Wayback Machine

The Official Wayback Machine Extension - by the Internet Archive.

Wayback Machine: Internet Archive Official Browser Extension

Wayback Machine is a browser extension from the Internet Archive that lets you explore the history of the web, right from your browser. It enables users to view a website's changes over time, save the current page for future reference, and even view 'missing' pages via its 404 Not Found feature. Furthermore, it offers a wealth of useful resources, like archived books and research papers when visiting Wikipedia or Amazon Books. Access to all functionalities is possible without the need for an account, however, logging in provides additional options for a more personalized experience.

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Extension stats

By: Internet Archive

Users: 300,000+

Rating: 4.23

(290)

Version: 3.4.2 (Last updated: 2024-08-14)

Creation date: 2020-08-10

Risk impact: High risk impact

Risk likelihood:

Very low risk likelihood

Manifest version: 3

Permissions:

activeTab
cookies
contextMenus
notifications
storage
scripting
webRequest

Host permissions:

https://archive.org/*
https://*.archive.org/*
https://hypothes.is/*
<all_urls>

Size: 1.37M

Email: in*****@archive.org

URLs: Privacy policy

Ranking

# 1,309 ▼ 8

Other rankings

#54 in Tools

#1 in machine keyword 17

#25 in auto save keyword 41 ▲ 1

#26 in chrome keyword 9 ▼ 1

#28 in visited sites keyword 10

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Other platforms

Not available on Android

Wayback Machine (v3.2)

4.03

(327) 34,620+

Wayback Machine (v3.3.1)

4.80

(6) 22,246+

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Extension summary

Analyze keywords

Welcome to the Official Internet Archive Wayback Machine Browser Extension! Go back in time to see how a website has changed through the history of the Web. Save websites, view missing 404 Not Found pages, or read archived books & papers.

Most features will work without requiring an account including Save Page Now.

Some features must be enabled from Settings. Turn on Private Mode to prevent automatic sending of data and to protect your privacy while browsing.

Features

• Save Page Now - Instantly save the page you are currently viewing in the Wayback Machine. Turn on Auto Save Page in settings to save pages that have not previously been saved, or Auto Save Bookmarks to save when bookmarking a page. Works while logged out, or log in for additional options.

• Oldest, Newest & Overview - View the first version of a page or the most recently saved in the Wayback Machine. Or view a calendar overview of all archived pages. Can also use by right-clicking over a page or link.

• Wayback Machine Count - Display a count of snapshots of the current page stored in the Wayback Machine over the toolbar icon, and the date of last save in the popup.

User reviews

These summaries are automatically generated weekly using AI based on recent user reviews. Chrome Web Store does not verify user reviews, so some user reviews may be inaccurate, spammy, or outdated.

Pros

Incredibly useful tool for archiving and accessing previous versions of websites.
Convenient and reliable with various useful features like outlinks and screenshot archiving.
Easy to use and helps with research and curiosity about historical web content.
Great support from the Internet Archive in preserving digital history.

Cons

Frequent issues with saving pages, including 'Save Failed' errors and needing to log in even when already logged in.
Problems with certain pages not rendering correctly or being inaccessible due to server issues.
Extension may soon be unsupported due to not following best practices for Chrome extensions.

Most mentioned

Errors when trying to archive pages.
Issues with being logged in but not able to use the save feature.
Downtime and performance problems related to DDoS attacks affecting functionality.

User reviews

I really liked this extension but I still get errors when trying to archive. Are the servers up yet for this extension? I had to go to the archive site and save manually :(

Darrell Johnson, 2024-12-11

Question? First off, I just want to say how much I love the Wayback Machine. It's an incredibly useful tool, and I’m grateful for all the effort you put into making it great. I still rate it 5 stars without hesitation! I have a small issue, though. On certain domains, some pages aren't fully rendering and instead show example text like the one below. Interestingly, the same site used to render correctly in the past. "family:"Verdana", sans-serif;font-style:normal;font-weight:700;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;font-variant:normal;font-size:5.3px;vertical-align:0; } .P-3 { text-align:center;line-height:1px;font-family:"Verdana", sans-serif;font-style:normal;font-weight:700;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-variant:normal;font-size:19.0px;vertical-align:0; } .C-3 { line-height:23.00px;font-family:"Verdana", sans-serif;font-style:normal;font-weight:700;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:underline;font-" Will this be corrected in the future? Thank you so much for your attention to this matter. I appreciate all the hard work you do

Yes Go, 2024-11-24

The extension seems like its working but auto-save and manually saving a page results in "Save Failed" error, making me go to the website directly to save a page.