diff --git a/.changeset/download-progress-in-one-place.md b/.changeset/download-progress-in-one-place.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..ecafbe03
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/download-progress-in-one-place.md
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+---
+'frontend': patch
+---
+
+Report a download in one place, and let a failed one be dismissed
+
+A download that hit a network error left a row nothing could remove, so the
+panel showing it stayed up until the page was reloaded. The store gave
+`completed` and `cancelled` rows a delay after which they clear themselves but
+had no case for `error`; the operations panel mapped `upload` and `delete` to
+their remove actions and never handled `download`, in both the row's remove and
+the panel's close button; and the panel only hides once its list is empty. So
+the close button did nothing, however many times it was pressed.
+
+A failed row also had no button on it at all. The row drew its trailing control
+for active, then completed, then cancelled operations, and anything that had
+gone wrong fell past all three to nothing - so the one row a reader most wants
+rid of was the only one with nothing to press. That was true of failed uploads
+and deletes too, and is fixed for all three.
+
+Settled downloads now wait to be dismissed instead of clearing themselves. They
+used to go on a timer, three seconds for a completion and two for a cancel,
+which read as tidy until a failure needed the same treatment: a reason for a
+failure that takes itself off the screen is no use to anyone who was not looking
+at that moment, and the panel can be collapsed. Uploads and deletes have always
+waited to be dismissed, and downloads now match them.
+
+The same download was also announcing itself three times over: a toast, a card
+of its own in the top right, and a row on the operations card in the bottom
+right. The operations card is the one that stays, since it already carried every
+status the separate card did, down to the queue position and the reason for a
+failure. The separate card is gone, along with the toasts for starting,
+cancelling and failing. One toast is left for a download that throws before the
+service can record it, which leaves no row to read. The row now shows the
+percentage while downloading, the only thing the removed card said that it did
+not.
+
+The three copies of "which statuses count as still running" are now one, and it
+knows about downloads. Each listed upload and delete statuses only, so a running
+download read as settled - which would have mattered the moment the close button
+learned to remove downloads, since it would have dropped the row of a transfer
+still in flight rather than offering to cancel it.
diff --git a/frontend/src/app/dashboard/layout.tsx b/frontend/src/app/dashboard/layout.tsx
index 49f7c869..51d1339a 100644
--- a/frontend/src/app/dashboard/layout.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/app/dashboard/layout.tsx
@@ -16,7 +16,6 @@ import { DetailsManager } from '@/features/dashboard/components/ui/details/detai
 import { FilePreviewModal } from '@/components/file-preview';
 import { RenameModalManager } from '@/features/dashboard/components/ui/dialogs/rename-modal-manager';
 import { ShareModalManager } from '@/features/dashboard/components/ui/dialogs/share-modal-manager';
-import { DownloadProgressManager } from '@/features/dashboard/components/ui/download-progress-manager';
 import { useAuth } from '@/hooks/use-auth';
 import { UploadCard } from '@/features/upload/components/upload-card';
 import { useDeleteUnloadGuard } from '@/features/upload/hooks/use-delete-unload-guard';
@@ -150,10 +149,10 @@ const LayoutShell = ({ children }: { children: React.ReactNode }) => {
         <DetailsManager />
       </div>
 
+      {/* Downloads report into this same card. They used to have a second one
+          of their own in the opposite corner, showing the same transfer twice. */}
       <UploadCard />
 
