Have you ever needed to save a few lines of text from a Web site? Or have you wanted to save an entire Web page for later viewing? Saving text and Web pages can be useful after you’ve made an online purchase, for example, and want to save your transaction ID or the digital receipt. There are numerous ways to save text and graphics from Web sites and I’ll show you a couple of the quick ways today. Tomorrow, we’ll discuss how to save Web pages in their entirety for later viewing.
Copy and Paste
Copying and pasting is a very quick way to grab a few lines of text (and graphics) for pasting into a word processor (e.g., Word, Word Perfect) or text editor (e.g., Notepad).
Earlier in the year, I introduced the copy and paste functions in a blog about keyboard shortcuts for Windows. As described in the blog, copying and pasting can be done with the keyboard or using the drop-down menus from your web browser. As a reminder, the keyboard shortcuts are:
● Ctrl-C = copy
● Ctrl-V = paste
After you highlight the text you want to copy, and copy it to the Windows clipboard using Ctrl-C or the copy menu item, you can now paste the text. You can paste the text into an open Word document, for example. Just place the cursor in the document where you want to paste the text and use either Ctrl-V or the paste function from the drop-down menu in your word processor (usually listed under the title “Edit”).
Print to PDF
Printing a Web page or email to paper for later viewing is a commonly used practice. You can also print to a PDF file, if you don’t immediately need a paper copy of the text or Web page you’re trying to save.
Printing a Web page using the current version of Internet Explorer (IE) sometimes doesn’t give you a complete printout. Often, the right side of the page is cut off, leaving you to guess or remember what what’s not printed on the page. Other Web browsers don’t seem to have the problems of printing that IE does. The next version of Internet Explorer, due out later this year, shouldn’t have as much trouble correctly printing Web pages (or so I’m told).
A few weeks ago we discussed how to create PDFs for free using PDF print drivers that work just like you are printing with printer that uses paper and ink. You can use one of the free PDF printers to print Web pages.
After you have installed one of the many free PDF printers, the process of printing is similar to using an ink or laser printer. When you use the print function, just make sure to select your PDF printer (see screenshot below for an example).
Saving entire Web pages
Tomorrow, we’ll cover saving entire Web pages for later, offline viewing.