Download anything to access offline
Read websites, web articles, emails and online maps while out and about
Sometimes it’s all too easy to forget there was a world before the internet. A time when letters were delivered by the Post Office, maps were printed in road atlases and your best hope of deciphering the menu at your favourite taverna on Kos was to look at the pictures. Nowadays we rely on the internet to resolve these kind of everyday problems, but what happens if your internet connection fails you? Here, we’ll explain how, with just a minimum of tweaking, you can access all your favourite websites and online tools, even when you’re suddenly turfed offline.
Access websites offline Chrome
To access websites offline in Chrome, you need to make a few adjustments while you’re still online. Open your browser and type chrome://flags/#show-saved-copy into the address bar at the top. This will direct you to Chrome’s Flags page, where you will see the Show Saved Copy Button dropdown menu highlighted (in yellow). Click the dropdown menu, then select Enable: Primary (see screenshot above right). Once you do this a blue ‘Relaunch now’ button will appear at the bottomleft of the browser window – click it to restart Chrome.
Continue to browse the internet as you normally would, then the next time you’re offline, type the address of a website you want to access (that you have browsed within the past two to three days). The website won’t load because you’re offline. Instead you’ll see Chrome’s standard ‘There is no Internet connection’ screen. But you will also see a blue ‘Show saved copy’ button at the bottom of the screen – click it to access the website.
Bear in mind you’ll be limited to those pages you’ve recently accessed and they won’t have been updated since. If you try to access a web page and you don’t see the ‘Show saved copy’ button, it means that page is not available to view offline.
Firefox
To switch on Firefox’s offline browsing mode, press the Alt key on your keyboard (you’ll see the horizontal menu bar appear at the top of the browser window), then click File and Work Offline. Unlike Chrome, Firefox’s offline mode will automatically open any available web pages without you having to click a button first. If a page isn’t available, you’ll see a white screen with a Try Again button.
Save specific web articles Pocket
If you want to be more precise regarding the web pages you read offline, then consider using Pocket. This browser extension lets you save specific web pages to read offline whenever it’s convenient (and it works with Edge and Internet Explorer, as well as Chrome and Firefox). To get it go to www.snipca.com/23743 and click the red Connect Now button. This will install the correct extension for your browser (you might be prompted to confirm the installation). Pocket is also available as an app for phones and tablets: Android www.snipca.com/23752; IOS www. snipca.com/23751.
Once you’ve added Pocket to your browser you’ll be prompted to create an account (if not, go to www.snipca. com/23753). Choose to register with your Google account, or create a username and
password solely for Pocket, then follow the onscreen instructions. From now on, whenever you want to save a web page to read offline, click the Pocket icon at the top right of your browser. When prompted to enter tags, add any keywords that will help you find this page later.
To access your saved web pages, right-click the Pocket icon, then click Open Pocket. Saved web pages will be available on all your devices (as long as you use the same login details on your PC, tablet and phone).
Read and send emails Gmail
To access your emails when you’re offline you usually need to use an email client such as em Client or Outlook. However, Gmail users can use a Chrome extension to access any email or attachment from the last 30 days.
First, while you’re still online, open Chrome and go to www.snipca.com/ 23761. Click the ‘Add to Chrome’ button at the top right, then ‘Add app’ when prompted. You’ll see Gmail Offline has been added to your Chrome Apps (click the Apps button to access your Chrome Apps in the future – see screenshot below). Click the Gmail Offline icon (a blue logo rather than the normal red), then in the pop-up window click ‘Allow offline mail’ then Continue. You’ll now see the standard Gmail interface, but you should notice a message along the bottom of the screen saying ‘Conversations back to [date and time] available offline’. This date is the cut-off point for the emails that Gmail Offline can access when not connected to the internet. By default, it’s set to a week, but to extend this period click the gear icon (top right) and choose ‘2 weeks’ or ‘month’ from the ‘Download mail from past’ dropdown menu, then click Apply. To send emails click the red pencil icon at the top of your screen and type your message – it will be sent the next time you’re online.
Download maps to your PC Map Puzzle
Map Puzzle ( www.mappuzzle.se) is a program that lets you download maps that you can access whenever you’re offline.
To get it, click the Download button, then scroll to the bottom of the page to the ‘Download Map Puzzle v.1.6.5.exe’ link. Double-click the downloaded file to open the program (it’s portable so will run without being installed). First, select a map service from the ‘Base (Required)’ dropdown menu, click Yes when prompted, then choose a map source – we chose ‘Google Maps - Map’ (see screenshot above). Next, type an address (or name of an area or city) into the Address bar, then click Search. You will see that Latitude and Longitude reference points are added to the interface (you can also enter your own if you know them). Click the Preview button to see the map you’re about to download. Once you’re happy click Browse (just above the Download button) to specify where the map is to be saved on your PC, then click Download.
Translate a foreign language Google Translate
Google Translate is a fantastic app for Android ( www.snipca. com/23759) and Apple ( www. snipca.com/23760) devices that translates spoken and written words across 103 different languages. What’s not so well known is that it can also translate an impressive 52 languages while you’re offline, provided you’ve downloaded the language you need first.
To do this, open the app and tap the menu icon (three horizontal lines at the top left), then ‘Offline translation’. Here you’ll see a list of all available languages. Those you’ve already installed will be listed first but may need updating or upgrading (click Upgrade or Update to download the latest version). Those available to add will be listed beneath these in the ‘All available languages’ section. Click the relevant arrow to download any you’d like (see screenshot above).