How to Save Your Articles Before a Website Shuts Down (Rescue Playbook)

You open your favorite reading app and there it is, the banner nobody wants to see: "This service is shutting down. Export your data before [date]." Years of saved articles, highlights, and carefully tagged links suddenly have an expiration date.

It happened with Omnivore in 2024 and Pocket in 2025, and it'll happen again. The gap between losing everything and losing nothing is usually a few hours of focused effort in the right order. Here's that order.

Step 1: Export Your Data Right Now (Before Anything Else)

Before you research alternatives, before you organize, before you read one more article, hit export. It's the one step that becomes impossible once the deadline passes.

• Look for Settings → Export / Download your data. Most apps offer JSON, CSV, OPML, or HTML.
• Grab the fullest format. JSON usually carries the most: URLs, tags, dates, read status, sometimes highlights. CSV and OPML are leaner but still save your list of links.
• Download it, then open the file and confirm it actually contains your data. A zero-byte or half-empty export is worse than none, because it gives false confidence.

Do this first. Everything below assumes the file is safely on disk.

Step 2: Make Real Copies of the Articles That Matter Most

Here's the part most people miss: your export is a list of links, not the articles themselves. If a linked site also disappears, or an article only ever lived on the dying service, the export won't bring the content back.

So for the pieces you truly can't lose, save the actual content:

• Batch-archive to the Wayback Machine. Paste URLs into web.archive.org's "Save Page Now" for public, dated snapshots on the Internet Archive's servers.
• SingleFile the must-keeps. The free SingleFile extension saves any page as one self-contained .html file you can open forever.
• Print to PDF anything you want frozen and shareable.

Don't try this for thousands of links. Just the handful that would genuinely hurt to lose. Our guide to permanently saving a webpage covers each method in depth.

Step 3: Move Into a Tool You Control

With your data safe, pick a new home, and this time weigh whether it'll still be here next year. A few questions worth asking any replacement:

• Does it make money? Free-forever apps with no revenue model are the ones that vanish. Someone has to pay for the servers.
• Can you export anytime? If you can leave whenever you want, you're never trapped.
• Does it actually save the content, or just the link?

This is why Gleamr is built the way it is. It saves the full article, not just a bookmark, indexes every word for search, and exports to JSON whenever you like. It's funded by paying users rather than ad money or runway, so it's built to last instead of built to be acquired and shut down.

No app can promise it'll exist forever, which is exactly why Steps 1 and 2 matter. The smart play isn't hunting for the perfect permanent app. It's picking a solid home and keeping your own copies of what matters. Do both, and a shutdown banner turns into an annoyance instead of a disaster.

A Two-Minute Triage Checklist

1. Export now. Fullest format, then open the file to verify it.
2. Flag your must-keeps, the articles you'd be sad to lose.
3. Snapshot those with Wayback and SingleFile.
4. Choose a durable home that saves content and lets you export.
5. Import and confirm your links, tags, and read status came across.

Frequently Asked Questions

What should I do first when an app announces it's shutting down?

Export your data immediately, before anything else. Use the most complete format offered (usually JSON), download it, and open the file to confirm it actually contains your articles. The export step is the only one that becomes impossible after the shutdown date.

Does exporting my reading list save the actual articles?

Usually no. An export typically contains your links, tags, and metadata, not the full article content. If a linked site later disappears, the export alone won't restore the article. For the pieces that matter most, also save real copies with the Wayback Machine, SingleFile, or PDF.

How long do I usually have to export before a service shuts down?

It varies, and it's often shorter than expected. Omnivore gave roughly a month before deleting all data. Treat the announced date as a hard deadline and export the same day you hear the news, rather than relying on having time later.

How do I avoid losing my reading list when the next app shuts down?

Pick a tool that lets you export anytime and that's funded by paying users rather than uncertain free money, and keep your own copies of irreplaceable articles. Owning an export plus local snapshots means no single company's shutdown can wipe out your library.

Rescuing a library from a closing app? Gleamr is built to outlast the next shutdown: full-text search, one-click JSON export, and no lock-in, starting with 10 free articles. Coming from a specific app? See the Omnivore and Pocket migration guides.