Saved Rules and Custom CSS Selectors for Repeat Scrapes

The cost of reconfiguring the same sites

If you scrape the same handful of sites on a schedule, you have probably noticed how much time goes into setup before any real work happens. You re-pick your filters, set pagination, adjust the scan duration, and maybe wrestle with a layout that hides its images. Doing that once is fine. Doing it every week is wasted effort.

Saved Rules in Bulk Image Downloader From URL List removes that repetition. It bundles your scan configuration into a named, reusable rule so a site you visit often loads with your setup already in place.

Saving your current settings as a rule

Expand the Saved Rules section at the bottom of the scraper. First, dial in the scan the way you want it — filters, pagination, scan duration, the full configuration. When it is right, choose Save Current Settings.

You are then asked to name the rule, and the domain auto-fills based on where you are, so the rule is tied to the right site without extra typing. You can also save your current filters and pagination along with the rule, which keeps the whole setup together as one package: name it once, apply it in one click on the next visit.

Custom CSS selectors for stubborn layouts

Some pages structure their markup in ways a default scan does not catch — thumbnails buried in unusual containers, images referenced through data attributes, or galleries built with non-standard classes. For those, a rule can carry custom CSS selectors.

You enter them comma-separated, targeting exactly the elements that hold the images you want. Selectors like the following are typical:

• img.thumbnail — images carrying a specific class.
• .gallery img — every image inside a gallery container.
• img[data-src] — images whose real source sits in a data attribute.

When the default scan misses images on a tricky layout, custom selectors are the fix. Save them into the rule and that site scans correctly from then on, no manual tweaking required.

Quick apply and managing rules

Applying a saved rule is fast. Use the quick-apply dropdown, choose your rule, and select Apply Rule — the settings snap into place. For housekeeping, Manage Rules lets you apply or delete saved rules so the list stays clean as your needs change. A rules badge shows how many you have saved, so you always know your library at a glance.

The Sessions section also offers a shortcut right here, letting you jump to your session history without scrolling away. Rules and sessions work as a team: rules restore how you scan a site, sessions restore what you captured from it.

When this pays off

If you scrape the same five sites every week, saved rules pay off on the very first reuse. Build a rule per site once — selectors, filters, pagination and all — and every future visit starts with your setup dialed in instead of rebuilt from scratch. It is the difference between configuring the tool and simply using it.