I’ve been using the Chrome extension Single File for a while now to archive specific web pages. Still, I hadn’t realized that it was capable of automatically archiving every web page that a user visits in the background.
After installing Single File in Chrome (or other browser), users can right-click on the extension and choose Auto Save –> Auto Save All Tabs. Single File will then commence saving every page automatically.
I went into the options and set the file template name to this:
web-archives/{year-locale}-{month-locale}-{day-locale}-web-archive/{page-title} ({date-iso} {time-locale}).htmlwhich will put the saved files into subdirectories like:
/web-archives/2020-01-01-web-archive/Depending on how much browsing you do, these directories can grow very large–typically 2 to 4 gb per day for me. I use 7Zip to create an archive of each day, and on Ultra compression settings, 7Zip usually reduces the size to about 15 percent.
The other thing I had to do was install a Chrome plugin to hide the download bar. Otherwise, as I was surfing the web, I would see constant file downloads on the bottom of the browser.
Google needs to make this is a setting, so users don’t have to add yet another extension, but Always Clear Downloads did the trick for me. That extension has a “Disable download shelf” option that, when checked, will remove the download bar/shelf.