How to save an article before the web page disappears
Updated
To keep an article after the page disappears, save a copy of its text, not just the link. On a computer you have five practical options: print it to PDF, use your browser's Save Page As, archive it publicly with the Wayback Machine's Save Page Now, clip it into a note app, or save it to a read-later app that stores the text for you. They differ in what they keep, where the copy lives, and how easy it is to find again. Pick by how many articles you save and what you need to keep.
The five methods compared
| Method | What it keeps | Where the copy lives | Effort per article | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Print to PDF | The page as printed, with images | A file on your computer | A few clicks | One important article you want exactly as it looked |
| Save Page As | Text and, optionally, images and layout | Files on your computer | A few clicks | Offline copies of single pages |
| Wayback Machine Save Page Now | The public page, with images and CSS | The Internet Archive, in public | Paste the address | Pages you want anyone to be able to check later |
| Web clipper into a note app | The article, cleaned up, in your notes | Your notes app | One click, plus filing | Articles you want to annotate and keep |
| Read-later app that stores text | The article text in a reader view | Your read-later account | One click | Everything you mean to read later |
None of these is wrong. The question is which one you will actually use every time.
Print to PDF
Every desktop browser can print a page to a PDF file. In Chrome, open the print dialog and choose Save as PDF as the destination. Firefox's print dialog has a PDF option too.
Good: a PDF is a single file that opens anywhere and looks the same in ten years. It includes the images as printed.
Trade-offs: you get whatever was on screen, including cookie banners, ads, and sidebars, and long articles can split awkwardly across pages. In Firefox, switching to Reader View before you print usually gives a cleaner result. You also have to name, file, and find the PDFs yourself.
Save Page As
Your browser can save the page itself to your computer. In Chrome, go to More → Cast, save, and share → Save page as (Google). In Firefox, choose Save Page As from the menu and pick a format (Mozilla):
- Web page, complete saves the page with its pictures, in a file plus a folder of supporting files.
- Web page, HTML only saves one file without pictures.
- Text files saves the text only, readable in any text editor.
Good: the copy works offline and you own it.
Trade-offs: modern pages rely on scripts, so a saved page can open broken or blank. "Complete" saves create a folder of files per article, which is easy to separate from the page by accident. Like PDFs, the files are yours to organise.
Wayback Machine: Save Page Now
The Internet Archive's Save Page Now takes a public snapshot of any address you give it. In the Internet Archive's words: "Put a URL into the form, press the button, and we save the page. You will instantly have a permanent URL for your page" (Internet Archive). The same help page says it saves "the page you enter including the images and CSS", one page at a time. There are also official Wayback Machine extensions for Chrome, Firefox, and Safari.
Good: the copy is independent of the original site and of your computer, and anyone can check it, which makes it ideal for citing a source.
Trade-offs: the copy is public, so it is not the place for anything private. Some sites block it. It saves what the public sees, so an article you read while logged in may not be captured the same way. Site owners can ask for their pages to be excluded, and the Internet Archive reviews each request without promising an outcome in advance (Internet Archive).
Web clippers and note apps
A web clipper is a browser extension that saves the article into a note. The Obsidian Web Clipper, for example, is free and open source, works in Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge, and other browsers, and saves pages and highlights as Markdown files in your own vault. Many note apps offer a clipper of their own.
Good: the article sits next to your own notes, in a format you can search, edit, and annotate. With a local app like Obsidian, the copy is a plain file on your computer.
Trade-offs: clipping invites filing. Choosing a folder, a template, and tags for every article is fine for reference material, and slow for a queue of things you only might read. A note app is also not built as a reading list, so it won't help you work through what you saved.
Read-later apps that store the text
A read-later app turns saving into one click and gives you a queue to read from. The ones that keep a copy of each article also protect you from link rot. Check before you rely on it, because some apps only store the link, and others keep a copy only on a paid plan. Raindrop.io, for example, offers a permanent copy of each page, with its text, images, and formatting, on its paid Pro plan.
How Reading Rewind keeps the text
Reading Rewind is a read-later app for desktop Chrome, with a Firefox extension in beta. It stores the text of every article you save:
- Click the toolbar button. The page goes to the top of Read Later, your reading list. You can add a tag as you save.
- The server extracts the article. In the background, it strips out ads and clutter and stores the article text with your save.
- Read it whenever you like. The reader view shows the stored text at the font size you choose. If the original page changes or disappears, your saved text stays readable.
What it keeps, and what it doesn't:
- Text: kept. The article text is stored on every save.
- Images: not kept. The reader view loads images from the original site, so they can disappear when the site does.
- Pages behind a login or paywall: limited. The server fetches the page without your cookies or logins, so for subscriber-only articles it may only get what a logged-out visitor sees.
- Offline reading: no. You need a connection to open your list.
- Search inside articles: no. Your saves also appear in Bookmarks, where you can find them by title or web address and filter by tag.
For an article where the images matter, such as a chart or a recipe with step photos, print it to PDF as well.
Which method should you use?
- For most articles you mean to read later: a read-later app that stores the text, because it costs one click and you will actually do it.
- For an article you need to cite or prove: Save Page Now, so there is a public, dated copy.
- For an article you want exactly as it looked: print to PDF.
- For an article you want to annotate and keep for years: a web clipper into your notes.
Many readers combine two: a read-later app for the daily queue, and a PDF or a public archive for the handful of pages that really matter. To see why it's worth the effort, read why articles disappear from the web.
Frequently asked questions
Does bookmarking a page save a copy of it?
No. A bookmark stores the address and title. If the page is deleted or changed, the bookmark can't bring it back.
Will my saved copy include images?
It depends on the method. PDFs, "Web page, complete" saves, and Wayback Machine snapshots include images. Reading Rewind stores the text only, and images load from the original site.
Can I save an article that is behind a paywall?
Printing to PDF or saving the page from your own browser captures what you can see while logged in. Tools that fetch the page from their own servers, including Save Page Now and Reading Rewind, see what a logged-out visitor sees.
What happens to my saved text if the original page is deleted?
With Reading Rewind, nothing: the text was stored when you saved the page, so it stays in your library. You can start a free reading list and install the Chrome extension to try it.