to Rookparcel. If Rookparcel is already running, the running copy takes it. With Show a window that displays the files inside the torrent on, the Add New Torrent window opens; with Activate the program window on, the main window also comes to the front. See Adding torrents.

Good to know on Windows:

• The settings are for your user account only and need no administrator rights. The installer can set them too.
• If you chose another program in Windows itself ("Always use this app", or Settings > Default apps), Windows keeps that choice, and only you can change it there. Rookparcel then says which program Windows still uses, for example "Windows still opens .torrent files with ...". Click Default apps... to open the right place in Windows Settings and choose Rookparcel.
• With profiles, only one profile can open .torrent files and magnet links. Ticking the boxes in one profile takes them over from the other; the page names the profile that has them now.
• Check association on startup (off by default) makes Rookparcel ask at each start whether to take the associations back when another program has them. It does not ask when Rookparcel starts minimized at login.

GTK version (Linux, BSD)

The tray. Rookparcel shows a tray icon on desktops that keep one: KDE Plasma, Xfce, LXQt, Cinnamon, MATE, waybar, and GNOME with the AppIndicator extension. Its menu has the same items as on Windows. On plain GNOME without that extension there is no tray: the tray boxes do not appear in Preferences, and closing the window quits Rookparcel. Ctrl+Q quits from the window.

Minimize to tray needs the desktop to report that the window was minimized; where it does not (some Wayland desktops), minimizing stays a normal minimize.

Notifications go through the desktop's own notification service, with the same "Download Complete" text.

Start at login. Start Rookparcel on system startup writes an autostart entry in your user's ~/.config/autostart folder. In a Flatpak it asks the desktop through its background permission instead, and the desktop may ask you to allow it; there only the default profile can start at login.

Associations. The boxes make Rookparcel the default program for .torrent files and magnet: links in your user's settings. Unticking a box gives the type back to the system's default; it does not restore a program you used before. If you move an AppImage, tick the boxes again. In a Flatpak the boxes are greyed: the desktop already offers Rookparcel for both types, and you choose the default program in your desktop's settings.

macOS

The menu bar. Rookparcel puts its icon in the menu bar, where Windows has the tray. Pointing at it shows the speeds. A click hides the window or brings it back; a right-click or Control-click opens the menu: Hide Rookparcel / Show Rookparcel, Add Torrent..., Add Torrent from URL..., Start All Torrents, Stop All Torrents and Quit Rookparcel. The Dock icon's menu has the same items.

Closing the window. With Close to tray on (the default), the window's close button (⌘+W) hides the window and Rookparcel keeps running. Click the Dock icon or the menu-bar icon to bring it back. To quit, choose Rookparcel > Quit Rookparcel (⌘+Q) or Quit Rookparcel in the menu-bar icon's menu. Minimize to tray hides a minimized window the same way.

Notifications for completed downloads are macOS notifications, with the same "Download Complete" text. macOS may ask once whether Rookparcel may show notifications; if none appear, allow Rookparcel in System Settings > Notifications.

Start at login. Start Rookparcel on system startup adds a login item for this profile (a launch agent in ~/Library/LaunchAgents); Start minimized starts it hidden. On macOS 13 and later, System Settings > General > Login Items lists it. A login item that the older GTK version of the app made keeps working.

Associations. The boxes work only when Rookparcel runs as Rookparcel.app, and only in the default profile. Turning one off is done in Finder's Get Info > Open with.

Preferences on macOS have no OK button: each change applies at once.

The native macOS app is not in a published release yet.

Web UI and rookparcel-nox

The Web UI has no tray, notifications or startup settings: its Preferences show the association and autostart boxes greyed, with the note that they belong to the desktop client. To start rookparcel-nox with the computer, run it as a service; see Running rookparcel-nox.