Saving already-changed pages in IE

[Rolfe]

Woo forums have a nasty habit of deleting comments they don't like, or find embarrassing, sometimes very quickly. More than once I've attempted to save a page for posterity, only to find that what was saved to my hard disc was not what was showing on my screen.

IE seems not to save what you are looking at, but by default to go and save the latest version from the server. This may be exactly what you don't want.

Is there any way to tell it, please save the page that I am actually viewing at the moment?

Rolfe.

[Professor Yaffle]

You could try the wayback machine here (http://www.archive.org/index.php) to see previous versions of a page.

Or what about taking a screenshot (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screenshot)

[Rolfe]

Sometimes the version wanted has only been there for a short time. I can't see the Wayback Machine being that efficient. And to get the whole of a page of debate, you'd need an awful lot of screen shots!

What I want is a saved version of what I can still see, that is the page laid out as is, and which much be in my computer memory somewhere. Is there no way?

Rolfe.

[Darat]

Is there not something like a "save as a webpage archive" option? That usually downloads the page as it is when you create the file.

[Professor Yaffle]

Did you mean to start a new thread?...

http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=120675

[Professor Yaffle]

I'm not sure if jkn.com takes a snapshot of the website as currently displayed on the computer, or just the "current version" which, as you have said may no longer be what's on your screen.

I would check, but the website seems to have been down for a while.

[GreNME]

If you're on a Windows machine, I would suggest that if you had the unchanged (or original) page up in IE and wanted to save it that you print it to PDF using CutePDF (http://www.cutepdf.com/Products/CutePDF/writer.asp) (or something similar).

[six7s]

Go to View (as in File, Edit, View, Favourites, etc) then Page Source

Doing so will load the html from your browser (ie not from the server) into your default text editor (on a PC, this is usually Notepad)

Go File, Save As and give it a name with an html extension

e.g.

a-bunch-of-woo-from-that-wacky-thread.html

Then, whenever you want to read it, load the file in your browser (File\ Open \ etc) and you'll be able to read the text as it was... although any (non-absolutely-referenced) images, stylesheets, scripts, etc will not be loaded so it might look a bit stark...

Another technique - esp for pages that are more than a few hours old - is to use Google's cache

e.g.

using the search string site:forums.randi.org "RSL in hospital" (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&as_qdr=all&q=site%3Aforums.randi.org+%22RSL+in+hospital%22&btnG=Search) (NB not site:http://forums.randi.org "RSL in hospital") yields a results with the word Cached in the results

e.g.

RSL in hospital - JREF Forum
(http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=120378)5 Aug 2008 ... RSL in hospital General Skepticism and The Paranormal.
forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=120378 - 216k - Cached (http://209.85.175.104/search?q=cache:duzP-Ik0CWQJ:forums.randi.org/showthread.php%3Ft%3D120378+site:forums.randi.org+ %22RSL+in+hospital%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1) - Similar pages (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&as_qdr=all&q=related:forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=120378)

[GreNME]

As I pointed out in the other thread of the same name: print to PDF.

[six7s]

Although I'm a big fan of CutePDF, I suspect that such a n approach might be less than ideal as things like URIs in links like (http://www.example.com) this will not be accessible in the printed version... unless there is a print-friendly stylesheet involved that uses something like this:


@media print {
a[href]:after{
content: " (" attr(href) ") ";
font-size: 90%;
color:#666;
}
}


But... can you set your own stylesheet for Interweb Exploiter?

[GreNME]

There are other PDF printers out there if you want to include links, just not usually free ones.

[six7s]

There are other PDF printers out there if you want to include links, just not usually free ones.If that is in response to my post, I meant that (I think) any/all PDF-print 'solutions' will fall down if/when the URIs 'behind' links are needed/wanted

I suppose the right solution all depends on what the requirements are

http://forums.randi.org/imagehosting/thum_1760247eb39a5107c0.gif (http://forums.randi.org/vbimghost.php?do=displayimg&imgid=11468)
:p

[Rolfe]

Did you mean to start a new thread?...

http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=120675


No! How did I manage that?

Rolfe.

[Rolfe]

I'm sorry I accidentally started a new thread. Can we consolidate on this one?

