# Is there any way to download an entire thread? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [January 26, 2006, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-way-to-download-an-entire-thread/341653 "2006-01-26T03:25:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2006, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-way-to-download-an-entire-thread/341653/1 "2006-01-26T03:25:41Z")
Thanks to QtM pointing me to the [If LotR had been written by someone else thread?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=138905&page=2&pp=50) I was hoping there was some method of download the entire thread instead of going page by page for 2041 posts. I tried searching, but I got nothing. Thank you in advanced, Jim ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2006, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-way-to-download-an-entire-thread/341653/2 "2006-01-26T11:17:59Z")
If you right-click the link and choose “Save Link As” it will download the page as straight HTML. Images might not work, and you might need to change the filenames from .php to .html, but it should go. You’ll probably need to save each page separately, but I believe there is an option to set how many posts to show on a page, so maybe you could get the whole thing. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2006, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-way-to-download-an-entire-thread/341653/3 "2006-01-26T13:25:32Z")
> [@Sage Rat](#): > > If you right-click the link and choose “Save Link As” it will download the page as straight HTML. Images might not work, and you might need to change the filenames from .php to .html, but it should go. You’ll probably need to save each page separately, but I believe there is an option to set how many posts to show on a page, so maybe you could get the whole thing. Unfortunately, but for good sound server reasons, the limit is 50 posts per page. I thought there might be some other trick to download the entire thread rather than view it on screen. Maybe one of the Admins can tell me if their is a way or if their definitely isn’t. Jim ---
**Author:** ![Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hypnagogic_jerk/32/4252_2.png) [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypnagogic_Jerk)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2006, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-way-to-download-an-entire-thread/341653/4 "2006-01-26T14:55:14Z")
If you check [this version](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/archive/index.php/t-138905.html) of the thread (on the archive), there are only nine pages. It might help you, but on the other hand it’s not as readable as the other one, since the quotes don’t appear as such. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2006, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-way-to-download-an-entire-thread/341653/5 "2006-01-26T15:05:48Z")
> [@severus](#): > > If you check [this version](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/archive/index.php/t-138905.html) of the thread (on the archive), there are only nine pages. It might help you, but on the other hand it’s not as readable as the other one, since the quotes don’t appear as such. Thank you, That is a big help, how did you access it in that mode? Jim ---
**Author:** ![Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hypnagogic_jerk/32/4252_2.png) [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypnagogic_Jerk)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2006, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-way-to-download-an-entire-thread/341653/6 "2006-01-26T16:11:21Z")
> [@What Exit?](#): > > That is a big help, how did you access it in that mode? The archive was linked to in [this post](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=7034826&postcount=6), I just changed the forum to Cafe Society and pasted the thread number which I got in your OP. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2006, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-way-to-download-an-entire-thread/341653/7 "2006-01-26T16:28:22Z")
> [@severus](#): > > The archive was linked to in [this post](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=7034826&postcount=6), I just changed the forum to Cafe Society and pasted the thread number which I got in your OP. Great tip. thank you very much. Jim ---
**Author:** ![squeekster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/779978/32.png) [@squeekster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeekster)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2006, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-way-to-download-an-entire-thread/341653/8 "2006-01-26T19:04:18Z")
If I wanted to save an entire thread onto my computer, I would go the “Thread Tools” and change it to a printable version, then copy and paste it into a word processor. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2006, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-way-to-download-an-entire-thread/341653/9 "2006-01-26T20:20:04Z")
The archive link is on the right side of this page near the bottom, in the bar just below the time. The bar contains links captioned “Contact Us - Straight Dope Homepage - Archive - Top” ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2006, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-way-to-download-an-entire-thread/341653/10 "2006-01-26T20:22:29Z")
> [@rowrrbazzle](#): > > The archive link is on the right side of this page near the bottom, in the bar just below the time. The bar contains links captioned “Contact Us - Straight Dope Homepage - Archive - Top” Oh, that archive button. :smack: I honestly never noticed that before. Tonight I will be cramming the 9 pages of archive thread into a word doc. Thank you, Jim ---
**Author:** ![rkts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c4cdca/32.png) [@rkts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rkts)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2006, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-way-to-download-an-entire-thread/341653/11 "2006-01-26T21:33:08Z")
Here is a Bash script I use for downloading threads; it downloads the specified range of pages and then converts the links for local viewing: Of course, I didn’t know about the archive link. :smack: