Save web pages for later
Curate your own reading list using Safari in macOS Big Sur.
IT WILL TAKE 10 minutes
YOU WILL LEARN How to save web pages so you can read them at a more convenient time
YOU’LL NEED Safari, macOS 11 or later; Pocket and Instapaper optional
Apple’s macOS Big Sur offers plenty of ways to save interesting content for later. For example, you can highlight text on a web page and drag it to a document, which can then be saved to read anywhere. That is fine, but Safari offers better options.
Many of these methods are built right into the browser. Reading List lets you save any article to a library for later reading. By default, your saved articles require an internet connection to view, but you can save them for offline consumption. Safari extensions like Pocket and Instapaper (both free) offer extra features over Safari’s Reading List. For instance, Pocket lets you see what other people have saved and follow interesting curators. Instapaper, meanwhile, lets you tweak things like fonts and colours to make reading easier and more comfortable.
To learn how to use Reading List and combine it with Safari extensions for a top-notch content collection, read on. ALEX BLAKE
HOW TO Start and manage a reading list
01 NOTIFICATION CENTRE BASICS
When a notification appears, swipe right on it to hide it. Click the time and date in the top-right corner to open Notification Centre. Here you can act on your alerts, including seeing more details, closing them, and more.
02 STACKED ALERTS
Multiple notifications from the same app are grouped in stacks. Click the top notification in a stack to expand it and see the others, or hide them by clicking Show Less. Clear (or Clear All) removes the stacked alerts.
03 FILTER SAVED PAGES
In the Reading List sidebar, scroll upwards, then click the buttons that appear at the top to filter between all saved articles and just those you have not read. You can also search through your saved articles here.
04 READ OR UNREAD?
You can mark a page as read or unread regardless of whether you have actually read it. In the Reading List sidebar on the left, control-click a saved page, then click Mark as Read or Mark as Unread to change its status.
05 SAVE OFFLINE
If you are going to be travelling without an internet connection – or just prefer to read things offline – you can save a page straight to your Mac by control-clicking it in the Reading List, then clicking Save Offline.
06 REMOVE PAGES
Finished reading a saved page in your Reading List? You can remove it by control-clicking the page summary in the sidebar, then clicking Remove Item. Alternatively, click Clear All Items ≥ Clear to remove everything.
07 SAVE AS WEB ARCHIVE
You can also export a page as a web archive, which saves text, images, and links. This is useful for saving receipts, for instance. Click File ≥ Save As, then select Web Archive in the Format drop-down and click Save.
08 TRY POCKET
After installing Pocket and creating an account, simply click the Pocket button every time you want to save a web page. You can add tags to saved items, and view your collection by clicking ‘…’ then Open My List.