How to indicate that a document has already been downloaded?

Question

I'm designing a list of documents, and basically the user can download the meeting schedule in their device so they don't have to download it every time and they can view it even without internet connection. The problem is how to indicate effectively that the document is already downloaded.

I tried the above where I indicate the documents already downloaded with no icon, and those that haven't been downloaded yet with a download icon. I have 5 users tested it and neither one of them have any idea what the icon means, thus a failed UX.

Aside from using a variety of icons, is there another approach I can use to indicate that the document has already been downloaded?

Update: More information

1. Meeting has corresponding documents attached to it. PDF's usually where it can range from about 50kb to 20mb in size.

2. View Details link will go to a "View" screen displaying the meta info only of the schedule; the documents will not be downloaded yet.

Answer 1

This is my second answer; posted after the OP updated the question with more info.

• The left suggestion gives you the option to "download files" by pressing a button for each list item. Once the files has been downloaded, an icon indicates that. The text on the button is enough to make the following states understandable, no matter your exact choice of icon.
• The right one is similar, just using a header for the text instead. I'm not sure about the exact choice of words. The point is that somehow a descriptive text is needed.

Default action of a list item

Navigation should be easy. In this scenario, I would expect pressing the entire row, anywhere on the row, to navigate to a full screen item page. Then from there, provide whatever is needed, typically access to details about the item.

Then, the default action, apart from navigation - downloading the files - seems to be important enough to justify an special button, not only on the item page, but also in the item list. The button in the list allows them to start downloading asynchronously. The user could just tap, tap, tap them in the list as he scrolls by.

Answer 2

Update: This answer is no longer addressing the intended question, since the OP clarified.

Is a calendar ever worthy if it is sometimes only displaying a subset of all the events?

Here are some quick sketches on an all-or-nothing approach. Instead of having to decide to take action for each and every meeting/document, the list of items has a top bar, revealing if the entire list of items is synchronized (ie. downloaded) or not.

Answer 3

I would like to see a solution similar to that of JOG. That you instead of "cherry picking" which calendar items you want to have visible in offline mode, the user has the ability to download ALL items.

In my design the list items has a checkbox next to them. The checkbox control can be in three states; checked, unchecked and disabled. The disabled state would indicate that the item is already downloaded, I know that this representation is not optimal and should probably need some more consideration.

Once a user clicks a checkbox a panel appears in the top of the screen. From there the user can choose to download the selected items OR choose to Download All.

I feel that this communicates more clearly what the control is and it also provides the user with the ability to download/sync her entire calendar.

Answer 4

You might want to try changing the text of the View Details link. It could read Download Details for the items not yet downloaded.

Answer 5

I would use something simpler like the "badges" of Mail app on the Mac and iOS that shows if a message has been read. A little badge or colored dot on the left each item on the list that indicates if the item is new and should be read/downloaded.

I think it is pretty straightforward and intuitive.

The badge invite the user to download/read (and they feels necessary to complete that task), and when the badge hides the user automatically knows that the item has already been viewed/read/downloaded (and knows that they completed their task).

And you can still hold a download icon on the right of your list like this if you want:

Answer 6

My two suggestions:

• Have a regular anchor-text link underneath the "View Details" with the label "Download". If the user already downloaded the file - treat it like a visited link and change the color to purple (or some other color that fits into your design).
• Have a link with the label "Download" and change the text to "Downloaded" or "Installed" if the user has clicked on it before.