Filed under: Internet, Internet Tools
Automatically open Bittorrent files using Dropbox and Hazel
Every year there is a torrent made to let listeners download most of the music for SXSW. This year's torrent has recently been posted (previous years' are also available at the same site). I don't usually use Bittorent, so I asked around for client suggestions; Transmission seems to be a favorite among several of my TUAW colleagues.
I also remembered a tip from my friend Guillermo Esteves (who did the awesome Star Wars crawl using only HTML and CSS), about using Dropbox to start torrents remotely. Guillermo provides some detailed instructions for Transmission and µTorrent to set them up to "watch" a folder for new .torrent files, with an important caveat to make sure that you don't download the files to your Dropbox.
One additional Transmission tip: be sure that you un-check the box next to "Display 'adding transfer' options window" so that files will automatically be added, and be sure to check the box next to the "Start transfers when added" option. Guillermo shows both of those settings in his screenshots, but it took me a few minutes to figure out that I had them set incorrectly.
Then I asked myself: "How can I be even lazier?" and I remembered Hazel, a program for automatically moving files from one folder to another based on a set of predefined rules. So I added a Hazel rule for ~/Downloads/ which will move any file where "Kind is BitTorrent Document" to my ~/Dropbox/Torrents/ folder. I repeated this on both my iMac and my MacBook Pro. Now I can be on my MacBook Pro and download a torrent file to ~/Downloads/ and have it moved to my Torrents folder, and have the torrent automatically start downloading on my iMac. So when I'm done with my MacBook Pro I can just close it without having to worry about interrupting any of my downloads.
You may have noticed that we're big Dropbox fans around here. We use it for syncing Things or instead of a USB sync cable or keeping our notes with us or sharing screenshots, along with any number of other uses. Do you know of any other unusual uses for Dropbox? Let us know in the comments.
In the meantime, enjoy the free, legal music downloads from SXSW!
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
moo083 said 8:21PM on 3-09-2010
I think in an article like this one it should really be noted that Transmission has a built in web interface that can be activated from preferences. If you set up your router correctly and use something like DynDNS (which is free), you can have access to your torrents wherever there's web access (and access to port 9091, although this is probably configurable). This includes uploading torrents to start downloading, so its pretty relevant.
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Cowicide said 10:12PM on 3-09-2010
This seems more like a plug for Dropbox than a sensible way to do this when you consider Transmission does this all by itself where you can remotely add, delete, pause, resume, and filter your torrents with it's web interface.
Why use Dropbox at all for this?
TJ Luoma said 7:45PM on 3-12-2010
I didn't make this as clear as I could have: Dropbox is *always* running on my iMac. Transmission isn't.
Using Dropbox + Hazel will automatically launch Transmission when needed.
dbjfunwithpi said 8:40PM on 3-09-2010
I use Dropbox to convert files. At school, we use Windows computers. Sometimes, I forget to export my Pages and Keynote documents to Office documents when a project is due. I set up an applescript as a folder action that will open Pages (or the corresponding program), export, and save it to a folder also in my Dropbox. All I need to do is put the file in my folder with a folder action attached and wait a few seconds. Dropbox on my home computer will see the file, download it, and initiate the folder action. It only takes about 30 seconds max. I also set it up so that I can get any song from my iTunes library at school (in case I want it for a powerpoint or something). The only downside is that my MacBook has to be kept open perpetually. Small loss for such convenience.
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Robert said 8:52PM on 3-09-2010
Would you mind sharing the Applescripts? This trick is relevant to my interests.
dbjfunwithpi said 10:05PM on 3-09-2010
Sure. Um…I originally wrote this script while I was sick and mostly thinking about me, so I just added in the ability to change the destination. Make sure the destination folder exists! It will fail without warning if it doesn't. The errors are made into text files so that I can see them at school. If you have any questions or find something that doesn't work, just e-mail me. My e-mail is my username at gmail.com.
Public link --> http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1478177/convertToPages.scpt
Tech said 9:35PM on 3-09-2010
If you use something like SABnzbd for downloading binaries from newsgroups, the same idea applies except I don't use hazel in the solution. The only thing I need now is to have a web browser for my iphone that will let me download small files and save it directly into my dropbox folder.
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anther93 said 9:13PM on 3-09-2010
For people who are new to Dropbox sign up using this link and we will both recieve 250mb of extra space when you install the program.
https://www.dropbox.com/referrals/NTI0MjY5Nzg5
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MD said 9:21PM on 3-09-2010
Been using this for awhile now and its works so seamlessly!
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samuel said 10:06PM on 3-09-2010
That's such a f-good icon.
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Cowicide said 10:15PM on 3-09-2010
I was thinking basically the same. Never really looked at it up close before.
RenMerc said 10:33PM on 3-09-2010
If the files are intentionally making a one-way journey, you could create a folder action that automatically moves files of predefined types to appropriate destination folders. Like if a friend shared some pictures from a vacation for example, they could automatically be put on your desktop or the pictures folder.
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Bob S. said 10:48PM on 3-09-2010
Right. I've never heard of Hazel, but it took no time at all for me to write an Automator folder action that moved different file types from my Dropbox to appropriate locations.
Dropbox is conveniently cross-platform and handles more than just torrent files. If your only concern is torrents, Transmission's Web interface is good enough.
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Drew said 11:18PM on 3-09-2010
I never could figure out the web portal deal to set up Transmission's web interface, and dropbox is blocked at work. So I set up a rule in mail.app that automagically downloads all attachments to the Downloads folder when the message has a specific subject. I save the torrent on my (jailbroken) iPhone, and then mail it to myself through iFile with the correct subject. Transmission watches that folder and automatically starts any torrents that appear there, and instantly deletes the torrent file to help with the clutter. To add another layer of coolness, Prowl sends a push notification to my iPhone when the torrent starts and completes.
I know, it's a little mote cumbersome than some, but if you struggle with the portal like I did, it's a great alternative.
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henrik said 2:40AM on 3-10-2010
Also see http://henrik.nyh.se/2008/03/torrent-forwarder
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Craig Stanton said 2:31AM on 3-10-2010
Any story about dropbox needs a few referral links.
If you've never used it before, sign up using this link and instead of the regular 2GB you'll get 2.25. What a bargain!
https://www.dropbox.com/referrals/NTQ3NDM1MDk
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Mvcoile said 3:22AM on 3-10-2010
For those with rss feeds: http://codingcurious.com/automatic/
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Toph said 3:48AM on 3-10-2010
If those referrals are used up you can use mine too :)
https://www.dropbox.com/referrals/NTcyOTU4Nzk
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jimrmorrison said 6:12AM on 3-10-2010
or mine :)
https://www.dropbox.com/referrals/NTQ1ODI1ODA5
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huth.sebastian said 7:18AM on 3-10-2010
Since several people mentioned Apple scripts; can't you set up one that watches the folder and starts up Transmission once it find's a torrent file in the folder?
Would be even lazier, because you don't even have to remember to start transmission and you wouldn't have to have it running all the time.
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