Guide: Search for torrents from within qBittorrent
Did you know that the popular cross-platform torrent client qBittorrent has torrent search functionality baked directly into the client?
Torrent users have plenty of options when it comes to finding torrent files: from using torrent search engines and general search engines to public or private forums, trackers, or specialized torrent search software.
The torrent client qBittorrent supports searching for torrents straight from the client's interface; no plugins or extra software needed to do so.
The following guide instructs you how to run searches using the client, and what you may and may not use search for.
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Probably the biggest advantage of using an in-built search option is that you can do the searching and downloading using a single program.
The search functionality is somewhat hidden in qBittorrent on the other hand.
To get started, select View > Search Engine; this unlocks the search tab that you may switch to. The interface is straightforward and easy to use.
Start by typing a search term in the search field at the top. You can hit search right away or use the provided filters to filter results right away.
The two main options that qBittorrent's search provides are to limit results to a specific category, e.g. TV shows, software, or movies, and to select the torrent search engines that you want searched.
The default selection includes The Pirate Bay, ExtraTorrent, Demonoid, Legit Torrents and Kickass Torrents. You can block results from any site and install new search plugins for sites that are not supported by default.
Installation of plugins
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Go to the unofficial list of search plugins for qBittorent to find out if your favorite torrent search engines or sites are supported. The download link displays a Python file with the .py extension in the browser. Just save it to the local system and select the menu next to "Only enabled" on the Search tab, and in the context menu that opens "select".
Doing so lists all supported search plugins. Click on "install a new one" and select the downloaded file to install it as a new search plugin in qBittorrent.
Note that you can enable or disable plugins by right-clicking on them and selecting the "enabled" option which toggles the status.
Search results in qBittorrent
It takes only a brief moment before results start to show up on the same page. You can run multiple searches one after the other; each search is loaded in its own tab so that you don't lose previous search results when you do.
There is a handy option to search in the results only, and several filtering options as well. A click on a table header sorts the data accordingly, e.g. by size, seeders, or name.
You can filter by the number of seeds or by size. Once you found a promising result you select it to hit the download button right away or click on the "go to" links to open the torrent file on the linked site.
The download button initiates the default torrent add dialog to add the torrent to qBittorrent to start downloading it.
Closing words
Torrent search functionality that is baked into the torrent client is quite the handy function. While it is limited to sites that plugins are available for, it may speed up searches for users who use qBittorrent as their main torrent client.
