[+] Check-by-screenshot: "Ignore filters" to ignore certain parts of a page
[x] Technology check-by-screenshot improved
[-] Sync with app: Fix some incompatibilities with the latest Dropbox API changes
[x] Improved monitoring of PDF files
[x] Improved high dpi support
[x] Clicking a link to a binary file in the first browser tab no longer opens a new tab before downloading the file
[x] Open page in external browser: improved handling to bring external browser into foreground
New hardware requirements: Due to new requirements of the Chromium browser, the minimum Windows version is Windows 10. Older versions such as Windows 7, Windows 8/8.1, Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012 R2 are no longer supported (WebSite-Watcher can no longer be executed on these operating systems).
Smaller improvements and fixes
Version 2023 (23.3) - 25-Apr-2023
[x] Instagram RSS feed conversion supports latest version of Instagram (Meta has made internal changes to Instagram pages, which are now supported by this version of WebSite-Watcher)
[x] If the special filters "Watch all changes in link addresses" or "Watch all changes in image addresses" are used, then defined ignore filters are now applied to the extracted addresses
[x] Performance improvements when loading bigger bookmark databases
Smaller improvements and fixes
Version 2023 (23.2) - 14-Mar-2023
[x] Improved compatibility with password protected proxies
[x] Improved WebDAV support
[x] Improved detection when only posts were removed from RSS feeds
[+] Bookmark note: Open URLs with Ctrl+Click
[+] Shortcut can be defined for "Send page by mail"
[x] Plugins: stability improvements
[x] Plugins: runtime errors are now added to the check log
[x] Browser integration for Edge improved
[x] Browser integration: The button is no longer displayed for electron based applications
[x] Improved multi-monitor support
[x] Regex engine: improved look-ahead and look-behind support
[x] Sync with app: Phone Mode improved to prevent horizontal scrolling on the phone
[-] Bookmark checks could produce timeouts under certain circumstances if Windows was running a very long time without a restart
[-] Browser size was not saved under certain circumstances
[-] Test filter: synchronous horizontal scrolling didn't work in previous version
[-] Some windows could be placed outside the monitor under rare circumstances
[x] LWA: Add via "Paste from clipboard": Images can be pasted
[x] LWA: Notes: Open URLs with Ctrl+Click
[-] LWA: Sorting was not saved between sessions
Smaller fixes and improvements
Version 2023 (23.1) - 14-Feb-2023
[x] Improved detection of PDF files when checked with the technology Chromium/Browser
[x] Improved behavior when a page contains broken character encodings
[-] Reading the license key could fail under rare circumstances
[-] For some bookmarks everything was highlighted as new under rare circumstances
Smaller fixes and improvements
Version 2023 (23.0) - 07-Feb-2023
WebSite-Watcher was ported to a new development system and contains tons of internal improvements and optimizations.
Important info before updating to v23:
Starting with v23, WebSite-Watcher is only available as 64-bit version. The last 32-bit version is v22.3
Databases saved with v23 cannot be opened with previous versions of WebSite-Watcher. If you plan to downgrade, it's recommended to keep a database backup of the previous version.
Removed functionality: Newsgroups (NNTP protocol). If you still have some newsgroups you want to monitor, you can install a previous version as portable edition and use this installation for Newsgroups.
Most important changes:
[+] Wizard for adding new bookmark re-implemented (contains much more logic and also detects available RSS feeds)
[+] Local Website Archive is now installed automatically with WebSite-Watcher and must not be maintained and updated separately
[x] Improved integration of Local Website Archive
[+] Mastodon pages supported (simply add a Mastodon page via the New-bookmark-Wizard in the toolbar)
[+] Proxy Rotation: Change the used proxy with each check run (Business Edition only)
[+] Dark Mode: The main window can be displayed in dark mode
[+] Internal browser/Dark Mode: Checked bookmarks can optionally be converted and displayed in dark mode
[+] Internal browser: Send page by e-mail uses now the configured SMTP server (an external e-mail client with MAPI support is no longer required)
[x] Chromium Check Macros improved
[+] New filter: Minimum percentage of changes
[+] Check-by-screenshot: New filter "Minimum percent of changes" + "Test filter" in bookmark properties
[x] Improved detection and handling of Cloudflare protected pages
[+] Support of Cloudflare protected RSS/Atom feeds
[+] Support of Cloudflare protected PDF/Word/Excel files
[+] Synchronization with the WebSite-Watcher App: sync via WebDAV supported
[+] CloudSync can use the tool "rclone" to synchronize bookmarks between PCs
[x] CloudSync: perfomance improvement (up to 6 times faster)
[+] CloudSync: options for synchronizing downloaded images
[x] CloudSync: improved and easier configuration
[x] Integrated AD Blocker improved
[+] Scripting language: new built-in functions "IntToStr" and "StrToInt"
[x] RSS feeds: Improved handling of feed items without title
[x] RSS feeds: More media content can be extracted
[+] New program tweak: CheckSortedBookmarkList=name (Sorts the bookmarks by name before adding them to the checking queue)
[-] Checking PDF files by file date or by file size could fail under certain circumstances
[x] Most third party components that we bought in the past (many of them were no longer developed or maintained) were replaced with self-developed components.