I've tried the "view source" and then "save as" option, but while it does give you the text, it's not pretty. What I want is a way to save the page as it exists in the RAM (presumably), just as if I'd chosen to save it the moment it was downloaded. Is there some compelling reason why this can't be done? Why does the system have to go away and save it from the server when it's there in the computer already?

Rolfe.

[AbleSugar]

I know this is a stupid way of doing it but has worked for me. Disconnect your internet connection prior to saving it.

Be careful though, if it is saved as an Webpage.complete html it will try and refresh itself when you open it back up if you are connected to the internet.

[six7s]

What I want is a way to save the page as it exists in the RAM (presumably), just as if I'd chosen to save it the moment it was downloaded. Is there some compelling reason why this can't be done? Why does the system have to go away and save it from the server when it's there in the computer already?There are many reasons why IE is known as Intertubes Exploiter

Try the Opera browser: http://www.opera.com/download/

Opera caches damn near everything by default (e.g. when you restart Opera it will reload every tab - complete with images and other 'pretty stuff' - even if you're not connected to teh intertubes)

Under File \ Save As both Opera and IE both have (by default) options to save as Web Archive (single file) (with .mht file extension), which will save a copy of what you see on your screen at the time of saving :)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MHTML
MHTML stands for MIME HTML. It is used to bind resources which are typically represented by external links, such as image and sound files, together with HTML code into a single file. The content of an MHTML file is encoded as if it were an HTML email message, using the MIME type multipart/related. The first part is the HTML file, encoded normally; subsequent parts are additional resources, identified by their original URLs.

This format is sometimes referred to as MHT, after the suffix .mht given to such files by default when created by Microsoft Word, Internet Explorer or Opera. MHTML is a proposed standard, circulated in a revised edition in 1999 as RFC 2557.

Web browser support

Many browsers do not support this format, and the process for saving a web page along with its resources as an MHTML file is not standardized across those browsers that do. Due to this, a web page saved as an MHTML file using one browser may render differently on another.

[GreNME]

If that is in response to my post, I meant that (I think) any/all PDF-print 'solutions' will fall down if/when the URIs 'behind' links are needed/wanted

I suppose the right solution all depends on what the requirements are

http://forums.randi.org/imagehosting/thum_1760247eb39a5107c0.gif (http://forums.randi.org/vbimghost.php?do=displayimg&imgid=11468)
:p

That's fine, but if it's just the URL then there are PDF makers that handle that. Some can even cover most URI purposes (like Adobe's implementation).

I'm not saying you're wrong about finding the correct solution for what's needed, but my original impression was that the pages needed to be saved because they may have changed by the time reloading would take place (meaning the RAM-resident copy is desired), and the user wants to save whatever was being displayed before the change. The mention of the Wayback machine led me to believe that the need had more to do with the text or possibly images displayed on the page and not the code behind it.

[Rolfe]

There are many reasons why IE is known as Intertubes Exploiter

Try the Opera browser: http://www.opera.com/download/

Opera caches damn near everything by default (e.g. when you restart Opera it will reload every tab - complete with images and other 'pretty stuff' - even if you're not connected to teh intertubes)

Under File \ Save As both Opera and IE both have (by default) options to save as Web Archive (single file) (with .mht file extension), which will save a copy of what you see on your screen at the time of saving :)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MHTML


Actually, that worked.

The page I was after this time reappeared again (long story, it's in another thread), and I was able to save it quite simply to my office computer via IE, in the usual way.

However, when I tried the same thing at home, I kept getting "Internet Explorer is unable to save this file to the designated destination" or something like that. No idea why.

I opened it in Opera instead, and it did just as you said. Perfect.

The only problem is that I don't usually use Opera for ordinary browsing, I only got it because for some reason IE has stopped letting me post to this forum. Hmmmm. Something to think about.

Rolfe.

[six7s]

for some reason IE has stopped letting me post to this forum. Hmmmm. Something to think about.

Rolfe.

Check out: http://www.interweb-exploiter.com/how-i-hacked-rolfes-machine.html (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&safe=off&as_qdr=all&q=define%3Agullible&btnG=Search)