# Mass download options?



## Novotov (Nov 1, 2012)

Hello, I'm a longtime FA user but recently I've been trying to clean up my massive Favorites gallery. I've got several thousand in there, although I'm sure others have more.


Artists are known to modify their images after submission, and sometimes delete them. Just recently, I went through my Favorites and discovered that quite a few images I really enjoyed were deleted. Even worse, many of them I don't have another copy of! What I'd like to do is back up of all my Favorited submissions to my hard drive. So far, the only option I've found is manually saving each image. This, obviously, is not an option when the number of Favorites gets high.


Does anyone know of a mass-download option, or some way I can get all these images backed up without spending a week doing it? I'm not aware of what the FA TOS says in regards to this, but it seems like a reasonable request.


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## CerbrusNL (Nov 1, 2012)

The only tool that can really help you there is a Firefox Plugin called "FA Extender".

Mass downloaders are not allowed to be used on FA (And usually, using a bot/tool like that will get you noticed and restricted in no time). FA Extender's an exception, because it's not completely automated.


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## Teal (Nov 1, 2012)

Just save it before you fav it. It takes like two extra seconds.


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## CerbrusNL (Nov 1, 2012)

TealMoon said:


> Just save it before you fav it. It takes like two extra seconds.


And only half a second with FA Extender!


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## ArielMT (Nov 1, 2012)

TealMoon said:


> Just save it before you fav it. It takes like two extra seconds.



With FAExtender, every submission page has a convenient download button next to the submission title.  When clicked, it downloads into a sorted directory without even stopping to ask the user.

Obviously, I'm seconding the FAExtender recommendation.  However, it's not a staff recommendation, just a personal one coming from a regular user who only happens to be on forum staff.

Also FAExtender opens every image on a message center/gallery/favorites page in a new tab.  By default, the delay between each tab loading a submission is two seconds, but it can be changed by going to about:config and editing extensions.faext.openintabs.delaytime.  They'll open slowly enough to satisfy FA you're not scraping, and they'll open fast enough that the submission in the next tab will be ready before you're finished with the one in the current tab.  (I have mine set at 12 seconds because that's fast enough for me.)


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## Devious Bane (Nov 1, 2012)

ArielMT said:


> With FAExtender, every submission page has a convenient download button next to the submission title.  When clicked, it downloads into a sorted directory without even stopping to ask the user.


Wait, can't most browsers be configured to do this without a plugin?
You can just configure your browser* to do just that. There happens to be a little download link under the submission itself.

[sub]*In Firefox, I just changed some settings in the Application and Download tabs.[/sub]


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## ArielMT (Nov 1, 2012)

Devious Bane said:


> Wait, can't most browsers be configured to do this without a plugin?
> You can just configure your browser* to do just that. There happens to be a little download link under the submission itself.
> 
> [sub]*In Firefox, I just changed some settings in the Application and Download tabs.[/sub]



True, you can download them all into a single unsorted directory, but FAExtender allows you to download submissions into directories named after the artists automatically.  For example, I'm watching kacey, xianjaguar, Nambroth, and FayV.  If I set FAExtender to save in ~/pictures/furry, then the sumbissions I download using FAExtender's download link are saved in ~/pictures/furry/kacey, ~/pictures/furry/xianjaguar, ~/pictures/furry/Nambroth, and ~/pictures/furry/FayV as appropriate without me having to think about it at all.


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## Devious Bane (Nov 2, 2012)

So if you're obsessed with having every piece of art a person has, it's a great plugin.


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## ArielMT (Nov 3, 2012)

Devious Bane said:


> So if you're obsessed with having every piece of art a person has, it's a great plugin.



Heh, well, like OP, I just want to make fave-and-save as quick as possible because some artists seem to think their drawings should be as fleeting as ice sculptures.


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## Gryphoneer (Nov 3, 2012)

Ok.

Now tell me about free scrapers.


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## CerbrusNL (Nov 3, 2012)

Gryphoneer said:


> Ok.
> 
> Now tell me about free scrapers.



Obviously, they're not allowed, and'll get you banned.


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## Saellyn (Nov 4, 2012)

I still say there should be a "Zip and Download Gallery/Scraps" option...


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