WEB2CHM

WEB2CHM can prove useful in situations when you want to create local copies of a website for later viewing in offline mode or generate help files that contain website snapshots. As you might figure out from its name, it can convert any webpage into a Microsoft Compiled HTML Help file and save it locally to your computer.

Using this application shouldn't pose any problems whatsoever, since it features a straightforward interface that only includes a few accessible options. In order to use it, you simply have to enter the complete and correct URL of the webpage you want to archive and customize the output directory.

Once you press the 'Execute' button, WEB2CHM starts crawling the website's structure to five layers in depth, a process that might take more or less time, depending on the complexity of the layout and the content type.

The website's content, consisting of multiple HTML pages, local links, topics (for forums) and graphical elements (images, videos) is downloaded to a newly created folder in your user's directory. In order to save storage space, the application automatically compresses the grabbed packages. It can automatically retry the connection in case of failure.

Once the operation is complete, the application displays the total required time to finish the task, as well as the number of downloaded elements in each category. You can view the total size of the downloaded files, as well as their post-compression dimension.

The resulting CHM file is opened as soon as the download process is over, enabling you to browse the webpage without the help of a browser.

WEB2CHM is a simple way to create offline versions of a website to include them in an application's documentation. Its crawling engine is limited to five layers, so it is not a real offline browser. Even so, you can use it to continue reading an interesting article in offline mode or simply take local 'snapshots' of your favorite websites.