Save and Share Important Web Pages With Your Mac

It's hard to even imagine life before the web, isn't it? What did people do when they needed to find out information they didn't already have close to them? I firmly believe people will look at the pre-internet era as we look back at the time before indoor plumbing.

So now we all know how to "Google" to find the information we need. What should we do with web content we think has lasting value? Things like killer recipes, important Mac How-to's, and e-commmerce receipts? For the type of information whose value may out last the website it's on, I like to save it to my Mac to share and refer to down the line.

There are many ways to save some or all of the web page content, but only a few really good techniques. I'd like to share a few of them here with you.

Photos and Videos
Although this article focuses on the informational content, let's first check off photos and videos. Most video these days on the web is streaming Flash video like on YouTube. You can find information about how to save YouTube videos here on My First Mac with the article, How Do I Download and Save Videos From YouTube?

For photos, if you don't want the whole page, just a photo on it, there is an easy trick many people still don't know about. Click and drag on the photo in a web page and drag it to your desktop or an open Finder window. It couldn't be more simple and direct, yet people are still surprised it could be that easy. Moving on…

Part of a Web Page
Sometimes, all you want to save is a column of text, which leaves you with a lot of options. The strategy here is to learn how to select text in a browser window using the cursor, then copy and paste into another file.

The first part actually can be difficult and may need some practice. It's not as easy as selecting text in a Word doc. I usually end up starting from the end of the text and dragging up to the beginning. Somehow, starting the cursor drag at the end of a paragraph works more often for me.

The next steps are the easy part. Once you select the text, hit command-C for Copy, then click over to an application such as Text Edit or Mail (those work best for me) and paste the text into the file. After that, save the file to a folder or email on to someone else.

Getting the Whole Web Page
I usually find that just grabbing the whole page is quicker and easier than homing in on the bit I want. You may be tempted to use Safari's Save As function, but I'd suggest you skip it because only Safari can open those files. Firefox has a similar Save Web Page Complete function but doesn't disguise all the components. It saves the HTML skeleton with a folder full of parts next to it. Too much to keep track of. To share and save the web page neatly for the long term, I recommend the following 2 routes instead.

The first way is just for Safari and Mail users. When you are on the page you want to save, go to the File menu and select Mail Contents of This Page. That command should switch you to Mail and give you an open message with the web page pasted in. Go ahead and either save it as a draft or email it to yourself or a friend. Then look in your Sent folder or Draft folder for your message and drag it to your desktop or Finder window.

When I do this, I find it is better to email the message to myself, click the download images button, then drag it to the FInder. For some reason it keeps more of the graphics and layout.

The second way is a catch-all for all programs and perhaps the best way, particularly when it comes to sharing the files: create a PDF. This is a several click process, but you should get it down because it's valuable in many circumstances.

In your web browser, go to the File menu and select Print. Then in the Print box, click and hold the PDF button, selecting Save as PDF from the menu that pops out from it. I know, who knew a menu can come out from a button? Then save the file like any other file.

There are several reasons I suggest you use one of these two methods: The first is that the Finder will show the saved file icon as the image of the page. Also Quick Look will display it full size, and lastly, Spotlight will search and find the content inside the file.

When You Don't Want the Text to Be Searchable
Sometimes I want to remember something from a web page but don't want it as searchable text, like for user names and passwords. In this case I just do a screen grab using command-shift-4, using the crosshairs to get just what I want. The content can't be searched because it's only pixels now. This will also capture the images that don't want to be dragged from web pages.

These are just my favorite ways to save web pages. What are yours? Do you have any tips to share? Let us know in the Comments section below!

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