-      <DownloadProgressManager />
-
       <FilePreviewModal />
 
       <RenameModalManager />
diff --git a/frontend/src/features/dashboard/components/ui/download-progress-manager.tsx b/frontend/src/features/dashboard/components/ui/download-progress-manager.tsx
deleted file mode 100644
index 2e47a47d..00000000
--- a/frontend/src/features/dashboard/components/ui/download-progress-manager.tsx
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,115 +0,0 @@
-'use client';
-
-import React from 'react';
-import { X, Download, CheckCircle, AlertCircle } from 'lucide-react';
-import { useDownloadList } from '@/features/dashboard/hooks/use-download';
-import { cn } from '@/shared/utils/utils';
-import { AriaLabel } from '@/shared/components/custom-aria-label';
-
-export const DownloadProgressManager: React.FC = () => {
-  const { getAllDownloads, cancelDownload } = useDownloadList();
-  const downloads = getAllDownloads();
-
-  if (downloads.length === 0) return null;
-
-  return (
-    <div className="fixed top-4 right-4 z-50 max-w-sm space-y-2">
-      {downloads.map((download) => (
-        <DownloadProgressItem
-          key={download.fileId}
-          download={download}
-          onCancel={() => cancelDownload(download.fileId)}
-        />
-      ))}
-    </div>
-  );
-};
-
-interface DownloadProgressItemProps {
-  download: {
-    fileId: string;
-    fileName: string;
-    progress: number;
-    status: 'queued' | 'pending' | 'downloading' | 'completed' | 'error' | 'cancelled';
-    error?: string;
-    queuePosition?: number;
-  };
-  onCancel: () => void;
-}
-
-const DownloadProgressItem: React.FC<DownloadProgressItemProps> = ({ download, onCancel }) => {
-  const getStatusIcon = () => {
-    switch (download.status) {
-      case 'completed':
-        return <CheckCircle className="w-5 h-5 text-green-500" />;
-      case 'error':
-        return <AlertCircle className="w-5 h-5 text-red-500" />;
-      default:
-        return <Download className="w-5 h-5 text-blue-500" />;
-    }
-  };
-
-  const getStatusText = () => {
-    switch (download.status) {
-      case 'queued':
-        return download.queuePosition
-          ? `Queued (position ${download.queuePosition})`
-          : 'Queued for download';
-      case 'pending':
-        return 'Starting download...';
-      case 'downloading':
-        return `${download.progress.toFixed(0)}% downloaded`;
-      case 'completed':
-        return 'Download completed';
-      case 'cancelled':
-        return 'Download cancelled';
-      case 'error':
-        return `Error: ${download.error || 'Download failed'}`;
-      default:
-        return 'Downloading...';
-    }
-  };
-
-  const shouldShowProgress =
-    download.status === 'downloading' ||
-    download.status === 'pending' ||
-    download.status === 'queued';
-
-  return (
-    <div
-      className={cn(
-        'bg-background border border-border rounded-lg shadow-lg p-3 min-w-[300px]',
-        'animate-in slide-in-from-right-5 duration-300',
-        download.status === 'completed' && 'animate-out slide-out-to-right-5 duration-500'
-      )}
-    >
-      <div className="flex items-center gap-3">
-        {getStatusIcon()}
-        <div className="flex-1 min-w-0">
-          <div className="text-sm font-medium text-foreground truncate">{download.fileName}</div>
-          <div className="text-xs text-muted-foreground">{getStatusText()}</div>
-          {shouldShowProgress && (
-            <div className="mt-2 w-full bg-secondary rounded-full h-2">
-              <div
-                className="bg-blue-500 h-2 rounded-full transition-all duration-300 ease-out"
-                style={{ width: `${download.progress}%` }}
-              />
-            </div>
-          )}
-        </div>
-        {(download.status === 'downloading' ||
-          download.status === 'pending' ||
-          download.status === 'queued') && (
-          <AriaLabel label={`Cancel download of ${download.fileName}`} position="left">
-            <button
-              onClick={onCancel}
-              className="text-muted-foreground cursor-pointer hover:text-foreground transition-colors p-1 rounded hover:bg-secondary"
-            >
-              <X className="w-4 h-4" />
-            </button>
-          </AriaLabel>
-        )}
-      </div>
-    </div>
-  );
-};
diff --git a/frontend/src/features/dashboard/components/ui/index.ts b/frontend/src/features/dashboard/components/ui/index.ts
index 094c7052..f9c19182 100644
--- a/frontend/src/features/dashboard/components/ui/index.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/features/dashboard/components/ui/index.ts
@@ -14,8 +14,6 @@ export { CreateMenu } from './menus/create-menu';
 export { FileOverflowMenu } from './menus/file-overflow-menu';
 export { FolderOverflowMenu } from './menus/folder-overflow-menu';
 
