Grab webpages for offline viewing from an instapaper export list?

June 24, 2018 1:01 AM

Now that Instapaper has shut out EU customers stating GDPR compliance, I am worried about losing the thousands of links I have saved there. I can of course export their csv but I would like to be able to properly grab the pages so that I could read them offline and have a permanent copy on my own machines. I have looked at Wallabag but it is very flakey (refuses importing my Instapaper) . I would like it to be available from my iPad so any ios apps that would be useful would be great too What would you use to do this?
posted by mrbenn to Computers & Internet (8 answers total)

Best answer: I've never tried it but it seems relevant: Bookmark Archiver

Save an archived copy of all websites you bookmark (the actual content of each site, not just the list of bookmarks).

Can import links from:

Browser history & bookmarks (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, IE, Opera)
Pocket
Pinboard
RSS or plain text lists
Shaarli, Delicious, Instapaper, Reddit Saved Posts, Wallabag, Unmark.it, and more!

For each site, it outputs (configurable):

Browsable static HTML archive (wget)
PDF (Chrome headless)
Screenshot (Chrome headless)
DOM dump (Chrome headless)
Favicon
Submits URL to archive.org
Index summary pages: index.html & index.json

The archiving is additive, so you can schedule ./archive to run regularly and pull new links into the index. All the saved content is static and indexed with json files, so it lives forever & is easily parseable, it requires no always-running backend.

Their README lists other similar projects that may be more to your liking.
posted by Bangaioh at 2:58 AM on June 24, 2018 [1 favorite]

I would get a VPN and continue to use Instapaper.
posted by DarlingBri at 4:53 AM on June 24, 2018 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: DarlingBri - that's what I have been doing but the problem has brought home the fragility of the archive of material I have been building up over the years (decades!) so I want to be able to bring it all to a safer place
posted by mrbenn at 5:40 AM on June 24, 2018

Response by poster: Bangaioh The Bookmark Archiver looks great but sadly exposes my complete lack of knowledge on how to install/run github packages
posted by mrbenn at 6:21 AM on June 24, 2018

Instapaper customer service is super helpful, I’ve been emailing with them since it was blocked for EU users. This was their reply when I asked about downloading the links:

While the service is still accessible, please generate a save export directly at www.instapaper.com/user so you can choose your preferred formatting. Saves in your mobile apps will remain accessible as they are locally stored on the device.
posted by ellieBOA at 6:22 AM on June 24, 2018 [1 favorite]

Also, emailing saved articles to Instapaper still works, but the bookmarklet and copying to the app to save don’t.
posted by ellieBOA at 6:36 AM on June 24, 2018 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: weirdly the IOS share sheet also still works - just need to use a VPN to update the app - it is a mess and they have been very reticent to give any ETA on GDPR compliance or even IF they will be compliant
posted by mrbenn at 6:51 AM on June 24, 2018

I use Pocket and I think you can import from Instapaper.
posted by Brittanie at 3:11 PM on June 24, 2018