How can I search the NRS Web Archive?

To access the NRS Web Archive, click on the button to the right.

You can browse through the A-Z index to find the website you wish to view, or alternatively use the search bar at the top of the page to search for the website (or a particular page) by its URL, or conduct a full text search across the collection.

Image 1: View of NRS Web Archive homepage

Clicking on any of the archived website titles will take you into the ‘Index’ page for that site (sometimes referred to as ‘Calendar’ page). The Index page lists the archived snapshots for that particular website, arranged by date of capture by our Service. A link to the ‘live’ website is also included. This is useful for obtaining up-to-date contact information on the website owner, as details on archived content may no longer be accurate. Please note that the live site may no longer exist, or may not have been updated since it was last archived.

Clicking on any date on the Index page will take you into the archived snapshot of the website captured on that date. You can then browse through the site as if it were ‘live’. Archived content is distinguishable by a banner across the top of  the page, which includes the date and time of when the website was captured. The URL of the archived website will also begin with the prefix, https://webarchive.nrscotland.gov.uk/, followed by the date and time of capture, and the original URL. This makes it easy to differentiate between archived and live content.

Image 2: Archived content with web archive banner

Image 3: Magnified view of rewritten URL

A handy way to search the NRS Web Archive is to use our browse index.  Enter the prefix, https://webarchive.nrscotland.gov.uk/*/, followed by the URL you are looking for into your browser’s address bar to see all captured snapshot of the content available at that URL, arranged by date. E.g. entering https://webarchive.nrscotland.gov.uk/*/http://www.gov.scot into your browser’s address bar will display all archived snapshots of https://www.gov.scot  that NRS has archived.