You can automate this task through a simple command line utility called Wget. With the help of some scripts or applications and this tool, the article will show you how to save multiple websites into a PDF file.
Use wget instead. Install it with Homebrew: brew install wget or MacPorts: sudo port install wget. For downloading files from a directory listing, use -r (recursive), -np (don't follow links to parent directories), and -k to make links in downloaded HTML or CSS point to local files (credit @xaccrocheur).
There are many online tools, browser extensions and desktop plugins to turn websites into PDFs. If you often use these tools, you may encounter situations where you need to convert multiple links in one go. Doing this for each link is a waste of time and tedious.
How to use Wget to convert multiple websites into PDF
Why choose Wget?
Wget is a free software package for downloading files from the web. But it is also a perfect tool for mirroring entire websites to computers. Here are the reasons why Wget should be chosen:
Install WgetOn macOS
The fastest way to install Wget is through Homebrew. Homebrew is a package manager for macOS, which installs useful Unix applications and utilities. Refer to the article: How to install and use wget on Mac for more details. Then type:
You will get real-time installation of all tools (if any) for Wget to run on your Mac. If you already have Homebrew installed, be sure to run brew upgrade for the latest version of this utility.
On Windows 10
There are multiple versions of Wget available for Windows 10. Go to the Eternally Board to download the latest 64-bit build. Place the executable file in a directory and copy it into drive C :.
Now, we will add the Wget path to the system environment variable to run this tool from any directory. Navigate to Control Panel> System and click Advanced System Settings . In the window that opens, click Environment Variables .
Select Path in System Variables and click Edit. Then click the New button located in the upper right corner of the window. Enter C: wget and click OK.
Open Command Prompt and type wget-h to check if everything works. In PowerShell, type wget.exe -h to download the Wget help menu.
Save the link in a text file
Because when dealing with many links, pasting each one is a difficult task. Thankfully, there are browser extensions that can help you accomplish this task.
Set up a directory
Wget works like a web crawler by extracting website assets from HTML files, including JavaScript files, logos, fonts, image thumbnails and CSS. Wget also tries to create a directory structure like the remote server. Create a separate directory for Wget downloads to save web pages and also to avoid clutter.
On Mac Terminal or in the Windows Command Prompt, type:
This step creates a new folder in the Home folder . You can name it whatever you want for it. Next, type:
Change directory. This changes the current working directory to Wgetdown.
Details of the Wget commands
After creating the directory, we will use the actual Wget command:
Wget uses GNU getopt to handle command line arguments. Each option has 2 versions, one long one short. The long option is convenient to remember but takes time to type. You can also combine different types of options. Let's dive into the details of these options:
Put the commands into use
To show these commands in practice, consider using a website called Writing Workflows (link: https://processedword.net/writing-workflows/index.html# ). This guide includes a table of contents with links to individual chapters. The ultimate goal is that you want to create a separate PDF of those sections.
Step 1 : Open Terminal and create a new folder, as discussed above.
Step 2 : Use the Link Klipper extension to save the links as a text file. Save the file to the Downloads folder .
Step 3 : While you use the Wgetdown folder, enter:
Step 4 : Press
Enter . Wait for the process to complete.
Step 5 : Navigate to the Wgetdown folder . You will see the processedword.net directory of the main domain with all of the site's assets and chapter1.html.
Convert HTML to PDF
Converting a website into PDF is quite simple. But letting them look like the original site is a daunting task. The creation of a desired outcome depends on:
Windows 10
PrinceXML is a fast application for converting HTML files to PDF. It allows you to type, format, and print HTML content with configurable layouts and supports web standards. It comes with many useful fonts and also allows you to customize the PDF output. This application is free for non-commercial use only.
MacOS
On a Mac, you can create an Automator service to convert a batch of HTML files to PDF. Open Automator and create a Quick Action document. Set service options to receive files or folders from Finder. Next, drag in Run Shell Script and set the Pass input option as an argument. Then, paste this script into the body:
Save the file as HTML2PDF.
