#digital preservation

Disclaimers:

To achieve the full benefit of method 1 and for method 2 to work at all you will need to use a PC. I have used both methods on Windows and method 1 also on a Mac.

Both methods used to work perfectly for me. After AO3 started using Cloudflare (I think after a bot attack) they still work but I have experienced more issues and a decrease in reliability (correlation/causation, who knows).

Always be vigilant what you install on your computer. And probably consider using separate browsers for your work/banking and for your fandom activities.

This information is current in February 2026.

This was cross-posted on tumblr and my WordPress blog

1) Method 1

Scope: adding a bookmarklet (1a) and a browser extension (1b).

Note that these tools are provided by different people. This option is completely usable with a graphical user interface. This is the method that I am currently using.

1a) Flamebyrd's bookmarklet

AO3 Ebook Download Helper (link)

This bookmarklet creates a floating window that contains the links to download the ebook versions of all works on an AO3 page (be it author, search, series, etc).

How to install: Go to Flamebyrd's page (link) and follow the instruction to 'install' it in your browser.

Note that this bookmarklet does not automatically queue up fics for downloads. This is where 1b) comes in. However, you can of course use the bookmarklet on its own.

Notes: Flamebyrd has a lot of other useful tools for AO3

This bookmarklet is on AO3’s ‘Unofficial Browser Tools’ list (however the link they have on the page is broken 😊)

1b) A Mass Downloader / Download Manager

I use DownThemAll! (link to website) which is a free and open-source extension for Firefox, Chrome and Edge. (I use it with Firefox).

This is a great extension that is useful for any kind of mass download use case - not just for AO3.

How to install: Go to where your browser manages extensions, search for DownThemAll and install it.

How to use it: There is a step by step guide how I use method 1a) + 1b) below in this post (after the cut).

2) Method 2 - nianeyna's AO3 Downloader

Links: github link; Tumblr link

A python command line interface tool. This is the more technical and powerfull method. This means that you need to install Python (looks like the newer version of the tool does that for you).

I've used this method for several years and loved it, but have not used it for a while.

How to install it / how hoes it work: Follow the links and read the author’s documentation and FAQs.

3) Method 1 - How it works, step by step

Note: this was created with Firefox on Windows (and checked to work the same with Firefox on Mac)

Step 1: Go to any AO3 page that shows a list of fics (series, works by author, bookmarks, searches) and click on the bookmarklet.

Step 2:

The bookmarklet creates a flying window with all the fics and format options.

Select the fics you want to download (incl. the mobi epub pdf...) part on the right

Right click and then select ‘DownThemAll’ > ‘Save selection with DownThemAll’

Step 3:

DownThemAll shows a list of all the selected fics and formats.

Select the fics / formats you actually want to download. In the example screenshot I have selected all epub files.

Then click ‘Download’ to start the download

Step 4: the downloads start

Step 5:

Change options by clicking the cog wheel in the lower right corner.

The default setting are a bit aggressive for AO3’s rate limiting and I’d suggest reducing the ‘concurrent downloads’ to 1.

Note: the tool remembers these settings, thus you need to do it only once

Step 6:

Nevertheless, after some time AO3’s rate limit will kick in.

The tool will recognize this and pause downloads for a few minutes (you can adjust this time in the settings). After the pause, they will resume automatically. See the blue lines / files in the screenshot.

This will inevitably also cause a few downloads to “fail”, see red lines / files in the screenshot.

Step 7: Resume / retry the failed downloads: when all blue downloads are completed after one or more pauses, you can select the failed red downloads and press “resume” to retry them.

4) Known issues and limitations

General download issues

a) Fics keep failing to download. This is probably a temporary Cloudflare or AO3 server issue.

Workaround: try again later

b) Very large fics do not download reliably or not at all (in some formats). I have seen this rarely but reproducibly in certain fics.

Workaround: sometimes another format works

Known issues and limitations of method 1 (1a+1b)

c) Max 20 fics in one go. This is an AO3 limitation as this is the maximum number of fics AO3 displays on one page.

Workaround: select and queue up fics from several pages, one after the other.

d) A fic does not correctly download (infrequent)

Sometimes a fic does not download correctly. You can notice this when you look at the file names of the downloaded files and it is not the title of the fic but a number.

Workaround: manually redownload the fic

e) An older version of the fic is downloaded

I experienced this when I downloaded an incomplete fic with method 1a)+1b) and some month later when I tried to download the now completed fic, I got an older incomplete version in the download.

This one is harder to notice as the fic does successfully download and the file name looks correct.

I have noticed this relatively recently and this issue does cause me some grief. This looks like a caching issue, but I've cleared the cache of Firefox and that did not help. I have no idea what the root cause is.

My current workaround (that may or may not be suitable for you): I do a mass download. I subscribe to incomplete fics that I want to come back to later. I do a manual download once I get the e-mail that the fic was updated / completed.

I will update this post if I find a better solution.

---