Author Topic: British Newspaper Archive downloads  (Read 736 times)

Offline ktk8

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British Newspaper Archive downloads
« on: Saturday 18 January 25 20:04 GMT (UK) »
Hi, Just wondered if anyone has any suggestions of how to download single articles from the BNA?Screenshots don't give a good enough resolution. I don't like getting lumbered with a whole page for the download, particularly as my current pdf program doesn't allow editing.

Many thanks!

Offline Spelk

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Re: British Newspaper Archive downloads
« Reply #1 on: Sunday 19 January 25 12:43 GMT (UK) »
What i do is zoom in to the item so that the text is readable even though some of the item is off screen. Take a screen grab of the top part of the item.
Keeping the zoom level the same scroll down to get the next part of the item in view and take another screen grab making sure that you have several lines of overlap with the first and second screen grabs. Repeat as necessary until you have the whole item.
Then use software to stitch the images together. The software you likely already have on your computer as part of the standard operating system.

Online MollyC

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Re: British Newspaper Archive downloads
« Reply #2 on: Sunday 19 January 25 14:48 GMT (UK) »
Download the whole page, then use the snipping tool to snip and save the article, and discard the page.
The Findmypast newspaper software is better because you can make the snip directly.


Offline Kingsclere

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Re: British Newspaper Archive downloads
« Reply #3 on: Monday 20 January 25 11:40 GMT (UK) »
... use the snipping tool to snip and save the article, and discard the page...

The problem with this method is that you can only snip what is shown on screen. If the article is a long column, you have to zoom out to show the entire thing on-screen and then the resulting snip has poorer resolution. As already suggested, zooming in to be readable and then snipping sections and finally stitching those together in an image editor is the best workaround to the problem.

If only BNA would implement the same extraction facility as provided by Newspapers.com!


Online MollyC

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Re: British Newspaper Archive downloads
« Reply #4 on: Monday 20 January 25 16:55 GMT (UK) »
Findmypast could help by introducing a rotate through 90 degrees facility, increasing the length of column available (horizontally) on the screen at legible size.

Offline locksmith

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Re: British Newspaper Archive downloads
« Reply #5 on: Monday 20 January 25 18:16 GMT (UK) »
Findmypast could help by introducing a rotate through 90 degrees facility, increasing the length of column available (horizontally) on the screen at legible size.

Unnecessary on Findmypast as you get the same resolution regardless how much you have to zoom out to grab your article when you use the findmypast built in clip facility. You can zoom right out to see a whole page, clip just column 1 from top to bottom and the jpg will be perfectly fine.

Simon

Online MollyC

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Re: British Newspaper Archive downloads
« Reply #6 on: Monday 20 January 25 19:11 GMT (UK) »
So FindMyPast is definitely the better way to use the database.

Offline ktk8

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Re: British Newspaper Archive downloads
« Reply #7 on: Saturday 25 January 25 19:34 GMT (UK) »
Many thanks for all your replies!

I've been trying your suggestions, and have found the best results from viewing full screen, zooming in, then snipping in sections. I did try downloading the full page in pdf, then cropping in an online pdf editor, but actually the results weren't as good.

I find it extraordinary that there isn't a simpler way on their website to do the one thing that most users will want to do!

Online Biggles50

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Re: British Newspaper Archive downloads
« Reply #8 on: Saturday 25 January 25 20:52 GMT (UK) »
Many thanks for all your replies!

I've been trying your suggestions, and have found the best results from viewing full screen, zooming in, then snipping in sections. I did try downloading the full page in pdf, then cropping in an online pdf editor, but actually the results weren't as good.

I find it extraordinary that there isn't a simpler way on their website to do the one thing that most users will want to do!

I bought a 34” 4k monitor, 4x more detail than a HD monitor and I used the snipping tool and stiched them together in Photoshop, exported as a PDF.

My Wife’s 5k iMac is even better.

The larger screen on my PC makes looking at trees far easier.