13

I'm travelling today and want to do some work on the plane/train etc. I won't have access to the internet but there's a few web pages I'd like to have available for reference.

Is there anyway to make pages available offline in chrome? I realise I can pin a page, but this leaves the door open for accidentally closing the tab or hitting refresh etc.

Ideally I'd like an extension which did something like: right click on tab, select "Make available offline" and then if I'm not connected to the internet and go to that page then it's loaded from cache.

Any ideas?

1

6 Answers 6

12

Some Chrome extensions I know of:

Scrapbook

Scrapbook merges all the fragmented features in various scrapbook implementations into one.

Some extensions don't annotate but save offline, some save but need you to register on another social network. Some save images(which I actually prefer). But cant be indexed and searched. My Scrapbook is an attempt to do all that. In short it aspires to be like my favourite Firefox counter part.

Chromium Scrapbook

Save web pages for offline use.

This extension allows to save web pages for later use without internet connection. It tries to save complete markup and graphics, so saved page looks the same as online one. The stored pages can be organized using tags. Text descriptions can be added to saved pages.

Pocket (formerly Read It Later)

Pocket Extension for Google Chrome – The best way to save articles, videos and more

When you find something on the web that you want to view later, put it in Pocket. It automatically syncs to your phone, tablet or computer so you can view it at any time, even without an internet connection.

Extension Features:
* One-click saving of any page with the toolbar button or keyboard shortcut
* Integrated buttons on Twitter.com and Google Reader for one-click saving
* Right-click menu item to save any link, no need to load the page first
* Quickly add tags
* Syncs across all devices – iPhone, iPad, Android and more
* Completely free

Similar extensions, but for Firefox.

3
  • Are there any extensions that automatically update the cached pages? Oct 14, 2012 at 16:08
  • Read later fast seems to be removed. Jan 10, 2018 at 14:01
  • @PieterDeBie Thanks for mentioning that. I've removed the link to 'Read later fast' in my answer. Jan 11, 2018 at 2:14
7

There seems to be a new "use stale copy" mode in future chrome versions: https://plus.google.com/+FrancoisBeaufort/posts/5cgwTEmqAvC

In cases in which a network error occurs and that Chrome has a stale copy of the resource that is attempting to be loaded, a "Load Stale Local Copy" button is shown on the network error page in the last chromium build.

Source: https://codereview.chromium.org/207553008

There is also chrome://flags/#show-saved-copy

2
3

There are two ways to do this in Chrome. First, you can right click in a blank space on the page and select "Save As". Second, you can click the wrench icon in the top right and select "Save Page As". Both of these will allow you to choose the name and location to save the page as a .htm file. In the dropdown below the filename, you can choose either "Webpage, Complete" or "Webpage, HTML only". HTML Only will save an htm file of the page, but the resource links will remain pointing to the website. Complete will save the html page as well as all page resources, and change the links in the html to point to the resources folder.

You might also take a look at HTTrack, if you are interested in making entire websites available offline.

Hm, this Read Later First plugin might be what you're looking for. It adds an entry to the context menu: "Read Later". I'm not sure if it lets you just type in the address to view it, but it sounds like it would be easier than saving the html on your computer. It also appears to have an online sync feature, so you could save a page on one device, and read it later on another.

8
  • I should have specified, I am aware I can do save as, but as this often doesn't capture all related resources, js, images, etc. I was hoping for something more integrated, something that would allow the pages to be reproduced exactly and also something that would allow to just type the address into the browser.
    – opsb
    Sep 6, 2012 at 12:57
  • Saving as "Webpage, Complete" will save all images and js. I'm still looking, but I haven't found any way to just type the address in and get the offline version.
    – SaintWacko
    Sep 6, 2012 at 13:00
  • Ah, yes, I missed that option.
    – opsb
    Sep 6, 2012 at 13:05
  • I've added a couple more options I found.
    – SaintWacko
    Sep 6, 2012 at 13:06
  • Read Later First looks very good, was just about to install it when I saw this 'also integrates "Price Comparison While You Shop"'
    – opsb
    Sep 6, 2012 at 13:09
1

You can save it as MHTML file by using "SAVE AS MHTML" extension available in chrome web store which will capture the entire site to a compressed file.

Supported by Firefox, Internet Explorer and Chrome.

1

No extension required:

This is available at chrome://flags/#show-saved-copy

As of June 2016, it is now called the "Show Saved Copy Button"

And it works wonderfully!


Huge thanks to https://superuser.com/a/769012/354941 for linking the blog post to the (now outdated) forefather to the "Show Saved Copy Button"

0

You can do this in Chrome, but these instructions are for saving in IE but viewing in Chrome (simply because I don't have Chrome in front of me). However, it does exactly what you need.

I would suggest you save the complete page (in the drop down box - see picture below). This means you have a local copy and can open it in Chrome. I don't have Chrome here so I can't test it in Chrome, but the screen shot I show is done in IE.

Please note, complete includes images, css files, javascript files etc.

This also bypasses the issue of if you close the tab or not as it's physically on your machine.

enter image description here

2
  • Chrome doesn't have a File menu.
    – SaintWacko
    Sep 6, 2012 at 12:50
  • I know, I hit 'post answer' without making it clear I was talking about IE.
    – Dave
    Sep 6, 2012 at 13:04

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .