We will use an experimental feature of chrome browser to make website available for offline use.
When we type any URL and press enter in the address bar, the resources contained in the website i.e. images, style sheets, javascript, HTML files, etc. are saved in the browser’s cache memory, and the website opens.
Every time a new change is there in the site, a new cache is loaded in the browser and thus refreshing the site. If nothing has changed, then we can use the preloaded cache to view the website.
Hence, we can use the Flags options in chrome browser to make any website available offline we have already visited that site when we were online.
How to use chrome to make website offline
A built-in feature of chrome allows us to view the cached version of the website we have already visited when we were online.
But there is a precaution before using it. These options are for experimental purpose only. By enabling these features, you could lose browser data or compromise your security or privacy. This is the precautionary note offered by the chrome itself.
So lets go ahead with enabling the Show Saved Copy button.
Open google chrome and enter the following in the address bar.
chrome://flags/#show-saved-copy
This will open the flag features of chrome. At the very first option, you can see the Show Saved Copy Button.
By default, the settings for this option is always set to off i.e. default. This means, the resources of websites are downloaded to the browsers cache memory, but you can not see the offline version of the website by default.
In order to make website available offline, you need to set the option to Enable.
To enable this option, click on the drop-down menu and select Enable: Primary.
After you select the option, you need to restart the chrome in order to take effects the changes. The chrome will take effects the changes next time you relaunch it.
Now, you have set the settings to view the website offline. But before you can see any website in offline mode, you need to make them available by visiting them in online mode and let the resources download in the cache of browser.
When you are offline and visited a website, the first page that you see is like this.
It shows you that there is no internet connection and hence it can’t open the webpage. But there is a button below labeled Show Saved Copy. This is the option that we have enabled to view the cached version of the webpage.
Click on Show Saved Copy to see the cached version. If the website or webpage is cached correctly, you can see the webpage, or you can see an error.
The above picture describes that the cached or saved version of the website was unreadable by the browser. This means either the cache is not properly downloaded or they are outdated.
If you have enabled the primary option, you will see the Show saved copy button on the left side and the reload button on the right. It is the opposite for the secondary option.
The bottom line is that, when we open the cached version of the website, it is always the last changed version and not the latest version of the website. Hence we are viewing the previous changes in the website. But it is helpful for websites those are not updated frequently and we can see and read the content through its cached version using this method.
We’ve learned how to make website available offline using one of the built in features of chrome. There are other methods using which we can save websites for offline use.
We hope you enjoyed reading the article and found it useful and informative. Let us know your suggestion regarding it in the comment section.