Since it requires an active internet connection to access and read articles on the webpage, you would ideally want to save or download a webpage instead.But, how do you go about downloading an entire website on your device? In this article, we will explore possible ways to download a website.
Can We Download an Entire Website?
The simple answer to this query is that it depends upon the website. Because, majorly, there are two types of sites:
Static: Static websites have their DOM files stored in the server with content already written on them.Dynamic: The content of dynamic sites is generated in real-time through the backend process when an IP request is made.
You might have guessed. It’s easier to download static websites as they have a limited number of pages. According to scale, dynamic websites may have an infinite number of pages, making downloading even harder.
How to Download a Single Webpage at Once?
Modern browsers are packed with features to save the viewed webpage. So, if you want to download a single-page website, the methods mentioned below can help you do so:
Built-In Save Page Feature
Browsers provide us with an inbuilt feature to download web pages for offline use. Many of them download it in pdf form. Though downloading multiple pages would be problematic, this feature will work best for single-page static websites. Let’s proceed to save a webpage using Google Chrome.
On Windows
You can relocate the file and open it when you want to read it offline.
On Mac
The procedure is identical to the desktop, except the keys pressed on Mac are command + S.
On Android
To open it, you can go to the Downloads section in the browser.
Save Webpage as PDF
Browsers also have the feature to print a webpage as hardcopy. Using that feature, we can save a webpage in PDF form before being printed. We’ll show you how to use this feature with steps using Google Chrome.
On Desktop
On Mac(Safari)
As different versions of macOS may have different steps to save a webpage as a PDF. You can have a look at yours on Apple’s Support website.
On Android
For iPhone (Safari)
How to Download an Entire Website?
The built-in browser features are simple to execute, but downloading a multipage website can be tedious. So, Below are some tools to download an entire website for offline use:
Using Wget Tool
There’s a command line in Linux operating systems to download or mirror an entire website on your PC. Later, it was made as a CUI-based free software package compatible with any operating system. It is currently under the public license of gnu.org, meaning its source code is available for everyone. Let’s begin by installing Wget on your device:
On Windows
Here are steps to follow to run wget command on your computer:
On Mac
To run Wget on Mac OS, we’ll use an open-source package manager called HomeBrew. And then, it will help to install Wget on Mac. Follow the steps below:
On Linux
Most Linux-based Operating Systems have this command line by default. But if you haven’t, it can be installed through command lines, it’s apt-get install wget for Ubuntu.
Running Wget Commands
After you successfully install wget on your device, run the command wget once. If it returns ‘missing URL,’ it’s all good to go.The basic command lines for all the OS are the same. To download a webpage, first copy the url of the webpage and type wget followed by the url, as a command. For instance, with wget www.someth.com/index.html , you can specify a folder with the -P between the command. For example: wget -P :C\Downloads www.someth.com/index.html would save the downloaded webpage to the Downloads folder. However, the folder where you’re downloading shouldn’t have another folder within it.To download an entire website, you will need to add the keyword –mirror in the middle, like, wget – mirror www.someth.com
Using HTTrack Tool
There are other extensive tools for the purpose. One of the widely used open source tools is HTTrack. It is free and open-source as well. Moreover, unlike Wget, it also has got GUI. First, let’s jump to install HTTrack on your device:
On Windows
On Mac
On Linux(Ubuntu)
Use HTTrack(GUI)
After you enter either the software or web version of HTTrack, follow the steps to download the website:
Use Other Tools
If you want to skip freebies, you can utilize other paid third-party tools like SurfOnline, Website eXtractor(Freemium), etc.
