Offline browsers & login passwords

[soulcity]

I have to take a course for my work and it's only available online.  - So all study materials are available only online

The Problem:

A. There are not enough hours in the day
B. I do not have Internet access where I work. (Cell phones are NOT allowed on premises)


My work provides me with a small computer.  So if I could download the entire site I could study on my dinner and breaks.

Problem is that the site requires that I login and that I use a password.  So the ofline browser won't download the entire site.

Does anyone know of a solution?

[ill88eagle]

If it's merely reading reading material you can 'save page as' or 'print to PDF' from your browser while online and logged in. If there are videos you need behind a login wall it gets more problematic, but doable

[soulcity]

If it's merely reading reading material you can 'save page as' or 'print to PDF' from your browser while online and logged in. If there are videos you need behind a login wall it gets more problematic, but doable

I'm behind a login wall.

Plus there are so many pages that I'll spend a fortune on printer ink.

[ill88eagle]

Printing to .pdf files requires zero ink - but if you find it a hassle to do it for each page you could try out HTTrack. It's been years since I fumbled with this software, but I'm pretty sure you can configure it to use your login for the site.

Edit: the attached 'test.pdf' demonstrates the print to pdf concept. In firefox I chose print, then print to file, then pdf and filename - that's all there is to it

[soulcity]

Printing to .pdf files requires zero ink - but if you find it a hassle to do it for each page you could try out HTTrack. It's been years since I fumbled with this software, but I'm pretty sure you can configure it to use your login for the site.

Edit: the attached 'test.pdf' demonstrates the print to pdf concept. In firefox I chose print, then print to file, then pdf and filename - that's all there is to it

that's still a lot of individual pages to save.   (Is there a bulk way to do this? )

I've been playing with HTTrack and there doesn't seem to be a way to make it work past the login wall.

Arggh... my problems are minor but they're all a pain in the neck

[ill88eagle]

that's still a lot of individual pages to save.   (Is there a bulk way to do this? )

I've been playing with HTTrack and there doesn't seem to be a way to make it work past the login wall.

Arggh... my problems are minor but they're all a pain in the neck

Have a look here:

Q: I can not access several pages (access forbidden, or redirect to another location), but I can with my browser, what's going on?
A: You may need cookies! Cookies are specific data (for example, your username or password) that are sent to your browser once you have logged in certain sites so that you only have to log-in once. For example, after having entered your username in a website, you can view pages and articles, and the next time you will go to this site, you will not have to re-enter your username/password.
To "merge" your personnal cookies to an HTTrack project, just copy the cookies.txt file from your Netscape folder* (or the cookies located into the Temporary Internet Files folder for IE*) into your project folder (or even the HTTrack folder)

*wherever your particular browser stores its cookies

I'm sure it would be simple to script a bulk .pdf website copier - but the issue is getting behind the login wall. Your best bet is with HTTrack.

[Moe]

wget is still a king at this. Unfortunately it is a command line tool.

[soulcity]

Have a look here:

Q: I can not access several pages (access forbidden, or redirect to another location), but I can with my browser, what's going on?
A: You may need cookies! Cookies are specific data (for example, your username or password) that are sent to your browser once you have logged in certain sites so that you only have to log-in once. For example, after having entered your username in a website, you can view pages and articles, and the next time you will go to this site, you will not have to re-enter your username/password.
To "merge" your personnal cookies to an HTTrack project, just copy the cookies.txt file from your Netscape folder* (or the cookies located into the Temporary Internet Files folder for IE*) into your project folder (or even the HTTrack folder)

*wherever your particular browser stores its cookies

OK..

But I think the last time I used Netscape I was 5 years old
right now I've got firefox and chrome.

wget is still a king at this.  Unfortunately it is a command line tool.

Is it complicated?

[ill88eagle]

OK..

But I think the last time I used Netscape I was 5 years old
right now I've got firefox and chrome.

That was why I wrote

*wherever your particular browser stores its cookies

What you need to do, step by step:
Log into your website while online (duh)
Copy your browsers cookies into your HTTrack project folder
Tell HTTrack to start saving pages
Hope it werks

Where your cookies are stored depends on your browser and your OS. I can tell you where firefox stores it's cookies on linux but it wont help you much.

A few answers to the cookie location question that might be helpful:

Cookies are stored in the cookies.sqlite file in the Firefox profile folder.

Google Chrome uses an SQLite file to save cookies. It resides under:

C:\Users\<your_username>\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\

inside Cookies file. (which is an SQLite database file)

And another one: https://www.digitalcitizen.life/cookies-...windows-10

wget is still a king at this.  Unfortunately it is a command line tool.

Is it complicated?

The complicatedness of command line tools comes from the user being used to a GUI. Are you comfortable running a typed in command from your msdos shell (or linux terminal) with options and flags?

[Moe]

wget is still a king at this.  Unfortunately it is a command line tool.

Is it complicated?

It can be a bit daunting to start if you aren't familiar with command line tools, but if you spend a little time with it you will likely get the hang of using it.