Save a receipt / webpage

Ever been on a webpage and your printer is not on, just happens to not be working, or you simply don't have on on the computer you are on and you need to save the receipt or webpage you are looking at for later reference?

In case you're thinking, well I'll just bookmark it, those readers who have tried that before know that will not work on the final pages of a checkout process or a ticket purchase most of the time. Rather than get into why that is, lets see what some solutions might be:

• Save the webpage as a PDF
• Save the webpage in HTML
• Copy & Paste Method
  

Save the webpage as a PDF

Saving it as a PDF is absolutely the best option IF you happen to have the full Adobe Acrobat ($449) or the FREE PDF995 software (however its a bit harder to get all setup).

The nice part of using PDFs is that what you see (or more accurately, what you print) is what you will store, exactly. And PDFs open using very common (and free) software called Adobe Acrobat Reader that is on or can be easily obtained for most computers.

The drawback is that you have to have specialized software to create the PDF, and software to read it / print it later.

If you have PDF995 or Adobe Acrobat Professional installed, either will have added a virtual printer to your computer which you can print the webpage to by going to the File menu in your browser, selecting Print, then selecting the PDF virtual printer and clicking OK / Print.

Both PDF creators will show a dialog of options and/or ask for the filename you want to save the PDF under after the OK / Print button has been pressed, simply choose the name for the file (if applicable) and click OK on the following dialog's buttons.

Save the webpage in HTML

Well you're on a web page, might as well save it as a webpage, right? Well, no not always. Some webpages have special content, javascript, Flash, or embedded data that may not work properly when saved as an HTML. Now the majority of web pages will work, and because of this I mention it, but before you assume it worked, check first.

In Firefox:
When you are on the wbepage you want to save for later consumption click File on the menu bar then select Save Page As... from the menu, make sure Web Page, Complete is selected in the Save As Type area and type the name you want to use. The browser will save the HTML and all of the associated images and files into a folder. Try opening that HTML file BEFORE leaving the webpage incase you need to try a simple copy & paste.

In Internet Explorer 7:
When you are on the webpage you want to save for later consumption choose the Page drop down on the toolbar on the right side near the top of the window to the left of Tools then choose Save As from the menu. Make sure that Web Page, Complete is selected in the Save As Type area and type the name you want to use. The browser will save the HTML and all of the associated images and files into a folder. Try opening that HTML file BEFORE leaving the webpage incase you need to try a simple copy & paste.

Copy & Paste Method

This method can get the data out of the screen but can loose all formatting or all images depending on the target of the copy and paste.

If you want the majority of the page and you have Microsoft Word try this:

1. When on the webpage you want, press CTRL + A (Select All)
2. Then press CTRL + C (Copy)
3. Then go to Microsoft Word, create a new blank document
4. Place cursor in document and press CTRL + V (Paste)

If you want to retain only the text (like a confirmation number, details, etc) and formatting is not important or you do NOT have Microsoft Word, then click Start and choose Run OR press WINDOWS KEY + R and type notepad and press ENTER. Then follow steps 1-2 above and go to the Notepad window and follow step 4.