-export { DownloadProgressManager } from './download-progress-manager';
-
 export { SuggestedSectionSkeleton, DashboardLoading } from './skeletons/dashboard-skeleton';
 export {
   FileSkeletonGrid,
diff --git a/frontend/src/features/dashboard/hooks/use-download.ts b/frontend/src/features/dashboard/hooks/use-download.ts
index 7e81a5f9..db9acdef 100644
--- a/frontend/src/features/dashboard/hooks/use-download.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/features/dashboard/hooks/use-download.ts
@@ -40,18 +40,11 @@ async function withConcurrency<T>(
  * row in the listing on every chunk of every download.
  */
 export const useDownloadActions = () => {
-  const { error: showError, info } = useNotification();
+  const { error: showError } = useNotification();
   const { apiS3 } = useAuthGuard();
 
   const startDownload = useDownloadStore((state) => state.startDownload);
-  const cancelInStore = useDownloadStore((state) => state.cancelDownload);
-
-  const handleError = useCallback(
-    (_fileId: string, error: string) => {
-      showError(error);
-    },
-    [showError]
-  );
+  const cancelDownload = useDownloadStore((state) => state.cancelDownload);
 
   const downloadFile = useCallback(
     async (file: FileItem) => {
@@ -61,30 +54,34 @@ export const useDownloadActions = () => {
       if (!apiS3) return;
 
       try {
-        await startDownload(apiS3, file, { onError: handleError });
+        await startDownload(apiS3, file);
       } catch (error) {
+        /**
+         * The last download toast, and the only one worth keeping.
+         *
+         * Starting, cancelling and failing are all written to the operations
+         * card as they happen, so a toast saying the same thing was the same
+         * news twice, in two corners of the screen at once.
+         *
+         * This branch is different, and rare: the service reports its own
+         * failures through `onProgress` and never rejects, so the only way here
+         * is something throwing before it takes over - building the service for
+         * a new provider, say. That leaves no row on the card to read, and it is
+         * the one failure that would otherwise pass in silence.
+         */
         showError(`Failed to download ${file.name}, ${error}`);
       }
     },
-    [apiS3, startDownload, handleError, showError]
+    [apiS3, startDownload, showError]
   );
 
   const downloadMultipleFiles = useCallback(
     async (files: FileItem[]) => {
       if (!apiS3 || files.length === 0) return;
 
-      info(`Downloading ${files.length} file${files.length > 1 ? 's' : ''}...`);
       await withConcurrency(files, MULTI_DOWNLOAD_CONCURRENCY, downloadFile);
     },
-    [apiS3, downloadFile, info]
-  );
-
-  const cancelDownload = useCallback(
-    (fileId: string) => {
-      cancelInStore(fileId);
-      info('Download cancelled');
-    },
-    [cancelInStore, info]
+    [apiS3, downloadFile]
   );
 
   return { downloadFile, downloadMultipleFiles, cancelDownload };
@@ -109,6 +106,13 @@ export const useIsFileDownloading = (fileId: string): boolean =>
 export const useDownloadList = () => {
   const downloads = useDownloadStore((state) => state.downloads);
   const { cancelDownload } = useDownloadActions();
+  /**
+   * Drops a settled row without touching the transfer, which is what a failed
+   * download needs: cancelling one is a no-op because there is nothing left in
+   * flight to abort, so the panels had no way to clear it. Selecting the action
+   * on its own is free - zustand action identities are stable.
+   */
+  const removeDownload = useDownloadStore((state) => state.removeDownload);
 
   const downloadProgress = useMemo(() => Array.from(downloads.values()), [downloads]);
   const getAllDownloads = useCallback(
@@ -116,5 +120,5 @@ export const useDownloadList = () => {
     [downloadProgress]
   );
 
