Solved: How do I download entire website as PDF files using HTTrack

Key Takeaways

• This blog article teaches how to download an entire website as PDF files using HTTrack, a free and open source web crawler tool. The main points of the article are:
• HTTrack can download any type of website, including static and dynamic web pages, and convert them into PDF files using a virtual printer driver called PDFCreator.
• HTTrack has a graphical user interface, a command line interface, and a web interface, and it has many options and settings that can be customized to suit different needs and preferences.
• HTTrack can handle complex websites that use cookies, sessions, forms, redirects, robots.txt, and other features, but it may not respect the terms and conditions of the websites that it downloads.

Have you ever wanted to download an entire website as PDF files for offline viewing or archiving? Maybe you need to save some important information from a website that might go offline or change in the future. Or maybe you just want to have a backup copy of your own website in case something goes wrong.

Problem

Whatever the reason, downloading an entire website as PDF files can be a challenging task. You can’t just use the print function of your browser, because it will only save the current page, not the whole site. You also can’t use a simple web scraper, because it will only extract the text and images, not the layout and formatting of the web pages.

Fortunately, there is a free and open source web crawler tool that can help you with this task. It’s called HTTrack, and it can download an entire website as PDF files, preserving the original appearance and functionality of the web pages. In this article, we will show you how to use HTTrack to download an entire website as PDF files in a few easy steps.

Solution: Download entire website as PDF files using HTTrack

To download an entire website as PDF files using HTTrack, you will need to install two things: HTTrack itself, and a virtual printer driver that can convert web pages into PDF files. There are many virtual printer drivers available, but we recommend using PDFCreator, which is also free and open source. You can download HTTrack from its official website, and PDFCreator from its official website. Follow the installation instructions for both programs, and make sure you have enough disk space to store the downloaded website.

Once you have installed HTTrack and PDFCreator, you can follow these steps to download an entire website as PDF files:

1. Launch HTTrack and click on “Next” to start a new project.
2. Enter a project name and a base path where you want to save the downloaded website. Click on “Next”.
3. Enter the URL of the website that you want to download. You can also enter multiple URLs if you want to download more than one website. Click on “Next”.
4. Choose the action that you want to perform. You can choose to download the website, update the existing download, or continue an interrupted download. Click on “Next”.
5. Choose the options and settings that you want to apply to the download. You can leave the default settings, or you can customize them according to your preferences. For example, you can choose the maximum depth of links to follow, the maximum size of files to download, the filters to apply, the proxy settings, the user agent, the MIME types, and more. Click on “Next”.
6. Review the summary of the project and click on “Finish” to start the download.
7. Wait for HTTrack to download the website. You can see the progress and the details of the download in the HTTrack window. You can also pause, resume, or cancel the download at any time.
8. When the download is complete, click on “Browse Mirrored Website” to view the downloaded website offline. You can also open the index.html file in the base path folder to access the downloaded website.
9. To convert the downloaded web pages into PDF files, you will need to use PDFCreator. Launch PDFCreator and click on “Print” in the HTTrack window. Choose PDFCreator as the printer and click on “OK”.
10. PDFCreator will ask you to enter a file name and a location for the PDF file. You can also choose the output format, the quality, the security, and the metadata of the PDF file. Click on “Save” to create the PDF file.
11. Repeat steps 9 and 10 for each web page that you want to convert into a PDF file. You can also use the “Merge” function of PDFCreator to combine multiple PDF files into one.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Question: What is HTTrack?

Answer: HTTrack is a free and open source web crawler tool that can download an entire website or a part of it to your local hard drive. It can also convert the downloaded web pages into PDF files, using a virtual printer driver. HTTrack can download any type of website, including static HTML pages, dynamic PHP pages, JavaScript, CSS, images, videos, audio, and more. It can also handle complex websites that use cookies, sessions, forms, redirects, robots.txt, and other features.

HTTrack works by following the links on the website and downloading the web pages and resources that it finds. It can also update an existing download by checking for changes on the website and downloading only the modified files. HTTrack can also resume a download that was interrupted or paused.

HTTrack is available for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X. It has a graphical user interface (GUI) and a command line interface (CLI). It also has a web interface that can be accessed from any browser. HTTrack is very customizable and has many options and settings that you can tweak to suit your needs.

Question: Can HTTrack download password-protected websites?

Answer: Yes, HTTrack can download password-protected websites, as long as you have the login credentials. You can enter the username and password in the “Add URL” window of HTTrack, or you can use the “Capture URL” function to capture the login session from your browser.

Question: Can HTTrack download websites that use AJAX or JavaScript?

Answer: Yes, HTTrack can download websites that use AJAX or JavaScript, as long as the web pages are accessible by following the links. HTTrack can execute JavaScript code and parse AJAX requests, but it cannot interact with the web pages like a browser. Therefore, some dynamic features or content may not be downloaded correctly.

Question: Can HTTrack download websites that use Flash or Java applets?

Answer: Yes, HTTrack can download websites that use Flash or Java applets, but it cannot execute them or convert them into PDF files. HTTrack will download the Flash or Java files as binary files, and you will need a Flash or Java player to view them offline.

Question: Can HTTrack download websites that use HTTPS or SSL?

Answer: Yes, HTTrack can download websites that use HTTPS or SSL, as long as the website has a valid certificate. HTTrack will verify the certificate and establish a secure connection with the website. However, some websites may use SSL pinning or other techniques to prevent web crawling, in which case HTTrack may not be able to download them.

Question: Can HTTrack download websites that use robots.txt or other anti-crawling measures?

Answer: Yes, HTTrack can download websites that use robots.txt or other anti-crawling measures, but it may not respect them. HTTrack will follow the rules of robots.txt by default, but you can disable this option in the settings. However, some websites may use other anti-crawling measures, such as IP blocking, CAPTCHA, rate limiting, or honeypots, to prevent web crawling, in which case HTTrack may not be able to download them.

Summary

In this article, we have shown you how to download an entire website as PDF files using HTTrack, a free and open source web crawler tool. We have also explained the main features and options of HTTrack, and answered some frequently asked questions about web crawling. We hope that this article has been helpful and informative for you, and that you have learned how to download an entire website as PDF files using HTTrack.

Disclaimer: This article is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal or professional advice. Please consult the terms and conditions of the websites that you want to download before using HTTrack or any other web crawler tool. We are not responsible for any damages or liabilities that may arise from the use of HTTrack or any other web crawler tool.