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I currently use FireShot to capture a full webpage and then save it to a PDF. I like FireShot, except for the fact that it does not add the URL anywhere to the screen capture.

Without the URL, one does not have the original reference link of the captured page.

Is there a Chrome extension that automatically adds the URL anywhere on the page and also allows the user to save the capture to PDF? It doesn't really matter where the URL is saved (e.g. the header or footer) as long as the URL is saved.

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    Maybe you could send an email to the FireShot developers and ask for this feature, to allow option to automatically add the URL as an annotation. I see that FireShot already allows you to add your own text annotations, so you could manually add the URL as an annotation until they will implement the automatic solutions.
    – Sorin Postelnicu
    Feb 5, 2017 at 21:02
  • @SorinPostelnicu On point one, I suggested this feature to FireShot on the same day that I posted my question here. On point two, one needs to purchase FireShot Pro if they want the ability to annotate a screenshot. Since this is no more convenient than using (the free and built-in) Preview.app, I simply use Preview if I want to manually add the URL to the screenshot.
    – rubik's sphere
    Feb 5, 2017 at 22:17
  • Does it have to be PDF, or woudl you accept an image. For instance, chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/full-page-screen-capture/… says "the generated image now incorporates the URL into its name" (it could also be stored in EXIF data of JPEG, or similar image metadata)
    – Mawg says reinstate Monica
    Apr 7, 2017 at 9:54
  • @Mawg I really would prefer it to be a PDF. This is because a PDF can be easily combined with another PDF, into a single PDF. When I need a webpage screenshot, I am usually incorporating that screenshot into a larger PDF. Of course, I can always convert a screenshot image into a PDF file, but this is an extra step. Also, in doing so, I would then lose the image metadata (and, thus, lose the URL).
    – rubik's sphere
    Apr 7, 2017 at 17:43

3 Answers 3

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Print Friendly & PDF gives you the option get rid of some of the junk that would normally be output and allows you to print to pdf with clickable links for any links on the page plus includes the source link as a header.

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  • The problem with "Print Friendly & PDF" is that it alters the webpage format, e.g. by removing images. I would like to preserve the original webpage format (in the same way that "FireShot" does).
    – rubik's sphere
    Jan 1, 2017 at 7:37
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    Then simply use print, (ctrl-p), select print to pdf and set the header/footers on.
    – Steve Barnes
    Jan 1, 2017 at 12:04
  • The problem with simply printing the page to PDF is that this often changes, and sometimes mangles, the original formatting of the webpage.
    – rubik's sphere
    Jan 1, 2017 at 19:32
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The built in pdf printing function in Chrome does this already. Right click the webpage>print>print as pdf. Select headers and footers at the bottom of the left pane. That puts the URL in as a footer. Provided the URL is not too long for the width of the page, this will work fine. If necessary, print in landscape to get more room for a long URL. Worst case, however, is you will lose some of the URL if it's even longer than a landscape page's width.

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  • @Steve Barnes suggested this very method (which I was familiar with) in a comment. While this method does display the URL in the file, it often alters the original formatting of the webpage, irrevocably so, which I perceive as less desirable than not writing the URL. This is why I am currently using FireShot.
    – rubik's sphere
    Jan 7, 2017 at 1:31
  • @rubik'ssphere Sorry that Steve Barnes' comment did not fully register with me. I was reading too fast. However, I don't think I have had the reformatting problem at all, and I use the print to pdf quite often.
    – JKEngineer
    Jan 7, 2017 at 3:52
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    Try printing this very webpage to PDF; the PDF product will look different than the webpage as displayed by Chrome. For example, the right sidebar will disappear, the "Software Recommendations" logo at the top of the page will disappear, the footer will disappear, etc.
    – rubik's sphere
    Jan 7, 2017 at 19:54
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    I tried and you're right, that is what happened. HOWEVER, if you do a Ctrl-A before right clicking to print>print to pdf you will get almost everything on the page - sidebar, footer. The header also comes in, but everything to the left of the "snowflake" is not visible. I tried.
    – JKEngineer
    Jan 7, 2017 at 23:07
  • Yup, I am familiar with the "Select All" trick; sometimes this does successfully keep the formatting in tact when printing to PDF. But, more often, it does not. In this case, as you mentioned, this strategy disappoints. A screenshot extension like FireShot, however, is image-based, so it fully preserves the original formatting perfectly about 99% of the time. I just wish that it automatically put the URL in the image.
    – rubik's sphere
    Jan 7, 2017 at 23:39
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Yes. Gyazo has a chrome extension and it will show the URL from the snapshot. They also have a downloadable app for taking screenshots and creating animated gifs.

enter image description here

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  • I've downloaded the Gyazo extension for Chrome, but I don't see how I can include the URL in the screenshot?
    – rubik's sphere
    May 4, 2017 at 6:17

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