Best Tools for Archiving Web Pages
It seems like a lot of web pages are disappearing from the Internet these days . If you want to take on the archiving responsibilities, there are many tools for that.
Submitting Pages to The Wayback Machine
The Internet Archive is a not-for-profit digital library that attempts to collect as much digital knowledge as possible, including an extensive collection of web pages. The Wayback Machine on the Internet Archive is the most obvious choice for finding an older version of a site, but it also costs nothing because you can help with the process by manually saving specific web pages, including all the resources on that page. You can also download this page in PDF format if you like.
To save the site, go to the Wayback Machine and paste the URL in the box that says Save Page Now. You can also use the Wayback Machine browser extensions ( Chrome / Firefox ) to save whatever pages you’re currently viewing with a couple of clicks.
Self-loading pages
The Wayback Machine is great for the public good, but if you need your own personal backup, there are several different options to consider. The most obvious one is to simply load the page or site yourself.
Archive.is is probably the easiest way to do this, and it also has the bonus of keeping the site online. Drag the url to Archive.is and when it finishes rendering the page, you will see a Download Zip option to download the whole thing for your own safe storage. Archive.is will also host this backup in the same way as Internet Archive. Otherwise, a desktop tool like SiteSucker can do the job just as easily.
Of course, if you are comfortable with the command line, Wget is the easiest way to download and copy a site right away .
Screen capture pages
If you don’t need to download raw HTML files from the site, screenshots can help. It’s also useful when the layout or visual style of the page is important, because often archived sites can mess things up a bit.
There are tons of screen capture tools in the world, but some are better than others. If you’re a Google Drive user , the Save to Google Drive extension can instantly convert a page to a screenshot and then save it to Drive. If you are not using Disk, full screen capture does the same, but saves to your local disk. Otherwise, a desktop tool like PicPick on Windows or Skitch on Mac will do the trick. Most web browsers also have an “Export to PDF” option if you prefer to save the page that way.
Save pages with the Your Notes Web Clipper app
If you’re using a modern note-taking app like Evernote , OneNote , Google Keep, or Bear , then you have access to a web clipper that saves all page content to your notes. After installing the web clipper extension for the notes application, you can save the site and its content, including images, will be saved.