Capturing

Capturing Information from Internet Sources

Often enough one wants to snag text materials from distant sources, and then use a word processor to manipulate the text for such purposes as bibliographies, web documents, or whatever. You have several alternative methods to consider:

E-mailing the document to yourself is sometimes an option
- ANNIE records can be exported (just hit e for each, then when you've completed the set, go to the main ANNIE screen and hit e again; you'll be prompted for your address, etc.)
- HOLLIS records can be accumulated with the command stor, and send when the set is complete. You'll be prompted for your address, etc.
- FirstSearch records can be e-mailed. Hit e and supply your address (twice) when prompted.
- Many WWW documents can be e-mailed, but not all (some have to be copy/pasted --Annual Review search reports ar an example), assuming that the Web Browser is configured (under Netscape's Options menu, choose 'Mail and News Preferences' and fill in the 'Identity' information with your name and your e-mail address)
Capturing screens as a stream may be possible
- This is the method of choice for Lexis/Nexis, the alternative being copy/paste or single-screen printing. For some reason it doesn't work with HOLLIS screens (e-mail is the best choice for HOLLIS).
  - In the Mac world, from the Session menu, choose 'Capture Session to File' when you are ready to start the stream capture, and then click on 'Capture Session to File' to stop the process. (You can also use <COMMAND><K> to start and then stop the capture)
  - In the Windows world, choose 'Capture...' from the File menu, and click the 'Continuous' radio button. Be sure to turn OFF capture when you're finished, to close the file.
Copy and Paste may be the only reasonable alternative if neither of the previous methods works. Open the word processor of your choice as one window and the source (Netscape, Liberty, whatever) as another, and click-drag to 'select' the text you want to copy, choose 'Copy' from the Edit menu, switch to the other (word processor) window, and choose 'Paste' from the Edit menu. This method is slow but sure.