[GH-ISSUE #930] Clarify admin UI button behavior + document the details of how they behave

kerem commented

2026-03-14 23:39:14 +03:00

Owner

Originally created by @meonkeys on GitHub (Feb 16, 2022).
Original GitHub issue: https://github.com/ArchiveBox/ArchiveBox/issues/930

Hi there! Just had a few questions.

What does "title" do in the web UI? It appears to re-try fetching headers, favicon, and HTML title for content at a URL -- is that correct?
What does "pull" do in the web UI?
How about if we added tooltips (HTML title attributes) to the "title", "pull", "re-snapshot", "reset", and "delete" buttons to /admin/core/snapshot/ in the web UI? I couldn't find an existing issue for this. I'm happy to file one and help out.
Say I used re-snapshot a bunch of days in a row. Is there some easy way to see/list all the versions I've snapshotted for a particular URL? When I click "History" on the admin page for a snapshot, it says "This object doesn’t have a change history. It probably wasn’t added via this admin site.". I saw #179 so I'm guessing this isn't implemented yet.
Sometimes when I visit the index page for a snapshot, my browser (Firefox) starts automatically downloading an output.pdf file. Why? example archivebox snapshot index page showing this behavior
~~Is there any way to strip ads and trackers?~~ found #211 , awesome!

Thank you, -Adam

Originally created by @meonkeys on GitHub (Feb 16, 2022). Original GitHub issue: https://github.com/ArchiveBox/ArchiveBox/issues/930 Hi there! Just had a few questions. 1. What does "title" do in the web UI? It appears to re-try fetching headers, favicon, and HTML title for content at a URL -- is that correct? 2. What does "pull" do in the web UI? 3. How about if we added tooltips (HTML `title` attributes) to the "title", "pull", "re-snapshot", "reset", and "delete" buttons to `/admin/core/snapshot/` in the web UI? I couldn't find an existing issue for this. I'm happy to file one and help out. 4. Say I used re-snapshot a bunch of days in a row. Is there some easy way to see/list all the versions I've snapshotted for a particular URL? When I click "History" on the admin page for a snapshot, it says "This object doesn’t have a change history. It probably wasn’t added via this admin site.". I saw #179 so I'm guessing this isn't implemented yet. 5. Sometimes when I visit the index page for a snapshot, my browser (Firefox) starts automatically downloading an `output.pdf` file. Why? [example archivebox snapshot index page showing this behavior](https://arc.bitma.st/archive/1645513427.445168/index.html) 6. ~~Is there any way to strip ads and trackers?~~ found #211 , awesome! Thank you, -Adam

kerem

2026-03-14 23:39:14 +03:00

closed this issue
added the
why: functionality

status: idea-phase

expected: maybe someday

touches: docs

size: easy

help wanted

touches: js
labels

kerem commented

2026-03-14 23:39:30 +03:00

Author

Owner

@akhilleusuggo commented on GitHub (Feb 17, 2022):

How about if we added tooltips (HTML title attributes) to the "title", "pull", "re-snapshot", "reset", and "delete" buttons to /admin/core/snapshot/ in the web UI? I couldn't find an existing issue for this. I'm happy to file one and help out.

-Title : Pull the title ( redownload if it was missing, or the title has changed )

-Pull: Download missing/failed outputs/extractors methods ( pdf, wget... etc). Maybe because download failed or interrupted by a reboot or something. This is the default behavior when you add new URL, they will get pulled automatically. https://github.com/ArchiveBox/ArchiveBox#output-formats

-Re-snapshot: As the name suggests, re-download the page as a separated unique page. Not the same as pull, this one will create a separate entry, and the page is treated as a new URL ending with the date and time #2020-10-24-08:00 https://github.com/ArchiveBox/ArchiveBox#saving-multiple-snapshots-of-a-single-url

-Reset: Delete all type of output and redownload them. In the contrary of snapshot, this will overwrite the files.

