Is there a way to 'bulk remove' queued podcasts? (other than manually)

[Bizy]

Hello,

Same situation as in this post:
https://getmusicbee.com/forum/index.php?topic=13597.0

It takes hours to manually remove the download queue...
(And I don't see a way to multi-select.)

Is there another way to 'bulk remove' queued podcasts?
(Fi:  changing some setting/code manually somewhere or remove that list in a file in App Data or...? I don't know...)

What I would like to do is:  only downloading the podcasts I want (so not even the latest one - let alone last 5 or 10) and only keeping the podcasts I want.  Nothing else.
(So I guess I should have choosen 'Do not download' and 'Keep all episodes' right from the beginning.)

b.

[Bizy]

Furthermore.

I can't remove paused podcasts.
Then I get this error:

MusicBee v3.3.7080.39180 (Win10.0), 23 May 2019 20:15:

System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
   at #=zn4j_4s7D1bKrr1_0AyMXSwg=.#=zyyMBzFMnsvqziLOGRQ==(Object #=zW9KvhWA=, #=z5CXKKDQpf01TfTbo6eTpVLc4wTV$ #=zjPtL6R8=)
   at #=z5CXKKDQpf01TfTbo6eTpVLc4wTV$.#=zYVg_NCB7rV_7(#=znoHD7Fbh4T0T9Q9tgxNqTu4= #=zL1EI3JI=)
   at #=ztURDPWgGeWbhziVYtAKXzMw=.#=ztCH3fWYDTUK0(Int32 #=zN8oocYw=)
   at #=zn4j_4s7D1bKrr1_0AyMXSwg=.#=zXc649CimawPRIaSOyw==(Object #=zW9KvhWA=, MouseEventArgs #=zbHdRzDo=)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.OnMouseClick(MouseEventArgs e)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WmMouseUp(Message& m, MouseButtons button, Int32 clicks)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WndProc(Message& m)
   at #=znzJjjwJQw4ea1BpGWjJjMl4=.WndProc(Message& #=znepAdpc=)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.OnMessage(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)

(EDIT (to be more specific about when I get this error):  I have thousands of episodes in my queue.  Whenever I start MB, they start downloading.  So I pause downloading.  And start removing episodes.  I can remove some 100.  Then I have hundreds (thousands) of episodes where 'downloading failed' (can't remove them).  Then I have some hundreds of downloads that are paused, but I can't remove them - when I click the little removal cross, I get forementioned message.)

And I need to pause the downloads coz MB keeps downloading, downloading, downloading... (in spite of 'do not download' setting and restarting, restarting...)

In the mean time, MB has downloaded 12 GB (!) of podcasts...
(Apparently, some of the podcasts I have added, have hundreds of episodes... and in spite of the setting 'do not download' (now) and 'download all new episodes' (before), MB downloads them all...  I had interpreted 'Download all new episodes' as:  when a new episode is added, that episode is downloaded.  But apparently, it (also) means:  if you add a podcast, all episodes are considered to be 'new'.  Is that intentional?  Or a bug?)

Somebody's cursing here.

b.

[phred]

But apparently, it (also) means:  if you add a podcast, all episodes are considered to be 'new'.  Is that intentional?  Or a bug?)

It's intentional. When you first subscribe -all- podcasts are new to you and to MB. In the subscription settings you can select 'new episode action: download the most recent one.'

[Bizy]

Thank Phred, for confirming.

The problem is though:  changing the setting doesn't help.  So what I am experiencing, reflects what is described in the post mentioned above.  I can only manually remove the queued downloads (due to the first setting chosen).  And that implies removing thousands of episodes (some podcasts have 300 episodes, others 500, 600...) by clicking on a 2 mm cross...

[Steven]

close MB, and in the AppData folder, delete Downloads.dat

[Bizy]

Thanks, Steven.  That's the kind of response I was hoping for.

Unfortunately:  it doesn't help.  The file recreates itself, and the downloading starts all over again... :-(

My settings are:
Check for updates: every hour
New episode action:  do not download
Keep:  all episodes (I interpret this as:  keeping all episodes I choose to download)

[olliebean]

There is an easy way to bulk remove downloads from the queue, as it happens, which I discovered by happy accident.

First, make sure you have a keyboard shortcut set up for "Web: Download/ Cancel Download".

Next, create an auto playlist containing all podcast episodes. (Set "music track source" to "library: podcasts", and a rule that is going to match everything; "any field: has a value" should do the trick.) This gets them all into one big list; otherwise you'll have to do it one podcast at a time.

Select all items in that list; press your "Download/ Cancel Download" keyboard shortcut. As long as at least one of the files is currently in the download queue, the command will cancel the downloads for all selected items.

You need a keyboard shortcut because the "Cancel Download" entry doesn't appear in the context menu if any of the episodes you've selected is already downloaded. The keyboard shortcut still works, though.

[Steven]

Great tip thanks. I am planning to do something with the download window for v3.4 so all active downloads can be cancelled

[Bizy]

Thanks, olliebean - great tip! 
Thanks, Steven, for any 'redesign'.