View source for Offline reader

{{short description|Computer software}}
An '''offline reader''' (sometimes called an '''offline browser''' or '''offline navigator''') is [[computer software]] that downloads [[e-mail]], [[newsgroup]] posts or [[web page]]s, making them available when the computer is [[Online and offline|offline]]: not connected to a server.{{efn|This includes the user not being connected to a dialup server, not having [[Internet]] access and a server on the Internet that is unavailable.}}  Offline readers are useful for [[portable computer]]s and [[dial-up access]].

==Variations==

===Website-mirroring software===

'''Website mirroring software''' is software that allows for the download of a copy of an entire [[website]] to the local hard disk for [[offline browsing]]. In effect, the downloaded copy serves as a [[mirror website|mirror]] of the original site. [[Web crawler]] software such as [[Wget]] can be used to generate a site mirror.

===Offline mail and news readers===
{{See also|Email client|Newsreader (Usenet)}}
'''Offline mail readers''' are [[computer program]]s that allow users to read [[electronic mail]] or other messages (for example, those on [[bulletin board systems]]) with a minimum of connection time to the server storing the messages. BBS [[Server (computing)|server]]s accomplished this by packaging up multiple messages into a [[Data compression|compressed]] file, e.g., a [[QWK (file format)|QWK]] packet, for the user to download using, e.g., [[Xmodem]], [[Ymodem]], [[Zmodem]], and then disconnect. The user reads and replies to the messages locally and packages up and uploads any replies or new messages back to the server upon the next connection. Internet mail servers using [[POP3]] or [[IMAP4]] send the messages uncompressed as part of the protocol, and outbound messages using [[SMTP]] are also uncompressed. '''Offline news readers''' using [[NNTP]] are similar, but the messages are organized into news groups.

<!-- Internet e-mail is store and forward, not online. -->Most e-mail protocols, like the common [[Post Office Protocol|POP]]3 and [[IMAP]]4 used for [[internet]] mail, need be on-line only during message transfer; the same applies to the [[NNTP]] protocol used by [[Usenet]] (Network news).  Most end-user mailers, such as [[Outlook Express]] and [[AOL]], can be used offline even if they are mainly intended to be used online, but some mailers such as [[Juno Online Services|Juno]] are mainly intended to be used offline.

Off-line mail readers are generally considered to be those systems that did not originally offer such functionality, notably on [[bulletin board system]]s where toll charges and tying up telephone lines were a major concern. Users of large networks such as [[FidoNet]] regularly used offline mail readers, and it was also used for [[UseNet]] messages on the internet, which is also an on-line system. The two most common formats for FidoNet BBS's were Blue Wave and [[QWK (file format)|QWK]]. Less well-known examples include Silver Xpress's [[FidoNet|OPX]], XRS, OMEN, [[SOUP (file format)|SOUP]] and [[ZipMail]].

==List==
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Name !! Publisher !! License !! Platform !!
|-
| Golden CommPass (GCP) || Creative Systems Programming Corporation || Paid || OS/2 || {{efn|Mail reader for Compuserve|name=CIS}}
|-
| Hamster || Mathias Dolidon || [[Free software]] || Windows, Linux, OS X, Unix || <ref>{{cite web|url=https://github.com/mdolidon/hamster |title=Hamster : hoard the web |publisher=github.com |date=2018-01-04 |access-date=2018-01-04}}</ref>
|-
| [[HTTrack]] || HTTrack.com || [[Free software]] || Windows, Linux, OS X, Unix || <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.httrack.com/ |title=HTTrack Website Copier - Free Software Offline Browser (GNU GPL) |publisher=Httrack.com |date=2012-06-23 |access-date=2012-07-07}}</ref>
|-
| [[Leecher (computing)|Leech]] || Universal Commerce, Issaquah || [[Shareware]] || Windows|| <ref>{{cite web |title=Aeria Leech |url=http://www.aeria.com:80/ |website=www.aeria.com |access-date=5 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19991116060314/http://www.aeria.com/ |archive-date=16 November 1999 |quote=Leech is a high-speed offline web browser for Windows 95/98/NT that downloads web site content to your hard drive. |url-status=live }}</ref>
|-
| MR/2 || Knight Writer Software Company || [[Shareware]] || OS/2 || {{efn|BBS reader|name=BBS}}
|-
| MR/2 PM || Knight Writer Software Company || [[Shareware]] || OS/2 || {{efn|name=BBS}}
|-
| MR/2 ICE || Secant<br>Alphacat || [[Shareware]] || OS/2<br>Windows || {{efn|Internet mail and news reader}}
|-
| GoldED || Odinn Sørensen  || [[GPL]] || DOS || {{efn|Fidonet mail reader<ref>https://www.gsp.com/cgi-bin/man.cgi?topic=GOLDED</ref>}}
|-
|Off Line Xpress || Mustang Software, Inc. || Paid || [[DOS]] || {{efn|The free test subset of OLX is called Off Line Xpress - Test Drive (OLX-TD)}}
|-
| [[ScrapBook]] || [[Mozilla Add-ons]] || [[Freeware]] || Cross-platform || <ref>{{cite web |author=Gomita |url=https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/scrapbook/ |title=ScrapBook :: Add-ons for Firefox |publisher=Addons.mozilla.org |date=2012-04-03 |access-date=2012-07-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120501205048/https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/scrapbook/ |archive-date=2012-05-01 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
|-
|[[CompuServe#TapCIS|TapCIS]] || CompuServe Information Service (CIS) || [[Shareware]] || DOS || {{efn|name=CIS}}
|-
|Offline Explorer
|Metaproducts
|Paid
|Windows
|<ref>{{Cite web|title=Offline Explorer Enterprise - MetaProducts|url=https://metaproducts.com/products/offline-explorer-enterprise|access-date=2021-06-20|website=metaproducts.com}}</ref>
|}

==See also==
*[[Online and offline]]
*[[Cache manifest in HTML5]] (deprecated in favor of [[Progressive_web_application#Service_workers|service workers]])
*[[Progressive web application]]
*[[Kiwix]], Wikipedia offline reader
*[[WebWhacker]]
*[[Comparison of software saving Web pages for offline use]]

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== External links==

{{Commonscat}}
* {{cite web | last=Systems | first=Pocket| title=Offline Browser| website=getpocket.com| date=2023-11-23 | url=https://getpocket.com/apps/| access-date=2023-12-26}}

{{web browsers}}

[[Category:Email]]
[[Category:Web applications]]
[[Category:Offline mail readers| ]]


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