Many performance improvements
Tons of other small changes and improvements that we did not add to this log
Other Notes:
Engine for regular expressions replaced. All regular expressions that were created with the filter assistant will still work without problems. If you created regular expressions manually using some advanced techniques (not listed in the WebSite-Watcher manual), then it's recommended to test your regular expressions if they still work.
New CloudSync format: You have to backup to the sync-folder the first time you run CloudSync to have a new base for synchronization
New backup format: WebSite-Watcher cannot restore backups that were created with a previous version. It's only possible to restore backups that were made with WebSite-Watcher 2023 or higher
Import bookmarks from ZIP files: It's only possible to import bookmarks that were exported with WebSite-Watcher 22.2 or higher
Scripting language: parameters for the CloudSync command have been changed, it might be required to update scripts
Version 2022 (22.3) - 27-Sep-2022
[x] Improved detection of Cloudflare protected pages
[x] Improved handling of Cloudflare protected RSS feeds
[x] Improved Instagram compatibility
[x] Chromium Check Macros improved
[-] Script commands to check bookmarks: WebSite-Watcher could refuse to check bookmarks under rare circumstances
Smaller optimizations and improvements
Version 2022 (22.2) - 11-Jul-2022
[x] Huge performance improvement when highlighting changes (opening changed bookmarks can be up to 3 times faster)
[x] Huge performance improvement when inserting or initializing new bookmarks in big databases
[+] Context menu + Extras + Disable check: Option to save settings as default
[x] Improved detection and handling of Cloudflare protected pages
[x] Follow-Links: detection of duplicate links improved
[x] Browser integration: WSW did not show the WSW icon in the title bar right after starting Firefox (caused by a bug in the latest version of Firefox). WSW has now a work around for this broken behavior.
[x] Record Chromium Macro: WebSite-Watcher will use the customized User Agent (if configured in the bookmark properties)
[x] Checking Instagram pages re-implemented. Meta changed their pages internally so that it was no longer possible to monitor Instagram pages after existing cookies with login credentials expire. With this new version, you have to right click an Instagram bookmark once, select "Browser" and login to your account. Then all Instagram bookmark should work again.
[+] New tweak: UptimeControlFile= - this tweak will write a control file once a minute and can be used to verify if WSW is up and running (Business Edition only)
[-] E-Mails were not sent correctly under certain circumstances
[-] It was not possible to assign the shortcut Ctrl+D in Options+Shortcuts
[-] More detailed error description for regular expressions with syntax errors
[-] WebSite-Watcher could freeze under certain circumstanes in combination with the check technology "Chromium/Browser"
[-] WebSite-Watcher did not correctly remember the last position when rebooting Windows
[x] Overall performance improvements
Smaller fixes and improvements
Version 2022 (22.1) - 31-Mar-2022
[+] Update on keywords: keywords can be combined with a logical AND by placing a " + " (space-plus-space) between keywords. Whole words are supported by placing the keywords into quotes. Examples:
keyword1 + keyword2
"keyword1" + "keyword2" + "keyword3"
"website" + "watcher"
[+] Cloudflare protected pages supported. WebSite-Watcher detects and handles this protection automatically, a separate configuration is no longer requied.
[+] Extended Search: New option to search for whole words
[+] Chromium Check Macros: New command "reload" to reload the currently opened page.
