Whether you download just the notebook itself (the ipynb file) or all the files depends on whether you actually want to be able to run the notebook or just refer to it. If you want to run it, then you need all the accompanying files. If you click “File → Open” from any running notebook and have a look around, you’ll see that there is a whole tree of files including more python code and data files that are required to actually run the notebook. But if all you want to do is read the contents to review your code, then you only need the ipynb file. Of course without the supporting python files, you can’t fully understand what the code actually does: they include utility routines which may be unique to the given case. I think the best strategy is to download everything and that way you aren’t constrained in terms of what you can do in the future.
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