# Offline reader

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Computer software

An **offline reader** (sometimes called an **offline browser** or **offline navigator**) is [computer software](/source/Computer_software) that downloads [e-mail](/source/E-mail), [newsgroup](/source/Newsgroup) posts or [web pages](/source/Web_page), making them available when the computer is [offline](/source/Online_and_offline): not connected to a server.[a] Offline readers are useful for [portable computers](/source/Portable_computer) and [dial-up access](/source/Dial-up_access).

## Variations

### Website-mirroring software

**Website mirroring software** is software that allows for the download of a copy of an entire [website](/source/Website) to the local hard disk for [offline browsing](/source/Offline_browsing). In effect, the downloaded copy serves as a [mirror](/source/Mirror_website) of the original site. [Web crawler](/source/Web_crawler) software such as [Wget](/source/Wget) can be used to generate a site mirror.

### Offline mail and news readers

See also: [Email client](/source/Email_client) and [Newsreader (Usenet)](/source/Newsreader_(Usenet))

**Offline mail readers** are [computer programs](/source/Computer_program) that allow users to read [electronic mail](/source/Electronic_mail) or other messages (for example, those on [bulletin board systems](/source/Bulletin_board_systems)) with a minimum of connection time to the server storing the messages. BBS [servers](/source/Server_(computing)) accomplished this by packaging up multiple messages into a [compressed](/source/Data_compression) file, e.g., a [QWK](/source/QWK_(file_format)) packet, for the user to download using, e.g., [Xmodem](/source/Xmodem), [Ymodem](/source/Ymodem), [Zmodem](/source/Zmodem), and then disconnect. The user reads and replies to the messages locally and packages up and uploads any replies or new messages back to the server upon the next connection. Internet mail servers using [POP3](/source/POP3) or [IMAP4](/source/IMAP4) send the messages uncompressed as part of the protocol, and outbound messages using [SMTP](/source/SMTP) are also uncompressed. **Offline news readers** using [NNTP](/source/NNTP) are similar, but the messages are organized into news groups.

Most e-mail protocols, like the common [POP](/source/Post_Office_Protocol)3 and [IMAP](/source/IMAP)4 used for [internet](/source/Internet) mail, need be on-line only during message transfer; the same applies to the [NNTP](/source/NNTP) protocol used by [Usenet](/source/Usenet) (Network news). Most end-user mailers, such as [Outlook Express](/source/Outlook_Express) and [AOL](/source/AOL), can be used offline even if they are mainly intended to be used online, but some mailers such as [Juno](/source/Juno_Online_Services) are mainly intended to be used offline.

Off-line mail readers are generally considered to be those systems that did not originally offer such functionality, notably on [bulletin board systems](/source/Bulletin_board_system) where toll charges and tying up telephone lines were a major concern. Users of large networks such as [FidoNet](/source/FidoNet) regularly used offline mail readers, and it was also used for [UseNet](/source/UseNet) messages on the internet, which is also an on-line system. The two most common formats for FidoNet BBS's were Blue Wave and [QWK](/source/QWK_(file_format)). Less well-known examples include Silver Xpress's [OPX](/source/FidoNet), XRS, OMEN, [SOUP](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=SOUP_(file_format)&action=edit&redlink=1) and [ZipMail](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=ZipMail&action=edit&redlink=1).

## List

Name Use Publisher License Platform Blue Wave BBS (Blue Wave) Fred Rappuhn and George Hatchew Shareware DOS [b] Freddie BBS (QWK) Kem Tekinay Shareware Classic Mac OS [c] GoldED BBS (FidoNet) Odinn Sørensen GPL DOS [d] Golden CommPass (GCP) CompuServe Creative Systems Programming Corporation Paid OS/2 [e] Hamster Mathias Dolidon Web Free software Windows, Linux, OS X, Unix [2] HTTrack HTTrack.com Web Free software Windows, Linux, OS X, Unix [3] Leech Web Universal Commerce, Issaquah Shareware Windows [4] MR/2 and MR/2 PM BBS Knight Writer Software Company Shareware OS/2 [f] MR/2 ICE Internet mail and news Secant / Alphacat Shareware OS/2, Windows [g] Offline Explorer Web Metaproducts Paid Windows [5] OLX (Off Line Xpress) BBS (QWK) Mustang Software, Inc. Paid DOS [h] ScrapBook Web Mozilla Add-ons Freeware Cross-platform [6] TapCIS CompuServe Support Group, Inc. [7] Shareware DOS [e]

## See also

- [Online and offline](/source/Online_and_offline)

- [Cache manifest in HTML5](/source/Cache_manifest_in_HTML5) (deprecated in favor of [service workers](/source/Progressive_web_application#Service_workers))

- [Progressive web application](/source/Progressive_web_application)

- [Kiwix](/source/Kiwix), Wikipedia offline reader

- [WebWhacker](/source/WebWhacker)

- [Comparison of software saving Web pages for offline use](/source/Comparison_of_software_saving_Web_pages_for_offline_use)

## Notes

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** This includes the user not being connected to a dialup server, not having [Internet](/source/Internet) access and a server on the Internet that is unavailable.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** The file format they developed would be one of the two standards for BBS use, the other being QWK which ultimately became more popular.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** Normally used with [ZTerm](/source/ZTerm) and [ZipIt](/source/ZipIt) to completely automate the process.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** Fidonet mail reader. Did not use QWK or Blue Wave, it directly read and wrote FidoNet files.[1]

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-CIS_6-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-CIS_6-1) Mail reader for Compuserve

1. **[^](#cite_ref-BBS_10-0)** BBS reader

1. **[^](#cite_ref-11)** Internet mail and news reader

1. **[^](#cite_ref-13)** The free test subset of OLX is called Off Line Xpress - Test Drive (OLX-TD)

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** [https://www.gsp.com/cgi-bin/man.cgi?topic=GOLDED](https://www.gsp.com/cgi-bin/man.cgi?topic=GOLDED)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** ["Hamster : hoard the web"](https://github.com/mdolidon/hamster). github.com. 2018-01-04. Retrieved 2018-01-04.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** ["HTTrack Website Copier - Free Software Offline Browser (GNU GPL)"](http://www.httrack.com/). Httrack.com. 2012-06-23. Retrieved 2012-07-07.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** ["Aeria Leech"](http://www.aeria.com:80/). *www.aeria.com*. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/19991116060314/http://www.aeria.com/) from the original on 16 November 1999. Retrieved 5 June 2020. Leech is a high-speed offline web browser for Windows 95/98/NT that downloads web site content to your hard drive.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-12)** ["Offline Explorer Enterprise - MetaProducts"](https://metaproducts.com/products/offline-explorer-enterprise). *metaproducts.com*. Retrieved 2021-06-20.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-14)** Gomita (2012-04-03). ["ScrapBook :: Add-ons for Firefox"](https://web.archive.org/web/20120501205048/https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/scrapbook/). Addons.mozilla.org. Archived from [the original](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/scrapbook/) on 2012-05-01. Retrieved 2012-07-07.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-15)** ["Wordmark: TAPCIS"](https://tmsearch.uspto.gov/search/search-results/74114326). *uspto.gov*.

## External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to [Offline reader](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Offline_reader).

- Systems, Pocket (2023-11-23). ["Offline Browser"](https://getpocket.com/apps/). *getpocket.com*. Retrieved 2023-12-26.

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Offline reader](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Offline_reader) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Offline_reader?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.