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🎯 Selective Download Guide

This guide explains how to download only specific lessons from a Thinkific course instead of downloading the entire course.

Overview

The Thinkific Downloader supports selective downloads using a JSON configuration file that specifies exactly which lessons you want to download. This is useful when you only need certain chapters or want to avoid downloading large files you don't need.

Methods Available

Method 1: Using Environment Variable (Recommended)

  1. Create or obtain a course data JSON file (see options below)
  2. Set the file path in your .env file: 
    COURSE_DATA_FILE="my-selective-lessons.json"
  3. Run the downloader: 
    python -m thinkific_downloader

Method 2: Using Command Line Flag

You can specify the JSON file directly via command line:

python -m thinkific_downloader --json my-selective-lessons.json

Method 3: Docker with Selective Downloads

# Set in your .env file
COURSE_DATA_FILE="selective-lessons.json"

# Run with Docker
docker-compose up

Creating Your Selective JSON File

Option A: From Existing Progress File

If you've already run the downloader once:

  1. Copy the generated progress file:

    # Windows
copy "downloads\\your-course-name\\.thinkific_progress.json" "selective-lessons.json"

# Linux/Mac
cp "downloads/your-course-name/.thinkific_progress.json" "selective-lessons.json"

  2. Edit the file to remove unwanted lessons from the download_tasks array

  3. Keep the structure intact - only modify the contents of the arrays

Option B: Create from Scratch

Create a JSON file with this structure:

{
  "analyzed_chapters": ["chapter_1", "chapter_3", "chapter_5"],
  "download_tasks": [
    {
      "url": "https://embed-ssl.wistia.com/deliveries/video-id-here.bin",
      "dest_path": "1. chapter-name\\1.lesson-name\\lesson-file.mp4",
      "content_type": "video"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://course-files.thinkific.com/document.pdf",
      "dest_path": "1. chapter-name\\2.document-lesson\\document.pdf",
      "content_type": "document"
    }
  ]
}

Understanding the JSON Structure

analyzed_chapters

  • Array of chapter IDs that have been processed
  • Format: ["chapter_1", "chapter_2", "chapter_N"]
  • Used to track which chapters have been analyzed

download_tasks

Each task has three required fields:

  • url: Direct download URL for the content
  • dest_path: Local file path where content will be saved
  • content_type: Type of content (video, document, html, audio)

Content Types Supported

Content Type Description File Extensions
video Video lessons (Wistia, MP4) .mp4, .mov, .avi
document PDF documents, slides .pdf, .ppt, .pptx
html Text lessons, notes .html
audio Audio files .mp3, .m4a, .wav

Example Workflows

Download Only Videos from Specific Chapters

  1. Run the full download once to get the complete JSON
  2. Copy the progress file to videos-only.json
  3. Edit to keep only entries where content_type is "video"
  4. Remove chapters you don't want from analyzed_chapters
  5. Set COURSE_DATA_FILE="videos-only.json" in .env

Download Only First 5 Lessons

  1. Get the complete JSON file
  2. Keep only the first 5 entries in download_tasks
  3. Update analyzed_chapters to match
  4. Use the modified file

Skip Large Video Files

  1. Edit the JSON to remove large video entries
  2. Keep documents, text, and smaller videos
  3. Use the filtered JSON for download

Tips and Best Practices

File Path Management

  • Use forward slashes (/) or double backslashes (\\\\) in paths
  • Ensure destination directories exist or will be created
  • Keep the original folder structure for organization

Performance Optimization

  • Fewer tasks = faster completion
  • Remove unnecessary content types to save bandwidth
  • Use CONCURRENT_DOWNLOADS=1 for selective downloads to avoid rate limiting

Validation

  • Ensure all URLs are accessible
  • Verify file paths are valid for your operating system
  • Test with a small subset first

Troubleshooting

"File not found" Error

COURSE_DATA_FILE env var not set.

Solution: Ensure the JSON file exists in the project root directory and the path in .env is correct.

"Invalid JSON" Error

Solution: Validate your JSON syntax using an online JSON validator or text editor with JSON support.

Missing Downloads

Solution: Check that the url fields in your JSON are still valid and accessible.

Permission Errors

Solution: Ensure the destination directories are writable and you have sufficient disk space.

Getting Help

  • See ENV_SETUP.md for authentication setup
  • See README.md for general usage
  • Enable DEBUG=true for detailed logging
  • Check the generated progress files for examples of proper JSON structure