[+] Plugins: New built-in function that makes it easier to search for keywords: KeywordExists(sSearch, sKeyword, bWholeWord)
[-] Follow-Links: Placing multiple master bookmarks into a single folder could produce duplicate bookmarks under certain circumstances
Smaller fixes and improvements
Version 2022 (22.0) - 27-Jan-2022
[+] Windows 11 officially supported
[+] Max simultaneous checks with the check technology "Chromium/Browser" increased from 3 to 10 which offers much better performance when checking many bookmarks with this technology (in previous versions, simultaneous Chromium/Browser checks were limited to 3)
[+] Internal browser: New tab "Changes". This tab only shows the highlighted changes.
[+] Bookmark properties + Advanced + Open bookmark: Option to open the bookmark in the "Changes" tab
[+] Bookmark action / Send e-mail: New option to only send highlighted changes
[+] Bookmark action / Send e-mail: New option to attach screenshot with highlighted changes
[+] Bookmark properties + Actions + Send e-mail: New feature "Send test e-mail"
[+] Custom columns: Number of custom columns increased from 5 to 10
[+] Bookmark list: new column "Method" that shows the used check technology (values: C=Chromium, S=Screenshot, IE=Internet Explorer, C-Macro, IE-Macro)
[+] Bookmark list: new column "AutoWatch" (shows if AutoWatch is enabled)
[x] Improved memory usage when using the check technology "Chromium/Browser"
[+] "Find Bookmarks" and "Find folder" are now two different functions and different shortcuts can be defined (in previous versions it was dependent if the folder tree or the bookmark list was focused)
[+] Browser integration: Add bookmarks from browser Brave
[+] Virtual folders: New options for the SendMail action: "Send simple version", "Send only changes" and "Attach screenshot"
[+] Advanced setup options, eg. to pre-define options or to automatically insert the license key when installing WebSite-Watcher (Business Edition only).
[+] New program tweak: PauseCheckIfWindowExists - Pauses AutoWatch or a running bookmark check if one of the defined windows is in foreground. You can, for example, use this feature when working with a certain program or playing a game and you don't want to check bookmarks in that time.
[x] Integrated AD-Blocker improved
[x] Improved handling of responsive images
[x] Check technology "Standard" renamed to "Internal"
[x] Send e-mails: option to send text mails removed. E-mails are now always sent in HTML format.
[-] Jump to the first/next change did not work correctly under certain circumstances
[-] Changes side bar was not displayed after maximizing the internal browser
[x] Various optimizations for Windows 11
[x] Check technology "Chromium/Browser": Improved detection if a file is a PDF document
[x] Processing large sitemap files: Huge performance improvements
[x] More formats of sitemap files supported
[x] Update on keywords: Searching for whole words improved
[x] Improvements when restoring the previous version of a page
[x] Creating Watch filters: smaller improvements
[-] Starting WebSite-Watcher could take a very long time under certain circumstances
[x] Check technology Chromium/Browser improved
[x] Chromium Check Macros improved: More steps can be recorded
[x] Highlighting changes in large pages improved (will also abort with a timeout if processing takes far too long)
[x] Bookmark checks with Chromium/Browser: Improved detection and handling of certificate errors
[x] Improved high dpi support
[-] Fixed a possible crash when quickly opening/closing browser tabs
[-] Smaller fixes and improvements
Version 2021 (21.4) - 01-Jul-2021
[+] FTPS protocol supported (addresses must start with ftps://)
[+] Bookmark properties + Ignore updates + Min number of characters: Function to show characters of current page
[x] Facebook RSS feeds: Some emojis were displayed in huge size, these emojis are now reduced to a small size
[x] Improved decoding of certain encoded characters
[+] Record check macro: New button "Browser". Useful to accept cookie consent banners before you start recording a check macro.
[x] Check for new version: Automatically installing new updates has been re-implemented and works similar to previous versions of WebSite-Watcher.
Minor fixes and improvements
Version 2021 (21.3) - 19-May-2021
[+] Filter Assistant: More and improved logic when creating new watch filters. This will help to avoid creating watch filters that may not work correctly.
