Wikipedia.org is a huge resource for online information. It has updated and relevant information about virtually every topic of user interest. Ideally, you can open specific Wikipedia article page and goto File > Save As in the web browser for an offline copy of that Wikipedia page. Also, you can select text on article manually and paste in a Word document or notepad file for offline reading / sharing. Following are few interesting ways for bulk Wikipedia article copy for offline viewing.
Method to save full Wikipedia (English) copy [New]
[New Method for offline Wikipedia download] Wikipedia now provide quicker method to download and save full copy of all article of Wikipedia English. Once you download the copy, you can read Wikipedia article(s) of your choice in airplane (offline) mode at your own comfort without internet connection.
1. First you need to download the file package containing all articles listed on Wikipedia English. Open Download page where you can download either torrent or standard file. Size of this file download is about 9.7 GB.
2. Articles contained in this download does not include images, as including only thumbnail images will bump up the file download size to more than 100GB. However, it does include lists, tables, citations and even mathematical formulas as in the online version.
3. Once the Wikipedia copy is downloaded on your computer, you will need offline reader software like Kiwix (available for Windows, Linux and Mac platforms) for easy reading of articles. [More Info]
Ways to download Wikipedia articles for offline reading
1. Pocket Wikipedia – It contains selective hand picked articles from Wikipedia which is about the size of a fifteen volume encyclopedia (24,000 images and 14 million words). It works on PocketPC, Windows and Linux. This is cool option for selective Wikipedia content. Please note, you will not find every of Wikipedia article within this application. For more Wikipedia content, jump to next option of Wikitaxi.
2. WikiTaxi – It is a portable and very easy way to access Wikipedia content offline. This application allows you to read, search, and browse Wikipedia articles without the internet connection. After you download the application, you need to download specific Wikipedia dump. You can import dump file into the application to start offline Wikipedia browsing experience.
3. OkaWix – It allows you to download whole wikipedia content with or without images for offline browsing. To get started, download OkaWix application available for Windows, Mac and Linux computer. It is available in 253 languages and includes sister projects of the Wikimedia Foundation (Wikisource, Wiktionary, Wikiquote, Wikibooks). You can even order USB keys with preloaded wikipedia content.
4. Wikipedia for Schools download – You can download special edition “Wikipedia for Schools” edition via bit torrent client. This 3GB file provide access to 20 volume encyclopedia – with 34,500 pictures, 20 million words and articles on more than 5500 topics. It is very useful for 8-17 year olds who broadly follow the UK National Curriculum.
5. Google Translator Toolkit – You can save any Wikipedia article online in Google account using Translator toolkit. Goto to Wikipedia article tab, paste / type Wikipedia article URL, select languages and click upload for translation button. More details [Updated Article, Originally published on Oct 20, 2009]