-  return { downloadProgress, getAllDownloads, cancelDownload };
+  return { downloadProgress, getAllDownloads, cancelDownload, removeDownload };
 };
diff --git a/frontend/src/features/dashboard/stores/use-download-store.test.ts b/frontend/src/features/dashboard/stores/use-download-store.test.ts
index 8c08d0fc..a2f21de2 100644
--- a/frontend/src/features/dashboard/stores/use-download-store.test.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/features/dashboard/stores/use-download-store.test.ts
@@ -172,39 +172,33 @@ describe('startDownload', () => {
     expect(store().downloads.get('file-1')!.progress).toBe(25);
   });
 
-  it('clears a completed download after the linger delay', async () => {
-    vi.useFakeTimers();
-    const service = fakeService();
-    service.downloadFile.mockImplementation(async (_f, opts) => {
-      opts.onComplete('file-1');
-    });
-    createDownloadServiceMock.mockReturnValue(service as never);
-
-    store().setProgress(progress({ status: 'completed', progress: 100 }));
-    await store().startDownload(apiA, file);
-
-    // The row stays briefly so the user sees it finish.
-    expect(store().downloads.has('file-1')).toBe(true);
-    vi.advanceTimersByTime(3000);
-    expect(store().downloads.has('file-1')).toBe(false);
-  });
-
-  it('clears a cancelled download sooner than a completed one', async () => {
-    vi.useFakeTimers();
-    const service = fakeService();
-    service.downloadFile.mockImplementation(async (_f, opts) => {
-      opts.onProgress(progress({ status: 'cancelled' }));
-    });
-    createDownloadServiceMock.mockReturnValue(service as never);
-
-    await store().startDownload(apiA, file);
-
-    expect(store().downloads.has('file-1')).toBe(true);
-    vi.advanceTimersByTime(2000);
-    expect(store().downloads.has('file-1')).toBe(false);
-  });
-
-  it('does not schedule removal for ordinary progress updates', async () => {
+  it.each(['completed', 'cancelled', 'error'] as const)(
+    'keeps a %s download on the list until it is removed',
+    async (status) => {
+      vi.useFakeTimers();
+      const service = fakeService();
+      service.downloadFile.mockImplementation(async (_f, opts) => {
+        opts.onProgress(
+          progress({ status, error: status === 'error' ? 'Network error' : undefined })
+        );
+      });
+      createDownloadServiceMock.mockReturnValue(service as never);
+
+      await store().startDownload(apiA, file);
+
+      // Nothing takes it away on a timer. A row that removes itself is a
+      // reason for a failure that disappears before anyone reads it, and the
+      // panel it sits on can be collapsed at the time. Uploads and deletes
+      // have always waited to be dismissed.
+      vi.advanceTimersByTime(60_000);
+      expect(store().downloads.has('file-1')).toBe(true);
+
+      store().removeDownload('file-1');
+      expect(store().downloads.has('file-1')).toBe(false);
+    }
+  );
+
+  it('leaves an in-flight download on the list', async () => {
     vi.useFakeTimers();
     const service = fakeService();
     service.downloadFile.mockImplementation(async (_f, opts) => {
@@ -213,9 +207,8 @@ describe('startDownload', () => {
     createDownloadServiceMock.mockReturnValue(service as never);
 
     await store().startDownload(apiA, file);
-    vi.advanceTimersByTime(10_000);
+    vi.advanceTimersByTime(60_000);
 