[+] Search for folder: If the folder tree is focused, then Ctrl+F will search for matching folders
[+] Folder "Search Results" in main window can be cleared with: Right click + "Clear Search Results"
[+] Custom columns: the property "Cosmetic filter" can be displayed
[-] Sending e-mails: a wrong error message could be displayed under certain and rare circumstances
[x] Improved background processing when sending e-mails
[x] CloudSync: downloaded images are synchronized (images were excluded in previous versions)
[x] Improved handling of downloaded images (images could not be displayed on certain pages)
[x] Improved performance when opening bookmark properties of large pages
Smaller fixes and improvements
Version 2021 (21.2) - 14-Apr-2021
[+] Bookmark properties / Actions: New action Pushover. It's possible to send a Pushover when an update has been detected.
[+] Options + Browser: Ad-Blocker Whitelist. Use this option if a server detects an ad blocker and does not display the page.
[-] Bookmark properties + Check-by-Screenshot: Selecting an area did not work correctly under certain circumstances
[x] Check technology Chromium/Browser improved
[x] Chromium Check Macros improved: More steps can be recorded
[x] Improved detection of untypical date formats in RSS/Atom feeds
[x] Improved synchronization with WebSite-Watcher App
Smaller fixes and improvements
Version 2021 (21.1) - 16-Mar-2021
[x] Check-by-Screenshot: improved support for high DPI resolutions
[x] Check-by-Screenshot: If the option to open bookmarks in external browser is enabled, then WebSite-Watcher uses the Internet Browser instead of the associated program
[+] Bookmark properties + Advanced + Open bookmark: External browser can optionally open the tiled version, the Text version or the Analysis version
[x] Send e-mails: Improved CSS support
[x] Improved handling of external CSS files
[x] Improved behavior after returning from hibernation when AutoWatch is activated
Smaller fixes and improvements
Version 2021 (21.0) - 17-Feb-2021
[+] Cosmetic filters: This is an extremely powerful new feature to completely remove unwanted content from a page. Cosmetic filters are applied before the page is processed by WebSite-Watcher. Result is or can be a (much) smaller page with only the content you want to monitor. This feature can also be used to remove cookie banners, floating windows etc. See Video-Tutorials
[+] Check technology "Default" uses now an internal Cookie database (instead of IE Cookies)
[+] Check technology "Screenshot" is now based on Chromium (instead of Internet Explorer)
[+] Check technology "Screenshot" can now be executed in Incognito mode
[+] CSS filters: additional rules
css(name) ... default behavior, matches all elements with id="name" or class="name"
css(#name) ... matches all elements with id="name"
css(.name) ... matches all elements with class="name"
css(.name*) ... matches all elements with class attribute containing "name" (will match class="name name2")
[+] Right click bookmark + Extras + Re-Initialize page: This can be useful when changes to the bookmark properties will not take effect until the next update is detected. This feature allows you to test changes to the bookmark properties immediately.
[x] Chromium Macros improved: More steps can be recorded
[+] Dropbox API: Support for short-lived tokens. It's required that you re-connect to Dropbox.
[-] Connecting WSW with Dropbox could cause a false message that the Dropbox folder is not found
[-] WebSite-Watcher could cause a crash when closed via Windows Shutdown
[x] Improved behavior when closing WebSite-Watcher via Windows-Shutdown
[x] Special filter "Watch all changes in image addresses": WebSite-Watcher will insert all these image addresses to the end of the page, so you can see in your browser which addresses are changed.
[x] Special filter "Watch all changes in link addresses": WebSite-Watcher will insert all these link addresses to the end of the page, so you can see in your browser which addresses are changed.
[+] Bookmark action "Local Website Archive": Save entered notes
[+] Script command "BackupToZip": New parameter /NoCacheFiles. The created backup file will be much smaller and only contain the bookmark database with all required files and configurations.
[+] Shortcuts can be defined for Browser+Back and Browser+Forward
[+] Shortcuts window: Search feature
[+] New program tweak: BrowserAcceptLanguage=
Lets you configure the "accept-language" HTTP header. This tweak will be used for the internal browser and for bookmark checks that are based on Chromium (Chromium/Browser, Chromium-Macros and Check-by-screenshot). For more information about this header search the web for "HTTP Accept-Language".
Default value is: en-US,en
Example: BrowserAcceptLanguage=de-DE,de,en-US,en
