Table of Contents
- Why You Need to Back Up Your Medium Content
- The Challenges of Article Backups
- URLtoText.com: Your Medium Archive Solution
- Creating Your Backup System
- Automating Your Archive
- Restoring Your Content
Why You Need to Back Up Your Medium Content
Last month, a fellow writer lost three years’ worth of articles when his account was accidentally suspended. Another had her content disappear after Medium’s policy changes affected article visibility. These aren’t isolated incidents – they’re wake-up calls for content creators everywhere.
Your Medium articles aren’t just blog posts – they’re your digital legacy. They represent countless hours of research, writing, and engagement with your audience. Relying solely on Medium to preserve this work is like keeping all your photos on a single phone without backups.
The Challenges of Article Backups
Traditional backup methods fall short for several reasons:
- Manual copy-paste loses formatting and metadata
- Screenshot solutions don’t preserve text content
- Medium’s export tool often misses critical elements
- Browser bookmarks don’t capture the actual content
- Local saves don’t handle dynamic content properly
Plus, Medium’s rich text editor includes custom formatting that doesn’t translate well to standard backup solutions. Writers need a more robust approach.
URLtoText.com: Your Medium Archive Solution
URLtoText.com offers a specialized solution for Medium content preservation. The platform understands Medium’s structure and can extract everything that matters:
import requests
from datetime import datetime
def archive_medium_article(url):
response = requests.post(
'https://api.urltotext.com/v1/extract',
headers={'Authorization': 'Bearer YOUR_API_KEY'},
json={
'url': url,
'platform': 'medium',
'preserve_formatting': True
}
)
return response.json()Key preservation features include:
- Complete formatting retention
- Image preservation with original resolution
- Code block formatting
- Author information and publication details
- Comments and engagement metrics
- Custom Medium styling elements
Creating Your Backup System
Here’s how to build a comprehensive backup system using URLtoText.com:
import json
from pathlib import Path
from typing import Dict, List
class MediumArchiver:
def __init__(self, api_key: str):
self.api_key = api_key
self.archive_path = Path('medium_archive')
self.archive_path.mkdir(exist_ok=True)
def archive_article(self, url: str) -> Dict:
"""Archive a single Medium article"""
article_data = self._fetch_article(url)
# Create unique filename from article title
safe_title = self._sanitize_filename(article_data['title'])
timestamp = datetime.now().strftime('%Y%m%d_%H%M%S')
filename = f"{safe_title}_{timestamp}.json"
# Save article data
article_path = self.archive_path / filename
with open(article_path, 'w', encoding='utf-8') as f:
json.dump(article_data, f, ensure_ascii=False, indent=2)
return article_data
def _fetch_article(self, url: str) -> Dict:
"""Fetch article content using URLtoText.com"""
response = requests.post(
'https://api.urltotext.com/v1/extract',
headers={'Authorization': f'Bearer {self.api_key}'},
json={
'url': url,
'include_metadata': True,
'preserve_formatting': True
}
)
if response.status_code != 200:
raise Exception(f'Failed to archive article: {response.status_code}')
return response.json()
@staticmethod
def _sanitize_filename(title: str) -> str:
"""Convert article title to safe filename"""
return "".join(c for c in title if c.isalnum() or c in (' ', '-', '_')).rstrip()Automating Your Archive
The real power comes from automation. Here’s how to set up automatic backups of your Medium profile:
class AutomatedArchiver(MediumArchiver):
def __init__(self, api_key: str, medium_username: str):
super().__init__(api_key)
self.username = medium_username
def backup_all_articles(self):
"""Backup all articles from a Medium profile"""
profile_url = f'https://medium.com/@{self.username}'
# Get list of all article URLs
articles = self._get_profile_articles(profile_url)
# Archive each article
for article in articles:
try:
print(f"Archiving: {article['title']}")
self.archive_article(article['url'])
except Exception as e:
print(f"Failed to archive {article['url']}: {str(e)}")
print("Archive complete!")
def schedule_regular_backups(self):
"""Schedule weekly backups"""
import schedule
import time
schedule.every().sunday.at("00:00").do(self.backup_all_articles)
while True:
schedule.run_pending()
time.sleep(3600)Restoring Your Content
The true test of any backup system is restoration. Here’s how to recover your content:
class ContentRestorer:
def __init__(self, archive_path: Path):
self.archive_path = archive_path
def list_available_backups(self) -> List[Dict]:
"""List all available article backups"""
backups = []
for file in self.archive_path.glob('*.json'):
with open(file, 'r', encoding='utf-8') as f:
article_data = json.load(f)
backups.append({
'title': article_data['title'],
'date': file.stem.split('_')[-2],
'file': file
})
return sorted(backups, key=lambda x: x['date'], reverse=True)
def restore_article(self, backup_file: Path) -> Dict:
"""Restore article content from backup"""
with open(backup_file, 'r', encoding='utf-8') as f:
return json.load(f)Pro Tips for Long-term Archival:
- Store metadata: Keep publication dates, URLs, and engagement metrics
- Use version control: Track changes between backups
- Implement redundancy: Store backups in multiple locations
- Validate backups: Regularly check your archived content
- Document your system: Keep notes on your backup configuration
Your words matter. They deserve better than living solely on someone else’s platform. With URLtoText.com’s robust extraction capabilities and these implementation patterns, you can ensure your Medium content remains safely in your control, ready to be restored whenever needed.
Don’t wait for an account issue or policy change to think about backups. Start archiving your Medium content today with URLtoText.com, and give your digital legacy the protection it deserves.