-    // An in-flight download must never disappear from the list on a timer.
     expect(store().downloads.has('file-1')).toBe(true);
   });
 
diff --git a/frontend/src/features/dashboard/stores/use-download-store.ts b/frontend/src/features/dashboard/stores/use-download-store.ts
index f8263b51..46124a93 100644
--- a/frontend/src/features/dashboard/stores/use-download-store.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/features/dashboard/stores/use-download-store.ts
@@ -19,10 +19,6 @@ import {
 } from '../services/download-service';
 import type { FileItem } from '../types/file';
 
-/** How long a finished row lingers before it clears itself from the list. */
-const COMPLETED_LINGER_MS = 3000;
-const CANCELLED_LINGER_MS = 2000;
-
 interface DownloadState {
   downloads: Map<string, DownloadProgress>;
   /**
@@ -77,19 +73,21 @@ export const useDownloadStore = create<DownloadState>((set, get) => ({
       return { downloads };
     }),
 
+  /**
+   * A settled row stays until someone removes it.
+   *
+   * Downloads used to clear themselves on a timer - three seconds for a
+   * completion, two for a cancel - which read as tidy until a failure needed
+   * the same treatment. A reason for the failure that takes itself off the
+   * screen is no use to anyone who was not looking at that moment, and the
+   * panel can be collapsed. Uploads and deletes have always waited to be
+   * dismissed; downloads now do too, and every settled row has a button on it.
+   */
   startDownload: async (api, file, handlers) => {
-    const { getService, setProgress, removeDownload } = get();
+    const { getService, setProgress } = get();
 
     await getService(api).downloadFile(file, {
-      onProgress: (progress) => {
-        setProgress(progress);
-        if (progress.status === 'cancelled') {
-          setTimeout(() => removeDownload(file.id), CANCELLED_LINGER_MS);
-        }
-      },
-      onComplete: (fileId) => {
-        setTimeout(() => removeDownload(fileId), COMPLETED_LINGER_MS);
-      },
+      onProgress: setProgress,
       onError: handlers?.onError,
     });
   },
diff --git a/frontend/src/features/upload/components/operation-row.tsx b/frontend/src/features/upload/components/operation-row.tsx
index 5c80efb7..45a6269e 100644
--- a/frontend/src/features/upload/components/operation-row.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/features/upload/components/operation-row.tsx
@@ -167,8 +167,11 @@ const OperationRowInner: React.FC<OperationRowProps> = ({
           </p>
         )}
         {status === 'downloading' && (
+          // With the percentage, which is the one thing the separate download
+          // card said that this row did not. The ring beside it has always
+          // shown the same figure as a shape; this puts a number on it.
           <p className="text-xs" style={{ color: 'var(--primary)' }}>
-            Downloading...
+            Downloading... {Math.round(progress)}%
           </p>
         )}
         {status === 'pending' && (
@@ -375,7 +378,13 @@ const OperationRowInner: React.FC<OperationRowProps> = ({
                 <HiOutlineXMark className="w-3 h-3" />
               </button>
             </div>
-          ) : status === 'cancelled' ? (
+          ) : status === 'cancelled' || status === 'error' || status === 'failed' ? (
+            // A settled row that did not succeed, which until now meant no
+            // control at all: the chain ran active, then completed, then
+            // cancelled, and anything that had gone wrong fell past all three
+            // to null. So the one row a reader most wants rid of was the only
+            // one with nothing to press. ('failed' is what a delete reports;
+            // uploads and downloads say 'error'.)
             <div className="flex items-center gap-2">
               <button
                 onClick={() => onRemove(id, operationType)}
diff --git a/frontend/src/features/upload/components/operations-modal.tsx b/frontend/src/features/upload/components/operations-modal.tsx
index 05921b8d..842bb23e 100644
--- a/frontend/src/features/upload/components/operations-modal.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/features/upload/components/operations-modal.tsx
@@ -32,6 +32,20 @@ interface OperationItem {
   queuePosition?: number;
 }
 
