How to Set Up a Watch Folder in DCAST Mini Uploader: Install, Choose a Folder, Know What Happens Next

This guide takes you from download to a working watch folder, and then through the details that matter once the app runs unattended: duplicates, errors, restarts and who can watch the videos. If you first want to know whether a watch folder fits your work at all, start with what a watch folder can automate.

In short: install the app, sign in, add an empty folder with + Add folder, choose file types, minimum size, quality and what happens after the upload. From then on every new video in that folder goes to your DCAST library by itself, as long as the app is running.

Step 1: Download and install

Open the DCAST Mini Uploader page and pick your system:

• Windows: download the installer and run it. The current build is not code-signed, so SmartScreen shows "Windows protected your PC" the first time. Click More info → Run anyway.
• Linux (Debian, Ubuntu and derivatives): download the .deb package and install it from the folder you saved it to with sudo apt install ./ followed by the file name. This is the option that actually installs the app.
• Linux, other distributions: the AppImage is a single executable file, not an installer. Make it executable (chmod +x), and note that it needs libfuse2, which recent Ubuntu releases no longer ship. If your system has apt, take the .deb instead.

There is no macOS version at the moment.

Inside the app, the window and the tray icon call it "DCAST mini app"; it is the same uploader.

Step 2: Sign in or create an account

On first launch the app asks you to sign in. You can:

• create a new DCAST account right in the app with an email and a password;
• sign in with an existing dcast.tv email and password;
• sign in with Google or Facebook.

The app does not store your password. It keeps the session encrypted with your system's own protection: on Windows it is bound to your Windows user, on Linux it uses the system keyring (install gnome-keyring or libsecret if your desktop does not have one). Interface languages: English, Ukrainian, Russian, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Thai.

Step 3: Add a watch folder

Open the folders view and click + Add folder. Choose the folder and fill in the settings.

Before you choose, two rules that surprise people:

• Files already in the folder are uploaded too. If you add a folder with two hundred old videos, the app queues all two hundred. For new material only, add an empty folder.
• Subfolders are not watched. Only files that sit directly in the folder are picked up. Hidden files (names starting with a dot) are ignored as well.

Then the settings:

You can add as many folders as you like, each with its own settings, and edit them later. To stop for a while, use Pause all or switch a single folder off.

Step 4: Check with one test file

Before you trust the folder with a real project, drop one short video into it and watch what happens:

1. The file appears in the queue once it has been completely written to the folder: the app uploads a file only after the program saving it has finished.
2. The row shows the upload progress. The footer counts "Uploaded N of M", active and failed files.
3. When the upload has finished, the Share menu appears on the video's row: copy the link, or send it by email, WhatsApp or Telegram. DCAST prepares the video for playback, and the link plays as soon as the first version is ready.
4. DCAST keeps improving the quality in the background after that. The link does not change.

Open the link on your phone. If it plays, the folder is ready.

Step 5: Keep the app running

The folder works only while the app runs and you are signed in.

• Closing the window does not quit the app. It keeps working from the system tray. Quit is in the tray menu.
• Start with the computer. In the tray menu, turn on Start when I sign in.
• Keep the computer awake while files are uploading. Sleep pauses the work; it continues after the computer wakes up.

What happens with duplicates

The app avoids uploading the same video twice in three ways:

• Already uploaded from this folder. The app remembers which files it has already uploaded from each folder (by path, size and modification time), so restarting the app does not upload them again.
• The same video twice in the queue. The app compares the content of the files. The same video under a different name or in a second watched folder is marked "Skipped: the same video as … in this queue" and uploaded once.
• A video that looks like one already in your account. Before the upload, the app asks DCAST whether your library already has a video with the same name and size. If it does, the app asks you "Upload it anyway?" and that file waits for your answer.

To upload a new version of an edit on purpose, give it a new file name, for example Interview_v2.mp4. The app reacts to new files, so a new name is the reliable way to send a revision.

What happens with errors and restarts

• The connection drops. The upload is sent in pieces. The app retries on its own for several minutes; if it still cannot get through, the row shows the error in your interface language with Try again and Cancel. Try again continues from what the server already received.
• The app or the computer restarts mid-upload. On the next launch, the unfinished file is queued again and continues from where it stopped, not from zero.
• Your library is full. DCAST refuses the upload and the row shows an error. Free some space or choose a plan with more.

Who can watch the uploaded videos

Every video has its own visibility. Set it in the app's video list or on dcast.tv:

• Public: anyone can find and watch it.
• Unlisted: anyone with the link can watch; the video is not listed on DCAST. The usual choice for clients, students or a group chat.
• Private: only you can watch it.

Check the visibility before you send a link, especially for client or personal videos. For an embed code, open the video on dcast.tv and use its Share menu.

Where to go next

• For a ready-made delivery routine, see render overnight, send the client a link in the morning.
• To compare how much space and resolution each plan gives, see the pricing page.
• Moving a whole library from another platform? See how we help you move.