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In today’s digital age, many resources are available online, but relying solely on the internet can be risky. I use Chrome to save web pages for offline access, and I have three main reasons for doing so.
1For Offline Travel Days
While there are some connectivity options while traveling, such asusing a personal hotspot on an iPhoneor paying for in-flight Wi-Fi, it’s not always safe to assume you’ll have access to the internet while on the go. To prepare for a trip, there areeasy ways to download complete web pageswith a browser or a third-party app.
By saving web pages in advance onChrome, I can easily open articles that I need to reference for a written piece. I can organize them by project and not worry about them disappearing when the connection is lost.
Once, I thought I had tricked the system by pre-opening a series of articles as browser tabs before a flight, only to find the pages blank when I got on the plane. Now, I download the web pages just to be extra sure.
2To Avoid Information Overload
Saving web pages with Chrome also allows me to stay organized. As a form of focus management, I often create folders of saved articles to read later. This is better than having a million tabs open, both for my mental health and forChrome’s use of RAM.
Other browsers and apps have reading list features, such asSafariand thePocketapp. I prefer Chrome because it gives me the flexibility to organize web pages into folders on my own file system.
When adding a page to your reading list in Safari, it won’t be available offline unless you’ve adjusted your settings.
3To Preserve Content
I use Chrome to save media that might be at risk of being removed. As withstreaming platforms removing content from their catalogs, you never know how long something will exist on the nebulous web. Of course, if you’re a physical media person, you can always print out an article, but I find downloading content from Chrome just as durable for archival purposes.
For example, I recently saved a collection of photos by a Santa Cruz photographer that was hosted on a local news site, as I wasn’t sure the site would maintain its posts down the line.
When downloading content for posterity, Pocket might not be the best choice. When you use Pocket to save content, and an article is deleted from its host site, it will also be removed from the Pocket app.
For these reasons, downloading web pages on Chrome is a lifesaver at work and in my personal life. Chrome’s system for saving content works well for me, as I prefer managing my own Finder folder system, but I wouldn’t be surprised if another platform like Safari or Pocket is more convenient for some. It really comes down to your personal system.
