Does the downloader download complete websites?

I’m a bit puzzled by the apparent ability of the File > Import > Website capability to download an entire site.

When I do so, any link in an HTML file seems to point back to the originating page on the server (not to something like file:///Users/me/[path]/page.html).

The files are downloaded (and optionally imported) but not modified at all.

Ah, I think I see the answer from the manual, under “import”:

Website: Opens the Download Manager and downloads a complete web page/site for archiving and offline viewing. Make sure the download options are set correctly, especially the options that define which links DEVONthink should follow (if any). All links within the site are modified so that they point to the downloaded images or other embedded objects. This ensures that the page/site can be displayed at any time.

But if I mouse over a link, the address at the top still shows as if it’s the online address. Is it really pointing locally, so that clicking a link accesses the local file that’s been downloaded?

No, this seems to be a glitch of the help.

But DEVONthink does actually lookup the URL (no matter whether local or remote) inside its database(s) and use it.

So it’s not pointing locally, but to the online file?

I may be fairly slow this morning or something, but I can’t help thinking: what’s the point, then? It’s just acting like a browser.

The links are the original ones…

…but the downloaded copies are used for rendering (and of course you can process/edit the files).

How do you set this up? I’m not seeing that behavior. Clicking a link always tries to connect to the server - it doesn’t use the downloaded copy.

Where did you exactly click on what kind of link? In addition, in case of dynamic websites scripts might still download additional resources.

eg. i tried to download “Mac Automation Scripting Guide” from

with option subdirectory (complete), 229 files downloaded, but no way to browse offline.

Thanks. I just fixed two site-specific issues and am now able to view the downloaded pages while offline.