Categories, queue and limits
Categories and tags
A torrent is filed under one category or none, and carries any number of tags.
- Set Category… (
Ctrl+Shift+G) files the selection under an existing category, none, or New category…. The Torrent and right-click menus also list the categories as a submenu. - Edit Tags… (
Ctrl+T) shows a checkbox per existing tag and a field for new ones, comma-separated. - The Add dialog offers both.
A category can have a save path. Choosing that category in the Add dialog fills the folder, so new torrents filed under it download there; with an incomplete folder, they are moved there when complete. Changing a category’s path later moves nothing already added.
Settings → Categories and tags (also Torrent → Manage Categories and Tags…) adds categories, sets their save paths, and adds and removes tags. Removing a category leaves its torrents filed under no category; removing a tag takes it off every torrent. Both ask first.
The sidebar has a section for each, with counts, and the omnibox takes cat: and tag: terms.
See The transfer list.
The queue
The selected torrents move in the download queue, keeping their order among themselves:
| Key | Move |
|---|---|
Ctrl+Shift+Home | To the top |
Ctrl+Shift+Up | Up one |
Ctrl+Shift+Down | Down one |
Ctrl+Shift+End | To the bottom |
They are also under Torrent → Queue and in the right-click menu. The Queue column (hidden by default) shows the positions and sorts by them.
Force Resume (Ctrl+Shift+U) starts a torrent now, ignoring the queue. A queued torrent
reads “Queued #n” in the list; that is different from “Paused”, which only you do.
Queue limits
Settings → Queue and share limits → Queue sets how many torrents run at once (0 for no limit):
- Active downloads
- Active seeds
- Active torrents, in all
- Don’t count slow torrents: a slow torrent does not hold a slot.
Share limits
On the same page, Share limits apply to every finished torrent:
- Ratio limit
- Seeding time limit, in minutes
- When a limit is reached: Pause, Remove, Remove with data, or Super seed.
Whichever limit is reached first triggers the action, which the Event Log records (“Share limit reached: paused …”). Torrenta checks once a second; libtorrent itself pauses nothing by these limits. A torrent paused or removed this way raises the “seeding done” event that automation can act on.
Per-torrent limits
Torrent → Limits… (Ctrl+L, also in the right-click menu and the palette) sets, for the
selection:
| Limit | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Download, Upload | Rate caps in KiB/s, 0 for none |
| Connections | Peers at once, 0 for the global limit |
| Upload slots | Peers unchoked at once, 0 for the global limit |
| Download the first and last pieces first | The edge pieces of every wanted file first, so a video plays and seeks early; available once the metadata has arrived |
| Share limits | The global limits, or this torrent’s own ratio, seeding time and action |
The caps and counts are kept in the torrent’s resume data; its own share limit is kept in the settings file and forgotten when the torrent is removed.
Speed limits
Settings → Speed holds:
- Limits: download and upload in KiB/s, 0 for none.
- Alternative limits: a second pair, switched on with Use alternative limits now, the
status bar’s Alt speed pill, or View → Alternative Speed Limits (
Ctrl+Shift+J), which is checked while they are in force. - Schedule: Switch to the alternative limits on a schedule, with From, To and the days of the week. A window that runs past midnight belongs to the day it starts on. The schedule is checked every minute.
- Count protocol overhead in the limits.
A peer on your local network is not held to the session’s rate limits; a torrent’s own limit still applies to it.