diff --git a/src/main/java/org/jabref/gui/externalfiles/FileDownloadTask.java b/src/main/java/org/jabref/gui/externalfiles/FileDownloadTask.java
index 890cd232f16..6880d8b7c0a 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/jabref/gui/externalfiles/FileDownloadTask.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/jabref/gui/externalfiles/FileDownloadTask.java
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
 
 import org.fxmisc.easybind.EasyBind;
 
-public class FileDownloadTask extends BackgroundTask<Void> {
+public class FileDownloadTask extends BackgroundTask<Path> {
 
     private final URL source;
     private final Path destination;
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ public FileDownloadTask(URL source, Path destination) {
     }
 
     @Override
-    protected Void call() throws Exception {
+    protected Path call() throws Exception {
         URLDownload download = new URLDownload(source);
         try (ProgressInputStream inputStream = download.asInputStream()) {
             EasyBind.subscribe(
@@ -35,6 +35,6 @@ protected Void call() throws Exception {
             Files.copy(inputStream, destination, StandardCopyOption.REPLACE_EXISTING);
         }
 
-        return null;
+        return destination;
     }
 }
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/jabref/gui/fieldeditors/LinkedFileViewModel.java b/src/main/java/org/jabref/gui/fieldeditors/LinkedFileViewModel.java
index 2307caf04d1..e1480c08688 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/jabref/gui/fieldeditors/LinkedFileViewModel.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/jabref/gui/fieldeditors/LinkedFileViewModel.java
@@ -356,26 +356,30 @@ public void download() {
         }
 
         try {
-            URLDownload urlDownload = new URLDownload(linkedFile.getLink());
-            Optional<ExternalFileType> suggestedType = inferFileType(urlDownload);
-            String suggestedTypeName = suggestedType.map(ExternalFileType::getName).orElse("");
-            linkedFile.setFileType(suggestedTypeName);
-
             Optional<Path> targetDirectory = databaseContext.getFirstExistingFileDir(fileDirectoryPreferences);
             if (!targetDirectory.isPresent()) {
                 dialogService.showErrorDialogAndWait(Localization.lang("Download file"), Localization.lang("File directory is not set or does not exist!"));
                 return;
             }
-            String suffix = suggestedType.map(ExternalFileType::getExtension).orElse("");
-            String suggestedName = getSuggestedFileName(suffix);
-            Path destination = targetDirectory.get().resolve(suggestedName);
 
-            BackgroundTask<Void> downloadTask = new FileDownloadTask(urlDownload.getSource(), destination)
-                                                                                                          .onSuccess(event -> {
-                                                                                                              LinkedFile newLinkedFile = LinkedFilesEditorViewModel.fromFile(destination, databaseContext.getFileDirectoriesAsPaths(fileDirectoryPreferences));
-                                                                                                              linkedFile.setLink(newLinkedFile.getLink());
-                                                                                                              linkedFile.setFileType(newLinkedFile.getFileType());
-                                                                                                          }).onFailure(ex -> dialogService.showErrorDialogAndWait("Download failed", ex));
+            URLDownload urlDownload = new URLDownload(linkedFile.getLink());
+            BackgroundTask<Path> downloadTask = BackgroundTask
+                    .wrap(() -> {
+                        Optional<ExternalFileType> suggestedType = inferFileType(urlDownload);
+                        String suggestedTypeName = suggestedType.map(ExternalFileType::getName).orElse("");
+                        linkedFile.setFileType(suggestedTypeName);
+
+                        String suffix = suggestedType.map(ExternalFileType::getExtension).orElse("");
+                        String suggestedName = getSuggestedFileName(suffix);
+                        return targetDirectory.get().resolve(suggestedName);
+                    })
+                    .then(destination -> new FileDownloadTask(urlDownload.getSource(), destination))
+                    .onSuccess(destination -> {
+                        LinkedFile newLinkedFile = LinkedFilesEditorViewModel.fromFile(destination, databaseContext.getFileDirectoriesAsPaths(fileDirectoryPreferences));
+                        linkedFile.setLink(newLinkedFile.getLink());
+                        linkedFile.setFileType(newLinkedFile.getFileType());
+                    })
+                    .onFailure(exception -> dialogService.showErrorDialogAndWait("Download failed", exception));
 
             downloadProgress.bind(downloadTask.workDonePercentageProperty());
             taskExecutor.execute(downloadTask);
@@ -395,7 +399,6 @@ private Optional<ExternalFileType> inferFileType(URLDownload urlDownload) {
     }
 
     private Optional<ExternalFileType> inferFileTypeFromMimeType(URLDownload urlDownload) {
-        // TODO: what if this takes long time?
         String mimeType = urlDownload.getMimeType();
 
         if (mimeType != null) {
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/jabref/gui/util/BackgroundTask.java b/src/main/java/org/jabref/gui/util/BackgroundTask.java
index a0ba66966b4..d420881b049 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/jabref/gui/util/BackgroundTask.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/jabref/gui/util/BackgroundTask.java
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 import java.util.concurrent.Callable;
 import java.util.concurrent.Future;
 import java.util.function.Consumer;
+import java.util.function.Function;
 
 import javafx.beans.property.DoubleProperty;
 import javafx.beans.property.ObjectProperty;
@@ -120,11 +121,33 @@ public BackgroundTask<V> onFinished(Runnable onFinished) {
         return this;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Creates a {@link BackgroundTask} that first runs this task and based on the result runs a second task.
+     *
+     * @param nextTaskFactory the function that creates the new task
+     * @param <T>             type of the return value of the second task
+     */
+    public <T> BackgroundTask<T> then(Function<V, BackgroundTask<T>> nextTaskFactory) {
+        return new BackgroundTask<T>() {
+            @Override
+            protected T call() throws Exception {
+                V result = BackgroundTask.this.call();
+                BackgroundTask<T> nextTask = nextTaskFactory.apply(result);
+                EasyBind.subscribe(nextTask.progressProperty(), this::updateProgress);
+                return nextTask.call();
+            }
+        };
+    }
+
+    protected void updateProgress(BackgroundProgress newProgress) {
+        progress.setValue(newProgress);
+    }
+
     protected void updateProgress(double workDone, double max) {
-        progress.setValue(new BackgroundProgress(workDone, max));
+        updateProgress(new BackgroundProgress(workDone, max));
     }
 
-    public class BackgroundProgress {
+    class BackgroundProgress {
 
         private final double workDone;
         private final double max;