No cache, no download
Some time ago I posted some notes on how to download content from the Firefox cache using a decidedly low-tech approach. For a long time I’ve used a very handy Firefox add-on with the name CacheViewer. This add-on does exactly what my manual method does, only far more elegantly and with a lot greater ease. It’s especially useful for downloading video content, something that may be considered questionable, though I consider nothing wrong with the fact that I may want to review something later whilst offline. Before targeting the download of some content, it’s a good idea to clear your browser’s existing cache.From Tools, select Clear Private Data. Make sure Cache is selected, then clear.
Video content in particular can be rather sizeable. The cache may not be large enough to hold everything. In Firefox, go to Tools, then Options. Under Advanced, select Network. Enter an appropriate amount to ensure the content will be cached completely.
Open the location of the content and allow the browser to cache everything. Normally, this is indicated by the text Done in the status bar – even if the actual video footage is still being played back, caching may already have finished. You can activate the CacheViewer. Scroll through the list to view whatever may have been downloaded locally…a preview of images is displayed.
The search field provides a handy filtering mechanism. Entering .jpg or .mov will display only JPG files and video files with the extension MOV, for example.
To save the selected content, a simple right-click and Save as… suffices.
