# How to save to an HTML file
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-save-to-an-html-file/69260
**Category:** About This Message Board
**Created:** [June 18, 2001, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-save-to-an-html-file/69260 "2001-06-18T23:05:11Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Jeannie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeannie)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2001, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-save-to-an-html-file/69260/1 "2001-06-18T23:05:11Z")
I know this is a really stupid question. Someone in a thread somewhere suggested saving old threads to an HTML file. How would I do that? I thought the only way I could save a thread would be to c the whole thing into a Word file or something (which I’ve tried, and it looks goofy). Would an HTML file require saving it somewhere on the net, or would it be on my computer hard drive?
(Just when I think I’m so computer savvy, I get knocked down several pegs and I feel like I should just stick to playing solitaire and minesweeper…)
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### Author:  [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2001, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-save-to-an-html-file/69260/2 "2001-06-18T23:20:55Z")
If you’re using IE or AOL (only browsers I’m familiar with), just go to **File** and **Save as…** and give it a name (the default will be showthread), and save it to a directory on your hard drive.
If you want it to appear as when you saw it online, create a subdirectory under the directory where you saved it called “images” and save all the graphics that images subdirectory by right-clicking on them and selecting **Save Picture As…**
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### Author:  [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2001, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-save-to-an-html-file/69260/3 "2001-06-18T23:27:15Z")
I should add that if you are saving a multipage thread, you need to save each page individually. They will be on your hard drive in the directory you selected.
If you’re using some flavor of Windows and have no other program associated with html files, then, whether online or off, when you double click on the files in Windows Explorer, IE will open and display the page.
Correction:
…save all the graphics _to_ that images subdirectory…
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### Author:  [@Neidhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neidhart)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2001, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-save-to-an-html-file/69260/4 "2001-06-19T00:35:17Z")
For long threads, it works better if you hit “Show Printable Version” and then save that, since it’ll all be on one page.
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### Author:  [@Jeannie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeannie)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2001, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-save-to-an-html-file/69260/5 "2001-06-19T00:47:02Z")
Okay, now I feel silly…I guess if I had put any thought into it I should have been able to figure that out. Thank you guys. Now I need to start looking up the threads I want to keep…
(there should be a forehead slapping smilie)
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### Author:  [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2001, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-save-to-an-html-file/69260/6 "2001-06-19T00:49:09Z")
The show printable method that **Neidhart** mentions makes for smaller files, too. Either way, they’re not very big files. Try it both ways and see which you prefer.
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### Author:  [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2001, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-save-to-an-html-file/69260/7 "2001-06-19T05:51:13Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by beatle \*
> If you want it to appear as when you saw it online, create a subdirectory under the directory where you saved it called “images” and save all the graphics that images subdirectory by right-clicking on them and selecting **Save Picture As…**
I’m not sure about earlier versions of IE, but in 5.5, saving each image individually is not necessary. When the “Save as” pane pops up, type in the file name, and in the box just below that, titled “Save as type:”, select “Web page, complete”. This will automatically save the images in a subdirectory with the same name as the web page.
You can also save the page and graphics as one file by selecting the “Save as type:” of “Web archive, single file”.