Image Host Downloader: Full-Size Pictures Behind Forum Thumbnails
Many forum posts do not hold their pictures. They show thumbnails, and each one links to an image host - ImgBB, PiXhost, Postimages, ImageTwist and many more - where the full picture waits a click away. Give NeoDownloader the thread, and it follows every thumbnail to its host and saves the originals in one folder.
How to Download All Images from a Forum Thread
Saving the page from the browser keeps the thumbnails, and opening every one by hand costs a click per picture. Three steps instead:
One-time setup: download NeoDownloader and install it. It is available for Windows, Mac and Linux. The steps below are what you repeat each time.
- 1Forumforum.example.com/threads/weekend-ride-photos.4821
Copy the Thread's Address
Open the thread at its first page and take its address from the browser's bar.
- 2
ProjectsNew projectWhat do you want to download?
forum.example.com/threads/weekend-ride-photos.4821
NextAnswer “Forum Thread”
Paste it into New project. The Crawler is the plugin for forum pages; at the wizard's question about the files' source, pick “Forum thread”.
- 3
Name and folder
Weekend ride photos
Create projectCreate the Project
Pick a folder and press Create project. The thread is read page after page, and behind every thumbnail the full-size picture is fetched, all into one folder titled like the thread.
Image Hosts NeoDownloader Knows
Each host keeps pictures its own way. What NeoDownloader does with each, and the guide that goes into detail:
Imgur: Posts, Albums and GIFs
An Imgur post or album downloads whole from its own address, and GIFs come the way Imgur keeps them, as MP4.
Imgur DownloaderImgBB: Albums and Embedded Pictures
ImgBB's codes put a thumbnail in a post that links back to ibb.co, and the original is taken from there. A whole album downloads from its own link.
ImgBB DownloaderPiXhost: Forum Thumbnails and Galleries
PiXhost hands out a forum thumbnail code beside every gallery. Its thumbnails lead to show pages, and each picture is saved with its upload name, PiXhost's number taken off.
PiXhost DownloaderImageTwist: Galleries Across Pages
A member's gallery downloads across all its pages of forty thumbnails, and ImageTwist previews in a post lead the Crawler to the originals.
ImageTwist DownloaderPostimages: Thumbnails for Forums
“Thumbnail for forums” links each preview to its page on postimg.cc, where the download button holds the original, and NeoDownloader takes it from that button.
Postimages DownloaderIMX.to: Galleries and Forum Previews
A gallery downloads from its imx.to/g/ link, and IMX.to previews in a thread are turned into the originals by the Crawler, which knows the host by name.
IMX.to DownloaderImageShack: Albums and Accounts
An album, or a member's whole account, comes down with each file named by its upload date, code and title, in a folder per owner and album.
ImageShack DownloaderImage Chest: Posts and Profiles
Posts there mix pictures with short clips, and NeoDownloader keeps both; give it a member's profile and the posts come down one after another.
Image Chest DownloaderImagePond: Albums Page by Page
An album spread over pages of 24 thumbnails comes down whole, each item at full size, from the album's own link.
ImagePond DownloaderDownload Full-Size Images from Thumbnails: Why Forums Show Previews
An image host gives its users ready-made code to paste into a post. The usual kind is a thumbnail wrapped in a link: the forum shows a small picture and stays quick to load, and the link leads to the picture's page on the host, where the full file is. That is why a thread saved from the browser is a folder of thumbnails.
NeoDownloader reads the link rather than the thumbnail. For a host it knows by name it goes straight to the file on the host's page; for any other it opens the linked page and takes the picture shown on it.
What Comes Down from a Forum Thread
- A thumbnail linking to an image host - the full-size picture from the host
- A picture pasted straight into a post - the picture as the post shows it
- Files attached to posts on the forum itself - as they were attached
- Avatars, signatures and smileys - left out
- A bare link to an image host's page, with no picture around it - not followed
Image Host Downloader FAQ
How do I download all images from a forum thread?
Take the thread's address, make a “New project” of it and give “Forum thread” as the source when asked. Pictures in the posts come down, the full-size ones behind thumbnails included.
Why does saving the page give me only thumbnails?
Because the page holds only thumbnails: the full pictures stay on the image host, a link away each. NeoDownloader follows those links for you.
Does it go through every page of a long thread?
Yes. It knows how phpBB, vBulletin, XenForo, Discourse and SMF number a thread's pages and walks them in turn.
The forum wants me to sign in before it shows pictures. What then?
On the wizard's last step there is a box, “This site needs me to sign in first”: tick it. The thread then opens in NeoDownloader's own browser, which waits for you to sign in.
Which image hosts does it work with?
The ones above have guides of their own, and the Crawler knows a good number more by name. A host it does not know works too when its thumbnail links to a page that shows the picture.
Is it free?
The free version has no time limit; Premium lifts its limits on the number of files per project.
Bring a Thread's Pictures Home
Paste a forum thread and keep its full-size pictures on your own disk instead of a folder of thumbnails. The free version has no time limit.
Available for Windows, Mac and Linux