{"id":23534,"date":"2024-11-12T17:12:33","date_gmt":"2024-11-12T13:12:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/me-en.kaspersky.com\/blog\/?p=23534"},"modified":"2024-11-12T17:12:33","modified_gmt":"2024-11-12T13:12:33","slug":"how-to-use-web-archives-and-permanently-save-webpages","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/me-en.kaspersky.com\/blog\/how-to-use-web-archives-and-permanently-save-webpages\/23534\/","title":{"rendered":"How to save web pages for posterity"},"content":{"rendered":"

Contrary to the popular belief that anything online stays online, the internet doesn\u2019t remember everything. In a previous post in this series<\/a>, we examined no fewer than nine scenarios in which you could lose access to online content. We also provided a detailed guide to what information you absolutely must (and preferably quickly) back up to your computer and how to do it. Today, we\u2019ll discuss how to easily save web pages to your computer, how to organize these archives, and what to do if your favorite site has gone AWOL.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s say you want to save a blog post with a recipe, compile a bibliography for your research paper, or even preserve a specific online publication for legal purposes. All of the above are published as web pages \u2014 which have a tendency to disappear at the wrong moment. Want to reminisce about music news and gossip from 2005? Good luck with that \u2014 the MTV News site shut down and all its articles and interviews are no longer available<\/a>. Check references in Wikipedia articles? 11% of them lead nowhere<\/a>, even though they were working when the article was published. This phenomenon of \u201clink rot\u201d \u2014 the gradual deletion or relocation of online content \u2014 is rapidly becoming a major problem. 38% of pages<\/a> that existed ten years ago are no longer accessible today. So, if there\u2019s a web page out there that you like or need, the wise move would be to create a backup.<\/p>\n

How to save a web page to your computer<\/h2>\n

Since a web page consists of dozens or even hundreds of files, backing it up will require a bit of effort. Here are the main ways to do it:<\/p>\n

Save only the text as an HTML file.<\/strong> Select the \u201cSave page as\u2026\u201d menu command or button in your browser and then select \u201cWebpage, HTML Only\u201d. This will only save the text of the web page, without any graphics or other eye candy.<\/p>\n

Save text and images. <\/strong>The \u201cWebpage, Complete\u201d option will create, besides an HTML file, a folder with the same name containing all graphic elements, styles, and scripts from the page. A downside of this option is that saving a lot of auxiliary files clutters your drive. The \u201cWebpage, Single File\u201d option is more convenient, bundling the web page and all its resources into a single .mhtml<\/em> file. This will open freely in Chrome or Edge, but other browsers may have issues. This option is not available in all browsers, but if you install the SingleFile<\/a> extension (available for most browsers), you can save the entire web page and its media content as a single HTML file that opens perfectly fine in all modern browsers.<\/p>\n

Print to PDF.<\/strong> To preserve the main content of the page, but scrap menus and banners, your best option is Print to PDF<\/strong>. The resulting file will open on any computer.<\/p>\n

With any of these options, make sure that the main text that you actually want to keep is still readable when you open the document.<\/strong><\/p>\n

An easier way to save a web page<\/h2>\n

The methods described above are a bit time-consuming and create clutter on your hard drive. For greater convenience, use a dedicated service such as Pocket<\/a> (formerly Read It Later), wallabag<\/a>, or Raindrop.io<\/a>. They all work the same way: you send a link from which the service retrieves a document with all the illustrations, cleans the page of anything unnecessary, and saves it in your personal online storage. Even if the original page gets deleted or modified, the version you want will remain in your archive. These services allow you to group and sort your links, search for text inside, and view your saved pages on any device. For desktop, there\u2019s an extension available for all the major browsers; and for mobile, there\u2019s an app.<\/p>\n

All these services offer an \u201ceternal\u201d archive only with a premium subscription, meaning you\u2019ll have to pay for the convenience. That said, Wallabag is open-source \u2014 you can install it on your own server and not pay for third-party services or worry about the service getting shut down.<\/p>\n

Some note-taking apps can also save complete web pages. These include Evernote<\/a>, where the feature is called \u201cWeb Clipper\u201d.<\/p>\n

How to save a web page for others<\/h2>\n

If it\u2019s not just a copy for yourself that you need, but to share a certain version of the page with others, you\u2019ll need a public-archiving service.<\/p>\n

The best-known is the Internet Archive (archive.org<\/a>) and its Wayback Machine. Other options<\/a> include archive.today<\/a> (aka archive.is<\/a>), perma.cc<\/a>, and megalodon.jp<\/a>. They all work on a similar principle: either at the user\u2019s request or automatically they visit web pages and save a copy on their servers.<\/p>\n

To request archiving of a web page, go to web.archive.org<\/a> and enter the full address in the Save Page Now<\/em><\/strong> box. After you click Save<\/em><\/strong>, a window appears describing all of the page\u2019s loaded components, followed by a permanent link to the site in its preserved state. It looks like this: https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20240924045754\/https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog<\/a>. The link shows both the address of the saved page and the exact time of saving \u2014 perfect for archival purposes.<\/p>\n

Registering on archive.org<\/a> lets you manage a collection of such links, take screenshots of saved sites, and download copies of them in the special web-archiving format.<\/p>\n

\"On<\/a>

On archive.org, you can view previously saved versions of websites and save the current state of any site \u2014 for example, our blog<\/p><\/div>\n

On opening the archive link, you\u2019ll see the saved page with a timestamp indicating when the snapshot was taken. This feature is useful for tracking and demonstrating changes in website data: price fluctuations, product description updates, edited news reports, and deleted information. The latter is particularly important for historical and cultural researchers based on defunct websites. Below, you can check out one of the first versions of GeoCities, a once popular web-hosting service that let you create \u201chome pages\u201d, express yourself, and find friends with shared interests long before social networks. It\u2019s only thanks to the Wayback Machine that we can see it now \u2014 the site closed shop in 2016.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>

A gift for the old-timers: one of the earliest versions of GeoCities.com<\/p><\/div>\n

How to find deleted internet content or an old version of a website<\/h2>\n

To view an old version of any website:<\/p>\n