+/**
+ * The statuses that mean an operation is still going, for every kind of it.
+ *
+ * Uploads report `uploading`, deletes `deleting`, downloads `downloading` or
+ * `pending`, and any of the three can sit in `queued`. The three places that
+ * asked this question each carried their own list of upload and delete statuses
+ * only, so a running download read as settled - which mattered once the close
+ * button below learned to remove downloads, because it would otherwise have
+ * dropped the row of a transfer that was still in flight.
+ */
+const ACTIVE_STATUSES = ['uploading', 'deleting', 'downloading', 'pending', 'queued'];
+
+const isActiveOperation = (op: { status: string }) => ACTIVE_STATUSES.includes(op.status);
+
 // Upload speed tracking for better time estimation
 interface SpeedTracker {
   speeds: number[]; // bytes per second samples
@@ -155,7 +169,7 @@ export const OperationsModal: React.FC = () => {
 
   // Only the oldest pending duplicate is shown; answering it reveals the next.
   const currentDuplicate = duplicateQueue[0] ?? null;
-  const { getAllDownloads, cancelDownload } = useDownloadList();
+  const { getAllDownloads, cancelDownload, removeDownload } = useDownloadList();
   const downloads = getAllDownloads();
   const [isExpanded, setIsExpanded] = useState(true);
   const [hoveredItem, setHoveredItem] = useState<string | null>(null);
@@ -244,9 +258,15 @@ export const OperationsModal: React.FC = () => {
         removeUpload(itemId);
       } else if (operationType === 'delete') {
         removeDeleteOperation(itemId);
+      } else if (operationType === 'download') {
+        // The branch this was missing. A download that failed could not be
+        // removed by the row's own button or by the panel's close button, and
+        // the panel only hides once the list is empty - so it stayed up, and
+        // pressing the X did nothing at all, until the page was reloaded.
+        removeDownload(itemId);
       }
     },
-    [removeUpload, removeDeleteOperation]
+    [removeUpload, removeDeleteOperation, removeDownload]
   );
 
   const pauseOperation = useCallback(
@@ -646,20 +666,15 @@ export const OperationsModal: React.FC = () => {
               </button>
               <button
                 onClick={() => {
-                  const hasActiveOperations = sortedOperations.some((op) =>
-                    ['uploading', 'queued', 'deleting'].includes(op.status)
-                  );
-                  if (hasActiveOperations) {
+                  if (sortedOperations.some(isActiveOperation)) {
                     setShowCancelDialog(true);
                   } else {
-                    // Close the modal by removing all operations
-                    sortedOperations.forEach((op) => {
-                      if (op.operationType === 'upload') {
-                        removeUpload(op.id);
-                      } else if (op.operationType === 'delete') {
-                        removeDeleteOperation(op.id);
-                      }
-                    });
+                    // Close the modal by removing all operations. Through
+                    // removeOperation rather than a second copy of the mapping,
+                    // so a kind of operation cannot be handled in one and
+                    // forgotten in the other, which is how downloads were left
+                    // out of this in the first place.
+                    sortedOperations.forEach((op) => removeOperation(op.id, op.operationType));
                   }
                 }}
                 className="p-2 sm:p-1 rounded transition-colors duration-200"
@@ -693,7 +708,7 @@ export const OperationsModal: React.FC = () => {
                 onClick={() => {
                   // Cancel all active operations (uploads and deletes)
                   sortedOperations
-                    .filter((op) => ['uploading', 'queued', 'deleting'].includes(op.status))
+                    .filter(isActiveOperation)
                     .forEach((op) =>
                       cancelOperation(op.id, op.operationType, op.type === 'folder')
                     );
@@ -788,7 +803,7 @@ export const OperationsModal: React.FC = () => {
                 onClick={() => {
                   // Cancel all active operations
                   sortedOperations
-                    .filter((op) => ['uploading', 'queued', 'deleting'].includes(op.status))
+                    .filter(isActiveOperation)
                     .forEach((op) =>
                       cancelOperation(op.id, op.operationType, op.type === 'folder')
                     );