Browser Basics:
Subscribe

Step-by-Step: Save by Subscribing

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What you will learn:

to create a subscription to test and update a subscription to unsubscribe

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Start with:

You will practice subscribing and unsubscribing to a web page. Since you will not be leaving the subscription in place, it does not matter which page you select. However, you must be online in order to subscribe to a page.

Create a subscription

1. Scroll down the page My Home Page and click on one of the links to a web site.
    
2. After the page loads, right click on the page (but not on a hyperlink or an image) and from the popup menu select  Add to Favorites . The dialog Add Favorite opens.
    
3.  Choose the third option: Yes, notify me of updates and download the page for offline viewing
   

   The dialog is somewhat different in IE5 and later versions. Check the box Make available offline
   
    

   
   
4. Click on the Customize... button. The Subscription Wizard opens to help set the options for your subscription. You will now work through the steps in the wizard, making choices that seem suitable for this site and the way you work.
    
5. Select the default Download this page and click the Next button.
   
   It is rather risky to download all the pages that are linked unless you have looked very carefully at what they are.
    
   
6. Select No for email notification about changes in the page.
   
   
7. Select Scheduled and Daily for how often to update.

   Choosing Manually would leave control in your hands, but means you must remember to update.

   
   
8. Click the Edit… button. The dialog Customize Schedule opens.
    

   

9. Leave the settings at the default values, but carefully look at each setting to see what you could do.
    
10. Click on OK to close the dialog Customize Schedule.
    
    
11. Click on the Next button.
     

    

12. Select No, which is the default, for whether the page requires a password to view it.
     
13. Click on Finish to close the Subscription Wizard. You are back to the Add Favorite dialog. 
    
    
    
14. Watch the progress bar as the IE downloads all the files it needs for this page. The dialog closes itself and takes you back to the Add Favorites dialog.
    
    By default, the new shortcut will go in the main Favorites folder.
    
    If you wish, you can use the Create in... button to put the shortcut in a different folder, or to create a new folder.
    
    You can change the name of the shortcut by editing what is in the Name box.
    
    
15. Click on OK. You are now subscribed to the site and your new shortcut is in place.

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Test the subscription

1. On the menu, select  File  |  Work Offline . You are now working offline.

   On the status bar you will see the symbol . IE won't look at the Internet even if the computer is still connected.

   Problem: Work Offline not on File menu
   The command is not on the menu in IE5.5 and IE6 when your Home page is a file on your own computer or if you navigated to a web site from an Explorer window.
   Solution: Open a new IE window with the key combo CTRL + N. A complete explanation is at:
   http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q257693
    

2. On the Favorites menu or on the Favorites pane, click on the new shortcut you just created when you subscribed to the site. The site will load even though you are not online, as shown by the icon on the status bar.
   

    If you get a dialog that says the URL is not available offline, then the page did not finish downloading when you subscribed. Try again.

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Update the subscribed page

Since web pages change over time, you will want to update your subscribed pages, even those that do not change regularly.

If the pages you saved are important to you just as they are, look at the site yourself before updating. You might not want to overwrite your saved pages if the site has changed a lot. Newer is not always better!

Update manually instead of using the automatic scheduling if you need to  avoid overwriting such pages accidentally.

 In IE:

1. Select  File  |  Work Offline  again to remove the check mark. The status bar symbol disappears. You are connected again.
   
   
   
2. To update your subscription, choose  Favorites  |   Manage Subscriptions...  An Explorer window opens that lists all the sites to which you have subscribed.
   

    

3. If there are several sites listed, select the one to update and click the button Update on the toolbar.

   
   

   To update all of your subscriptions at once, click the button Update all or from the menu choose  Favorites  |  Update All Subscriptions . If there are several subscriptions, it can take a while to update all of them.

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 In IE5/6: 

1. Use the menu  Tools  |  Synchronize...  to open the Items to Synchronize dialog. 
   
   

2. Select the page to update.
    

3. Click the Synchronize button.
   

   To update all pages at once, select Offline Web Pages and then click the Synchronize button.

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Unsubscribe

 In IE:

1. From the menu select  Favorites  |  Manage Subscriptions... 
    
2. In the Subscriptions window, select the site you just subscribed to from the list.
    
3. Click the Delete button on the toolbar.
    
4. Select OK in the confirmation dialog.

   Your subscription is canceled and the page will not be available for offline viewing.

   
   

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 In IE5/6:

1. From the menu select  Tools  |  Synchronize... 
    
2. In the Items to Synchoronize dialog, select the site you just subscribed to from the list.
    
3. Click the Properties button.
    
4. Uncheck the box Make available offline .
    
5. Select OK to close the Properties dialog.
    
6. Click on Close to close the Items to Synchronize dialog.