Monday, November 11, 2013

Back Up Google Blogger

BACK UP GOOGLE BLOGGER
With FireFox browser, you can back up your Google blogger blog spot - it will be a semi-automated process to capture up to seven blogs at a time. The backup offered by Google is for the template or a coded format which may or may not not serve your purposes in the future if you need a standalone file that can be restored with all content. Is there something easier?

There are several ways to do this but we first chose a simple approach using Print and PDF. We want to preserve the content, including the text, photos, and general layout.

Example of a Print PDF format file save. Pages are auto created.
1) Create a folder for the backup, view blog, print, save as PDF, name the file, choose the location, and save the file. The blog will show/ contain a certain number of blogs at one time, at view option chosen when the blog was originally set up. It is suggested to change this to a higher number. This number will become the number of blogs shown at one time and determines the numbers of posts that the backup will contain. Obviously it becomes less of a task (fewer saved backup files) when making this a higher number. Try 10 or more.

Now you will have a PDF file with the text and photos of all seven blogs. However, the photos will not be full size or at the highest resolution of the blog site. You will need to scroll down to each photo, click on it, it will appear at its largest size, now drag the photo to the folder to save it. This works on the OSX Mac. On a PC, a mouse right click or command may be required.

Repeat this with every photo. Now you will have a complete content backup of seven blogs. Click on your index to see the next seven blogs and repeat. If the blog is large, with many entries, it may take some time to catch up. The PDF file will most likely preserve the original layout and appearance of the blog. (The other options, listed below, may not do this)

Remember to save the PDF application. It may need installation in the future. If there is no guarantee your computer type will exist, save the app in several computer formats for several OS. Be sure to provide text read-me files labeling everything.

This is not the only way to make a backup. The next way is to save the page.

2) Create a folder for the backup, go to File, Save Page As, give it a name and location, save it as all options, such as Web Page, Complete, Web Page, HTML Only, and Text Only. Again, the full size photos will need to be viewed and save. We recommend saving in all three formats to better assure the survival of your blog site.

Perhaps the best way to guarantee the most likely chance of restoration in the future is to save the blog using both 1 & 2 and saving all formats. It will take some time if the blog entries are voluminous but in the long run, you will have a backup to help you sleep better at night.

3) Do the checking. Your folder should have the page saved in all formats available: pdf, text, html, web page, and individual full size photos. Optionally some browsers allow showing/viewing the page in the original coding HTML and this could be saved as well.