@akhilleusuggo commented on GitHub (Feb 17, 2022): > How about if we added tooltips (HTML title attributes) to the "title", "pull", "re-snapshot", "reset", and "delete" buttons to /admin/core/snapshot/ in the web UI? I couldn't find an existing issue for this. I'm happy to file one and help out. -Title : Pull the title ( redownload if it was missing, or the title has changed ) -Pull: Download missing/failed outputs/extractors methods ( pdf, wget... etc). Maybe because download failed or interrupted by a reboot or something. This is the default behavior when you add new URL, they will get pulled automatically. https://github.com/ArchiveBox/ArchiveBox#output-formats -Re-snapshot: As the name suggests, re-download the page as a separated unique page. Not the same as pull, this one will create a separate entry, and the page is treated as a new URL ending with the date and time `#2020-10-24-08:00` https://github.com/ArchiveBox/ArchiveBox#saving-multiple-snapshots-of-a-single-url -Reset: Delete all type of output and redownload them. In the contrary of snapshot, this will **_overwrite_** the files.

kerem commented

2026-03-14 23:39:35 +03:00

Author

Owner

@meonkeys commented on GitHub (Feb 17, 2022):

I added your documentation to https://github.com/ArchiveBox/ArchiveBox/wiki/Usage#explanation-of-buttons-in-the-web-ui---admin-snapshots-list ! I hope this is OK.

@meonkeys commented on GitHub (Feb 17, 2022): I added your documentation to https://github.com/ArchiveBox/ArchiveBox/wiki/Usage#explanation-of-buttons-in-the-web-ui---admin-snapshots-list ! I hope this is OK.

kerem commented

2026-03-14 23:39:40 +03:00

Author

Owner

@meonkeys commented on GitHub (Feb 24, 2022):

Any thoughts on 5 above (output.pdf)?

@meonkeys commented on GitHub (Feb 24, 2022): Any thoughts on 5 above (`output.pdf`)?

kerem commented

2026-03-14 23:39:45 +03:00

Author

Owner

@akhilleusuggo commented on GitHub (Feb 25, 2022):

Maybe you browser doesn't support PDF and needs to download it since it can't open it. ( I don't think is the reason but it could be )

But I don't understand what do you mean by

Sometimes when I visit the index page for a snapshot

If you browser does support PDF reading then should not be any problem. Tweak this settings. Must be set to open in firefox

@akhilleusuggo commented on GitHub (Feb 25, 2022): Maybe you browser doesn't support PDF and needs to download it since it can't open it. ( I don't think is the reason but it could be ) But I don't understand what do you mean by > Sometimes when I visit the index page for a snapshot If you browser does support PDF reading then should not be any problem. Tweak this settings. Must be set to open in firefox ![image](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/52116577/155701627-20723317-4f43-4741-9e9f-2cfd637b31c6.png)

kerem commented

2026-03-14 23:39:50 +03:00

Author

Owner

@meonkeys commented on GitHub (Feb 25, 2022):

Oh dangit, you're right!

For posterity: it looks like Firefox must indeed be configured to open PDFs in Firefox (as opposed to the other options: Always ask, Save File, etc) for this to work properly. On a snapshot index page, the PDF viewer tries to open the PDF in an iframe. If Firefox is set to Save File, the iframe instead ends up triggering a file download of output.pdf.

@meonkeys commented on GitHub (Feb 25, 2022): Oh dangit, you're right! For posterity: it looks like Firefox must indeed be configured to open PDFs in Firefox (as opposed to the other options: Always ask, Save File, etc) for this to work properly. On a snapshot index page, the PDF viewer tries to open the PDF in an iframe. If Firefox is set to Save File, the iframe instead ends up triggering a file download of `output.pdf`.

kerem commented

2026-03-14 23:39:55 +03:00

Author

Owner

@pirate commented on GitHub (Mar 9, 2023):

Considering re-naming these buttons for clarity + updating the tooltip help text that appears on hover:

⬇️ Title -> Get title (Make an initial request to fetch the page's title, headers, and response code)
Pull -> Resume (Resume archiving a snapshot that was interrupted during archiving / retry any methods that failed to produce output on the first try)
Re-Snapshot -> Re-Snapshot URL (Create a new separate snapshot of this URL and archive it from scratch as it appears right now)
Reset -> - just going to remove this button I think, I don't think it's that useful and you can accomplish it with Re-Snapshot + Delete on the original
Delete -> stays the same

Open to suggestions. The difficulty is that I have to keep these really short to fit them in the UI nicely (especially for smaller screen sizes), otherwise it would be easy to give them long descriptive names.

