Capture Queue & Duplicates

Every capture runs through a queue, so you can line up as many pages as you like and keep using the app. A status bar at the bottom edge shows what's happening.

The capture queue

The status bar shows up to five captures at once, each with the page title, its host, a progress bar and the current phase. Captures run one after another; queued ones wait their turn. When everything is done, the bar disappears by itself.

Capture phases

A capture goes through several phases, visible live in the queue row:

1. Loading: the page is opened in the invisible capture browser.
2. Waiting for content: dynamic pages get time to render.
3. Lazy loading: the engine scrolls so images and sections that load on demand actually appear.
4. Network idle: waits until the page has stopped fetching resources.
5. Cookie consent: consent banners are detected and handled.
6. Inlining: styles, fonts and images are embedded into the archive.
7. Saving: the finished file lands in your library.

Row actions: retry, cancel, fix

Depending on its state, each row offers actions:

• Cancel / Remove: stop a running capture or clear a finished row.
• Retry: run a failed capture again.
• Fix / Open Browser: appears when a consent wall blocked the content (see Logins & Cookies).
• Save Duplicate: appears when the page turned out to be one you already archived (see below).

Duplicate detection

WebsiteArchiver checks new captures against your library:

• Before capturing: if the URL is already in your library, a dialog asks whether to save a duplicate anyway or cancel. On macOS you can choose "Don't ask again".
• During capture: some duplicates only become visible after redirects (short links, tracking URLs, moved pages). These are caught in the queue: the row is marked as a duplicate and offers Save Duplicate if you want a second copy.

Prefer no questions at all? Enable Settings → Capture → Save duplicates without asking.

Background capture on iOS iOS

On iPhone and iPad, captures don't need the app to stay in front:

• Switching to another app? The capture keeps running in the background until it finishes.
• If iOS gets tight on memory during a heavy page, the capture is automatically re-queued and retried.