Archiving threads?

[stripperguy]

I was having a discussion with a forum member, he was asking about some paddling location. I found one of my old threads and linked him to it.
Then I went along and reread the entire thread...there's lots of detail that helped jog my own memory.

So I get to thinking, I should compile all of my old trip reports and such and archive them on my computer.
I just now did a quick copy and paste of one page of a thread. It's cumbersome, and the linked photos do not come along.

Does anyone know of a quick and easy way to download EVERYTHING from a thread? If need be, I can add my linked photos back in as I go, but it sure would be nice if it was a drag and drop sort of deal.

[montcalm]

Probably a better way, but did you try:

Opening the thread in the editor (you're the owner, you should be able to still) then,

Crtl + A (select all)

Ctrl + C (copy)

then select a new destination, like word and,

Ctrl + V (paste)

Should transfer all the text. You might have to go back and remove the tags from links.

[stripperguy]

Probably a better way, but did you try:

Opening the thread in the editor (you're the owner, you should be able to still) then,

Crtl + A (select all)

Ctrl + C (copy)

then select a new destination, like word and,

Ctrl + V (paste)

Should transfer all the text. You might have to go back and remove the tags from links.

Uhmmm, yeah...that method only grabs the specific post that I choose to edit. I did use that method on an entire page.
A control + A on a page gets me everything, including headers, sidebars, footers.

I don't see an easy way to parse out just the content that I want, and even so, I'll need to reinsert the images.
Maybe when my son comes home from the store, I'll pick his brain. He does all sorts of data mining and scraping as well as all sorts of back end stuff for thousands of websites.

[montcalm]

Ok I guess I missed that you want to get the whole conversation... which I guess didn't make sense to me.

Why don't you just download the whole page? And get each page at a time. All the code is there so I think you'll be able to view it even if the forum goes away.

It's a snapshot of this page at this point in time. I just tested it, I saved before I replied, then replied and reloaded it, and it's the thread before I replied.

[stripperguy]

Ok I guess I missed that you want to get the whole conversation... which I guess didn't make sense to me.

Why don't you just download the whole page? And get each page at a time. All the code is there so I think you'll be able to view it even if the forum goes away.

It's a snapshot of this page at this point in time. I just tested it, I saved before I replied, then replied and reloaded it, and it's the thread before I replied.

In some instances, there is some back and forth between myself and other members that is helpful and occasionally, entertaining.
I can certainly grab the entire page, and have done so, I was just hoping for a shortcut to avoid manual parsing. I'm already resigned to the fact that I'll need to reinsert the photos.

[montcalm]

Maybe you missed the last suggestion. If you, in chrome, simply go to the menu and “save as” you can save an exact copy of each page, with links to photos, to your hard drive.

You can also load these offline and get the text, photos will only load if you are connected. It should work even if the forum goes away as this is essentially what all web archives do to my knowledge.

[stripperguy]

Save As, huh
I’ll give it a try

[montcalm]

Yeah - perhaps this is easier to understand...

[bucky716]

You can also click to Print and then you should have an option to save as pdf.

[stripperguy]

You can also click to Print and then you should have an option to save as pdf.

OMG!! I just tried that and it's exactly what I want.
Captures all the imbedded photos (as long as the links are still valid), doesn't show any code, includes all responses.
Thank you Bucky

[vtflyfish]

Interesting. Is there a quick and convenient way to archive all the threads and posts you've created over the years?

[stripperguy]

Interesting. Is there a quick and convenient way to archive all the threads and posts you've created over the years?

I think it's quick...
Do an advanced search for threads that you have started.
Be sure to adjust your settings to show all threads, not limited to a few years. This is the default thread cut off under "edit options" in your user CP.
Open each thread and print to a PDF file.