iTunes 12.2 what happened to the downloads window?

This is a reply to the OP and several follow-ups. Hope this helps, sorta.

At least it would appear to help folks who have a large screen or second screen and want to keep the download status visible at all times. (I usually do!)

Mac OS X 10.10.5 (Yosemite) iTunes 12.3 has an activity window. (Maybe previous versions did, too? I dunno.)

To show the Activity Window, click in the menu bar on "Window" then choose "Activity Window" just below Mini-Player.

For some strange reason, there is no keyboard shortcut for the activity window, but you could add one back in using the keyboard pref pane shortcut tab. As SymonW mentioned in a post on Jul 13, 2015, the old "Downloads" window keyboard shortcut was (⌥⌘+L), but I added in the control key (^⌥⌘+L), just to make it different.

Note that the name of the window (activity window) is intriguingly the same as the quite useful activity window that the Mac OS X Safari web browser formerly had. Sadly, that Safari activity window seems to be gone (maybe still available in developer mode?), and the iTunes activity window is not as chock full of fun as the Safari activity window was.

In addition, as perhaps SymonW knows already (as first mentioned in a post on Jul 13, 2015), the old "Downloads" window is still available! (to me, at least)

(perhaps only to those of us who always left it open, I guess)

This give the strange option to watch download progress in both the activity window and the downloads window simultaneously (I prefer the old progress bar and have always liked the ability to monitor download speed in approximate-real-time, as noted by NorthBaker on Jul 20, 2015).

Sorry that I don't know if any of this applies for Windows.

Mac Mini (Late 2012), Mac OS X 10.10.5 (Yosemite), iTunes 12.3

Excellent, that's a great start. One that Apple would have known the answer to but as they don't bother to read these posts I guess it's a bit hard to answer.

I'm replying before reading up to the latest posts so apologies if this already got answered.

I had left the downloads window open all the way up until today - when I got hit with iTunes 12.3.0.44 not connecting to my devices with iOS9.0.2 - and it had been functional through to this version.

Following this thread is like a thriller for me - I'm on the edge of my chair hoping for a happy ending.

[Wow, what a surprise... The Apple forum edit post functionality doesn't work on windows. Predictably tedious.]

I neglected to mention the downloads window remained through iTunes updates on Windows 7 through until v 12.3.0.44

Following this thread is like a thriller for me - I'm on the edge of my chair hoping for a happy ending.

[Got to the end - such a fizzer, I thought 😠 ]

Try Option key (Mac) or the Shift key (Windows)-clicking on the Downloads circle. It worked on my PC running iTunes 12.3, haven't tried it on a Mac. You can initiate a download to get the circle or if you Edit -> Show Activity, you get a "blank" circle where the Downloads circle normally appears on the bar. If you Shift-click (Windows), it brings up a empty window, which then gets entries as downloads are initiated. It seems to work the same as the pre-12 downloads window, only the progress indication is an iOS like circle instead of the progress bar. I find this odd, since like others on this thread I had old download window open when I upgraded, and it was still working until it disappeared. Why keep that code in the app if you replaced it with a newer version?

I found the instructions here:

http://www.tekrevue.com/tip/separate-itunes-downloads-window/

Hope this helps

I pre-purchased a movie with extras, (not in my library, I am told) and am trying to download. (I am told it is ready to watch. I watched it streaming) The circle with the arrow is spinning and my mac tells me ( when I tried to shut down) that a download is in progress, but when I click on the circle, nothing happens: no drop down opens. I rarely download from I Tunes, so I am completely lost. I would like to check the progress. Help is appreciated.

If you go up to Window and down to Activity Window it will show you what you are downloading with a pie shaped progress. It is no where near as good as the older progress bar but Apple don't care a lot about that. Hope that helps.

Well said beachweaver. It appears that to identify trolls on the Apple Forums you just need to check the number of points. All normal users, no matter how often they have posted have a maximum of a few points. Trolls however, have thousands. Appears that every time I post something that in any way disses Apple a troll is ready to jump up and slap me down. Quite often posts get removed as well. The reality is that good UI and UX can stand up to user criticism. It's very sad to see Apple falling so far behind the leadership they once had in this area. It would be great if those involved in design within Apple would spend a bit more time reading the criticisms in forums like this.

Did official Apple reps ever participate in the community forum? I'm genuinely curious (you can tell I'm not a troll as I have barely any posts 😉)

But yeah, time to submit some feedback! I liked seeing a progress bar as well. Why have an extra window just to see how far a song is from being downloaded/etc.?

If you hold down the Option key when you click the spinning-ring Downloads icon, a persistent Activity window appears that you can resize and reposition like before. Apple frequently uses the Option key to give you UI alternatives in Mac OS X.

What key is the Option key on Windows?

Shift+Click opens the persistent Activities window on iTunes for Windows - on Mac OS X it is Option+Click.

This worked for me in windows. Holding Shift and clicking on 'Show Activity' in the Menu did it.

HHow do you get the arrow next to the search bar on the iPad? It doesn't appear for me in iTunes Store. I can't tell what's downloading.

The only difference now is the download window is gone, but quite frankly, the icon were it expands to the list of downloads, existed in previous versions too of iTunes, and works much better....

I don't wanna be interrupted by a window so i can concentrate of other stuff. Having a window open to list the same as what could be done as in a side view type drop down, forces the user to focus on the window or move it out the way if they wish to monitor progress of all downloads as well.