Now, select all the HTML files in the Finder. Right click and select Services> HTML2PDF . Wait a moment to convert all the files.
At first glance, the steps involved in converting many websites into PDFs seem complicated. But once you understand the steps and procedures, this will save time in the long run. You don't need to spend any expensive web sign-up or PDF converter.
If you're looking to turn a web page into a PDF, read the article: Save the entire site's content as a PDF for more details.
Hope you are succesful.
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What if you could easily download an entire website?
I’m not just talking about an image or a few files but every image and file so that you can browse the site offline?
Despite the ubiquity of internet access some places either don’t offer it or require payment for service. But that’s annoying.
A likely scenario
Push all the distractions out of your mind for a minute and imagine this scenario with me:
You’re rushing through the airport with a laptop bag swinging from your shoulder, a scalding Starbucks cup in your hand and your Smartphone cradled to your ear.
As you race to the gate you suddenly careen into an elderly woman who was inching her to the restroom.
The impact catapults the Starbucks cup through the air, your phone slides across the floor like a hockey puck and the old lady falls to the ground with a loud “umph”
Yup.
You just ran into an old lady… You’re that guy today.
“Oh Shit! shit shit I’m sorry, Oh my… please forgive me… are you okay, can I help you with that?”
After helping this hapless victim of your recklessness to her feet, you notice almost every eye in the terminal is transfixed on you.
All you can do is stand there, abashed, wishing you could dissolve this day like bad dream…
Your hair is disheveled, Armani suit is wrinkled and your smartphone display has more cracks than a city sidewalk.
Yeah, this day sucks.
After apologizing profusely to the lady, you gather your stuff, glance at your watch and realize you have exactly 1 minute to make the gate.
Thankfully it’s right around the corner. Gcc 4.0 mac download.
When you approach the Service Agent with your boarding pass, the aperture of her eyes dilate to the size of grapefruits.
After several seconds you ask: “Is something wrong?”
“No sir, uh you look… nervous, are you okay?” She replies looking at your sweat soaked suit.
“Yeah, ” you say breathing hard, “I’m fine, thanks”.
Once in your seat you release a long sigh. You couldn’t be happier to be here.
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You buckle your belt, flip open your laptop and prepare for a healthy dose of wit from famed webcomic author: Randall Munroe.
Your geeky co-workers kept rhapsodizing about Randall’s site XKCD and now you’ve developed a penchant for the concise, brilliant bursts of funny you get from each read.
“Ahhh…”
You stretch out your legs while brushing beads of sweat from your forehead.
As you computer boots you muse to yourself: “This flight has free Wi-Fi right?”
Suddenly a beautiful flight attendant glides down the center aisle like a swan.
She’s pretty, you’re single and this is a great chance to test a pick-up line your beer buddy told you last night.
As she approaches your gaze centers on a glistening wedding band.
You immediately forego your pick-up line idea and revert to your original plan: asking about in-flight internet.
“Excuse me?” you say with a craven tremble in your voice. (Beauty always has a way of making a man nervous)
She walks over and gracefully looks your way with a warm and ready smile.
“Is the Wi-Fi free here?”
Now that she’s close you notice the air is redolent of roses and jasmine.
“Oh no, I’m sorry sir. First-class only – but it’s only $14 for a daily pass”
“Fuck…”
Aghast she replies: “Excuse me, sir?”
“Oh I’m sorry, I mean… I err. I thought it was free. $14 dollars for internet? Seriously?”
There’s a 5 second gap in the conversation as you get lost in the serene well of her dreamy eyes…
One Mississippi.
Two Mississippi
Three Mississippi
Four Mississippi…
Five Missi…
“Sir?”
You snap out of your catatonic stare
“Uh, okay, um yeah – no thanks.”
So what’s the point?
