Although Web pages are frequently updated and changing all the time, there may be instances where you want to archive old Web pages. A small business working on a government contract, where records retention is required by law, is one example. Businesses may also want to keep their websites as a historical record of the growth of the company. No matter why you wish to archive old Web pages, solutions are available.
Websites are hosted on specially configured computers called Web servers. Websites consist of a number of Hypertext Markup Language files that, when output by the Web server program, result in the Web pages that visitors see when viewing the site in a Web browser. The HTML files reside on a public directory of the Web server so that they can be accessed by anyone with a browser.
If you have access to the website directory of the Web page you want to archive, use a File Transfer Program to download the files from the Web server to your local computer. A number of FTP programs are available for download on the Internet, including freeware, shareware and paid versions. To archive the old Web files, connect to the website with the FTP username and password. Navigate to the directory where the files are stored and download them to your computer.
Saving Pages Manually
If you don't have access to the website files, you can still archive the Web pages manually. Navigate to the page that you wish to archive with just about any Web browser. From beneath the "File" menu in the browser, select "Save Page" or "Save Location." The exact wording differs depending on your browser. Browsers also differ in the amount of information they store and how they save the data. Internet Explorer, for example, has an option to save the entire Web page. When this option is selected, the HTML data and any images present on the page are saved to the specified location.
Using a Website Archiver
Users who want to save a number of different pages or entire websites would be better off using a website downloader. These programs go out and fetch all the specified websites or pages and save them to the desired location. Many of these programs can be set up to automatically download sites or pages at specified intervals, so if you have a website you wish to archive frequently, it can be done on a set schedule.
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