Reference

Settings

Open Settings with More (…) › Settings… in the menu bar panel, or OrbTorrent › Settings… (⌘,) while the window is open. Changes take effect straight away.

Extensions’ own settings are on the Extensions page, not here.

General

Setting	What it does	At first
Default torrent app	Make OrbTorrent the Default opens magnet links and `.torrent` files in OrbTorrent. Once it is, it says so.	Asked when OrbTorrent first opens
Open OrbTorrent when you log in	Starts OrbTorrent in the menu bar when you log in, so downloads carry on. If macOS needs you to allow it, Allow in Login Items Settings… appears.	Asked when OrbTorrent first opens

Updates

Setting	What it does	At first
Check Now	Checks for a new version now. The section shows your version and when it last checked.
Check for updates automatically	Checks once a day.	On
Download and install updates automatically	Downloads updates as they’re found, and restarts OrbTorrent to install them while you’re not using it. Downloads carry on where they left off.	On

Help improve OrbTorrent

Setting	What it does	At first
Send anonymous counts with update checks	Adds your version of macOS, the kind of Mac, the week OrbTorrent was installed and how often it quit unexpectedly to the daily update check. Never an ID, your IP address, or anything about your downloads or how you use OrbTorrent.	On
See What’s Sent…	Shows exactly what the next check sends, value by value. Privacy explains each.

Adding torrents

Setting	What it does	At first
When you open a torrent	Ask before downloading lets you choose the files and folder first. Start downloading right away doesn’t ask. Extensions check downloads either way.	Ask before downloading
Show the OrbTorrent window when a download is added	Shows each new download in the window as it’s added.	On
Keep the Mac awake while downloading	Stops your Mac going to sleep by itself while anything is downloading. The display can still sleep, and closing the lid still puts the Mac to sleep.	On

Deleting downloads

Setting	What it does	At first
When you delete a download	Move its files to the Trash, where you can put them back, though they take up space until you empty it. Or Delete its files permanently: erased straight away, and they can’t be put back. This applies everywhere in OrbTorrent.	Move its files to the Trash

Appearance

Setting	What it does	At first
Show OrbTorrent in the Dock while its window is open	Turn off to keep OrbTorrent in the menu bar only.	On
Show tidy download names	Shows release names as what they are, such as Orbit Station · Season 2 with a 4K HDR badge, and episodes by their numbers. Turn off to see every name in full. Tidy names explains.	On

Notifications

Setting	What it does	At first
Notify me when a download finishes	Sends Download Finished, with Open and Show in Finder. Other notifications, such as for held downloads, are always sent.	On

Downloads

Setting	What it does	At first
Save downloads to	Where new downloads go, unless you choose another folder when adding one. Change… picks a folder.	Your Downloads folder
Pause downloads when the disk is almost full	Pauses downloads when their disk gets down to 5 GB free, and resumes them once it has 7 GB. Disk space explains.	On

Seeding

Setting	What it does	At first
Stop sharing when the ratio reaches a limit	Stops sharing a finished download once it’s uploaded this many times what it downloaded.	Off
Ratio limit	Such as 2.
Then	Stop Seeding, or Remove Torrent, which removes it from OrbTorrent and keeps its files.

When a download finishes

Setting	What it does	At first
Run	A program or script of your own, run as you after each download’s checks, unless one of them failed. It gets the download’s file or folder, and its name. Choose… picks it, and Stop Running It takes it away. Run a program when a download finishes explains.	Nothing
What it printed	Show Log shows its log in Finder, once it’s run.

Speed

Setting	What it does	At first
Limit download speed	With Maximum download speed, in KB/s, for every download together.	Off
Limit upload speed	With Maximum upload speed, in KB/s. Keeping uploads below your connection’s maximum stops them slowing everything else.	On, at 5,000 KB/s

Network

VPN

Setting	What it does	At first
Only download through a VPN	Downloads and shares only over the VPN’s connection, and stops if it drops. Download only through a VPN explains.	Off
VPN	Any VPN that carries all your internet traffic, or one you choose.	Any VPN
Status	Connected through …, or Not connected, so nothing is downloading.
Incoming connections	The port your VPN forwards, if any.
Forwarded port	For VPNs that reserve a port in your account, such as AirVPN or Windscribe. Leave it empty, Automatic, for others.	Automatic

Connection

Setting	What it does	At first
Status	Reachable by peers, Incoming connections blocked, or Offline.
Listening port	The port peers connect to you on. Random picks a new one. Set aside while a VPN forwards a port.
Open the port on my router automatically (UPnP / NAT-PMP)	Asks your router to forward the listening port. Port forwarding explains.	On

Peers

Setting	What it does	At first
Connect using	TCP and µTP, TCP Only or µTP Only.	TCP and µTP
Find peers through DHT	Finds peers without a tracker.	On
Exchange peers with other peers (PeX)	Peers tell each other about the peers they know.	On
Find peers on the local network	Finds peers on your own network.	On
Encryption	Prefer Encryption, Require Encryption or Disable Encryption.	Prefer Encryption
Find more peers for public torrents	Adds trackers from a public list that’s tested every day. Torrents from private trackers are never changed. Find more peers explains.	On

Limits

Setting	What it does	At first
Maximum connections	Peers connected at once, across every download. At least 10.	500
Per download	Peers connected at once, for each download. At least 5.	100

Engine

	What it does
Download Engine	Whether qBittorrent’s engine is running, and the versions of qBittorrent, libtorrent, Qt, OpenSSL and Boost it’s built from.
Restart Engine	Stops and starts the engine. Downloads carry on once it’s back.
Show Engine Log	Opens the engine’s log, which can say why something went wrong.
Show Data Folder in Finder	Shows the engine’s folder, with its settings and your library.
Import	Import… brings downloads and settings over from Transmission or qBittorrent. Switch from another app explains.

About

The same as About OrbTorrent: the version, Acknowledgements for the open-source projects inside OrbTorrent, Source Code, and Privacy.

Reset OrbTorrent

To start again from scratch, quit OrbTorrent, then delete its folder and its settings in Terminal:

rm -rf ~/Library/Application\ Support/OrbTorrent
defaults delete com.orbtorrent.mac

This removes your library, so OrbTorrent forgets your downloads, but your downloaded files stay where they are. Extension passwords stay in your Keychain until you remove them in Keychain Access. The next time you open OrbTorrent, it starts as if new.