If you knew how to download full web pages to your computer then you could have saved money and face.
That’s why I’m motivated to show you how to grab complete web sites from the net.
Now this is the thing: if you’re only interested in viewing Wikipedia pages offline then you’ll be pleased to know that you can easily save Wikipedia artcles as e-books.
But what about the rest of the web? How can we save that offline?
We’ll we have two options here:
wget for Windows is the quintessential tool for slurping digital content from the digital basin of the web. wget will slake your thirst for delicious content and it’s pretty easy to use.
Super users and keyboard aficionados agree that wget is the de-facto tool for mirroring websites to your local hard drive.
Let me show you how this works: https://ameblo.jp/consvenjackpolc1970/entry-12630783197.html.
Download the complete wget package from Sourceforge (it’s minuscule in size, about 3 MB).
Install the package
Run the installer and keep clicking Next through each screen to keep the defaults.
When I ran the installer I didn’t encounter any unscrupulous offers or opt-in ads so you should be okay. (I’m always wary of unsavory app installers…)
When the installer finishes click the Windows button in the lower left corner of the screen and browse to the location of the wget executable.
Copy the path
In my case I found the wget.exe file hanging out here:
We need to copy the path to the clipboard so we can paste it as a Windows Environment Variable.
This little trick I’m about to show you lets you launch wget from the command prompt rather than taking a circuitous path to that bin folder shown above.
Edit Environment Variables
Click the Windows icon in the bottom left corner of the screen and type:
Click on Advanced System Settings in the left pane.
Head over to the Advanced Tab and choose the Environment Variables… button located in the bottom right corner of the window.
https://picturesever238.weebly.com/blog/best-download-manager-mac-lifehacker. In the bottom pane of the Environment Variables window, you’ll see a section called System variables.
Scroll down until you see the variable named Path.
Select it and choose the Edit… button
Click inside the variable value field and press the End key on your keyboard to skip to the end of the line.
Type a semi-colon and then paste in the path you copied earlier.
This just tells Window that we have a program that we want to run from that directory.
Alright, now just keep clicking OK until you close out all the dialog boxes.
We’re ready to bust open the command prompt to perform some Windows alchemy…
Wget Download A SiteRun wget from the Command Line
If the command line scares you then I can feel your consternation. I used to avoid the command line because it made me feel like I was about one keystroke away from irreparably damaging my computer.
Fortunately it’s relatively easy to use and once you get comfortable with it you can pull off a medley of useful command prompt tricks.
Open the command prompt and type:
You should see a bunch of text and a line that says “Try `wget –help` for more options.”
If you see this you’re good to go; otherwise, check your Environment Variable again to make sure the right path is present. Remember to precede the path with a semi-colon.
Downloading sites
If you type:
you might actually feel like you’re drowning in the deluge of options. So don’t do that; I don’t want you to get discouraged. Instead here is the most common command you’ll want to use:
That dash r parameter tells wget to do a recursive download. In other words, it’ll download every file, folder and sub-folder from the parent tree. This means you’ll get all the Javascript libraries and CSS files – you know – all the essential stuff for making the site look pretty.
Incidentally, I recognize that my site is super UGLY but I’m working on that.
I call that recursive wget command a greedy command because it basically says:
Download With Wget
Download game vga 32 mb. give me give me give me
Oh one more thing: if you include the dash c parameter it’ll force wget to continue downloading files if it get’s interrupted.
I’ll just leave you with these two options for now but feel free to use that –help switch for fine tuning.
Finishing up
I was planning to do a article for HTTrack too but my fingers are getting tired and I’m feeling lazy. I might do that in a future post. I’m getting hungry too so I need to grab something.
Anyway, if this helped you at all please share the goodness in the comments! Also if you’ve been using some wget parameters that I didn’t mention – please share. I’m sure other people will appreciate your input.
Wget Download Webpage
Posted in Windows, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1 Tagged with: Tricks
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December 2020
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