@pirate commented on GitHub (Mar 9, 2023): Considering re-naming these buttons for clarity + updating the tooltip help text that appears on hover: - `⬇️ Title` -> `Get title` (Make an initial request to fetch the page's title, headers, and response code) - `Pull` -> `Resume` (Resume archiving a snapshot that was interrupted during archiving / retry any methods that failed to produce output on the first try) - `Re-Snapshot` -> `Re-Snapshot URL` (Create a new separate snapshot of this URL and archive it from scratch as it appears right now) - `Reset` -> `-` just going to remove this button I think, I don't think it's that useful and you can accomplish it with Re-Snapshot + Delete on the original - `Delete` -> stays the same Open to suggestions. The difficulty is that I have to keep these really short to fit them in the UI nicely (especially for smaller screen sizes), otherwise it would be easy to give them long descriptive names.

kerem commented

2026-03-14 23:40:00 +03:00

Author

Owner

@meonkeys commented on GitHub (Mar 20, 2023):

What if you we left ⬇️ Title as-is, but added a long tooltip? We could use long, descriptive text in the tooltip: exactly what you wrote in parens. So ⬇️ Title stays the same, but when you hover over it you see Make an initial request to fetch the page's title, headers, and response code.

Renaming Pull to Resume sounds great, as does getting rid of Reset.

Resume tooltip: Resume archiving a snapshot that was interrupted during archiving / retry any methods that failed to produce output on the first try.

Re-Snapshot seems fine as-is, especially if it gets the tooltip Create a new separate snapshot of this URL and archive it from scratch as it appears right now.

Delete seems clear as-is, without a tooltip.

@meonkeys commented on GitHub (Mar 20, 2023): What if you we left <kbd>⬇️ Title</kbd> as-is, but added a long tooltip? We could use long, descriptive text in the tooltip: exactly what you wrote in parens. So <kbd>⬇️ Title</kbd> stays the same, but when you hover over it you see `Make an initial request to fetch the page's title, headers, and response code`. Renaming <kbd>Pull</kbd> to <kbd>Resume</kbd> sounds great, as does getting rid of <kbd>Reset</kbd>. <kbd>Resume</kbd> tooltip: `Resume archiving a snapshot that was interrupted during archiving / retry any methods that failed to produce output on the first try`. <kbd>Re-Snapshot</kbd> seems fine as-is, especially if it gets the tooltip `Create a new separate snapshot of this URL and archive it from scratch as it appears right now`. <kbd>Delete</kbd> seems clear as-is, without a tooltip.

kerem commented

2026-03-14 23:40:05 +03:00

Author

Owner

@huyz commented on GitHub (Aug 5, 2024):

I've also been confused by the current terminology, which always made me think too hard.

So to experiment, I created a user script (for Violentmonkey or Tampermonkey) with new terminology.

If you might want to try it out

// ==UserScript==
// @name        ArchiveBox: rename action buttons
// @namespace   Violentmonkey Scripts
// @match       *://archivebox.mydomain/*
// @grant       none
// @version     1.0
// @author      -
// @description 8/2/2024, 9:05:21 AM
// ==/UserScript==

window.addEventListener('load', function() {
  if (!$) {
    return;
  }

  $('button[name="update_titles"]').text('⬇️ Get Title').attr('title', 'Fetch only the title and favicon.');
  $('button[name="update_snapshots"]').text('⏯️ Get Missing').attr('title', 'Finish the Snapshot, fetching any missing or failed outputs formats');
  const $replicate = $('button[name="resnapshot_snapshot"]').text('🆕 Replicate').attr('title', 'Create and fetch a new separate snapshot with the same URL');
  $('button[name="overwrite_snapshots"]').text('🔁 Redo').attr('title', 'Overwrite the existing snapshot files and re-fetch').insertBefore($replicate);
  $('button[name="delete_snapshots"]').text('💀 Delete').attr('title', 'Delete the snapshot and its files');

