Watch a page for changes
Available onFreeProResearch
Watching keeps a copy of a page, checks it on a schedule and tells you when its text changes. It shows you the old and the new text side by side. Good pages to watch: a pricing page, visa rules, documentation you depend on, a product you want to buy, a job post.
Only text is compared. Pictures, PDFs and layout changes are not.
Before you start
- The number of pages you can watch and how often they are checked depend on your plan: Free checks daily, Pro and Research can check hourly. See Plan limits. Paused watches count toward the number.
- A watched page is always a saved page. If the page is not in your library yet, Readsira saves it when you start watching. If you delete the saved page, its watch is deleted too.
- Like a followed page, a watched page is read by Readsira like one visitor and the site's
robots.txtis respected. A page behind a login cannot be watched.
Start watching a page
- Open More in the Library and choose Watching, then select Watch a page. You can also open a saved article in the reader, open its menu and choose Watch for changes, or choose Watch for changes when you paste the address of a page that has no feed (see Follow and manage feeds).
- Check the address under Page address. Readsira reads the page and shows a snapshot labeled The page as Readsira read it.
- Under What to watch, choose:
- Whole page to be told about any text change on the page.
- Part of the page to watch one block. Drag a box around it on the snapshot. Readsira finds that part again by its content, so it keeps working if the page moves things around.
- Under How often, choose Hourly, Daily or Weekly. Intervals faster than your plan allows are not offered.
- Leave Ignore small changes on to skip dates, view counters, ads and rotating quotes. Turn it off if even a changed date matters to you.
- Under Tell me by, choose how to be told: In-app is always on, Email sends one email per change, and Push notifies your phone.
- Select Start watching.
If you already watch the page with the same settings, Readsira says so and does not add it twice. When you are at your plan's number of pages, the sheet says how many pages you watch of the number your plan allows, and offers a higher plan.
See what changed
- Open the Watching page. The tabs All, Changed, Unchanged, Failed and Paused filter the list, each with a count. A row shows the page, a badge, and a line such as when it was last checked and when it last changed.
- On a row with a change, select View change.
- Choose how to read it with Side by side or Inline. The page shows the one-line summary, the lines that were added, removed or changed, and Before and After texts.
- Open archived copy opens the saved copy of the page as Readsira read it.
The change page also shows how many small changes were ignored. When nothing has changed yet, it says No changes since you started watching and how many times the page was checked.
History
Select History on the change page, or History on a row. The history lists every change, newest first, with the quiet stretches between them (for example "6 checks, no changes") and how many small changes were ignored. Select View change to open one change.
Pause, resume or stop
- Pause on the change page stops the checks. Resume on the row starts them again.
- Stop watching removes the watch. The saved page stays in your library.
When a watch fails
A watch that cannot be checked moves to Failed and says why:
- The part you watch is no longer on the page. Watch the page again and choose the part anew.
- The page answers "not found". The last good snapshot stays, and Readsira keeps trying. The change page offers Look it up in the Wayback Machine.
- The site stopped letting Readsira read the page, or its
robots.txtno longer allows it. Readsira stops checking and keeps the last good snapshot.
Tips
- Page checks and change summaries never use your AI budget.
- Watching a part of a page gives fewer false alarms than watching the whole page.