  // Simplify page title
  const $document = $(document);
  const title = $document.attr('title');
  if (title === 'Select snapshot to change | Index | ArchiveBox') {
    $document.attr('title', 'ArchiveBox');
  } else if (title === 'Select Tag to change | Index | ArchiveBox') {
    $document.attr('title', 'ArchiveBox tags');
  } else if (title === 'Select archive result to change | Index | ArchiveBox') {
    $document.attr('title', 'ArchiveBox log');
  } else if (title === 'Archived Sites') {
    $document.attr('title', 'ArchiveBox - public');
  }
});

Also, please don't get rid of Reset (which I call Redo) as it's my most commonly-used button.

@huyz commented on GitHub (Aug 5, 2024): I've also been confused by the current terminology, which always made me think too hard. So to experiment, I created a user script (for Violentmonkey or Tampermonkey) with new terminology. If you might want to try it out ```js // ==UserScript== // @name ArchiveBox: rename action buttons // @namespace Violentmonkey Scripts // @match *://archivebox.mydomain/* // @grant none // @version 1.0 // @author - // @description 8/2/2024, 9:05:21 AM // ==/UserScript== window.addEventListener('load', function() { if (!$) { return; } $('button[name="update_titles"]').text('⬇️ Get Title').attr('title', 'Fetch only the title and favicon.'); $('button[name="update_snapshots"]').text('⏯️ Get Missing').attr('title', 'Finish the Snapshot, fetching any missing or failed outputs formats'); const $replicate = $('button[name="resnapshot_snapshot"]').text('🆕 Replicate').attr('title', 'Create and fetch a new separate snapshot with the same URL'); $('button[name="overwrite_snapshots"]').text('🔁 Redo').attr('title', 'Overwrite the existing snapshot files and re-fetch').insertBefore($replicate); $('button[name="delete_snapshots"]').text('💀 Delete').attr('title', 'Delete the snapshot and its files'); // Simplify page title const $document = $(document); const title = $document.attr('title'); if (title === 'Select snapshot to change | Index | ArchiveBox') { $document.attr('title', 'ArchiveBox'); } else if (title === 'Select Tag to change | Index | ArchiveBox') { $document.attr('title', 'ArchiveBox tags'); } else if (title === 'Select archive result to change | Index | ArchiveBox') { $document.attr('title', 'ArchiveBox log'); } else if (title === 'Archived Sites') { $document.attr('title', 'ArchiveBox - public'); } }); ``` ![screenshot 2024-08-05T131656Z@2x](https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/e4a7e0f3-3f28-4b09-95ff-72669a5e0350) Also, please don't get rid of `Reset` (which I call `Redo`) as it's my most commonly-used button.

kerem commented

2026-03-14 23:40:10 +03:00

Author

Owner

@pirate commented on GitHub (Aug 5, 2024):

Thanks for contributing! I've never liked the names I came up with for these buttons and yours are way better. I'll incorporate these into the next release 👌😊

@pirate commented on GitHub (Aug 5, 2024): Thanks for contributing! I've never liked the names I came up with for these buttons and yours are way better. I'll incorporate these into the next release 👌😊

kerem commented

2026-03-14 23:40:15 +03:00

Author

Owner

@pirate commented on GitHub (Sep 6, 2024):

This is done in v0.8.3-rc! https://github.com/ArchiveBox/ArchiveBox/releases/tag/v0.8.3-rc

There are also new success/error banners that show after you click the buttons, (and the tasks now run the background instead of blocking the response and timing out sometimes).

@pirate commented on GitHub (Sep 6, 2024): This is done in v0.8.3-rc! https://github.com/ArchiveBox/ArchiveBox/releases/tag/v0.8.3-rc ![Screenshot 2024-09-06 at 3 22 01 AM Get Title Get Missing Archive again](https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/bbe08dec-1440-4dae-b7de-d0ffdf6040a8) There are also new success/error banners that show after you click the buttons, (and the tasks now run the background instead of blocking the response and timing out sometimes).

Rows
Columns

[GH-ISSUE #930] Clarify admin UI button behavior + document the details of how they behave #3599