Archiving your Google Site

I use Google sites for teaching purposes but when it comes around to accreditation time the Luddites want printed evidence or a CD (at a push)

Here's the steps I follow to have an archived copy of a subject website.

Step 1: Electronic Archive
I don't include the year and semester in the current website, for example:
https://sites.google.com/site/eee400sautomaticcontrol/

To create an electronic archive, I copy the whole subject website (under MORE>Manage Site>General)
and rename it to only the subject code and the year and semester
https://sites.google.com/site/eee400s2012sem2/

The site without the year and semester is then what I use for the new semester and go through the copying process again at the end of the current semester. Any updates and changes is retained and the current website is then also the one that has all the newest stuff.

NOTE: the default settings is for the copied site to be closed, change that to Public on the Web. It makes the next step easier.

That is my electronics archived copy for record keeping purposes. It sits there at Google and you can forget about it. Here is a screen clip of what My Sites look like after copying

My Google Sites after copying the site

NOTE: Keep the browser tab with the copied (in Google) website open, you will need it a little later.

Step 2: Local Copy of complete website
a) Download and install the open source website copier from http://www.httrack.com

b) Create a local directory where you would like to save the local copy of the website. I find it best to make a directory called "Website" . It needs to be in it's own directory (Why, later..) The HTTrack creates subdirectories.

c) Launch HTTrack Website copier and open a new project

New HTTrack project

Add the information requested, click the BROWSE button next to the Base Path box.

Browse to the directory that you created to save the website to

Once you have found the directory, click OK , and then NEXT

Now you need to specify two things, 
one, you want to copy the WHOLE website, and
two, the URL of the site that you would like to copy.

To get the URL, go back to the browser tab with the copied (in Google) website and copy the URL from the browser address bar.

Copied (in Google) website browser tab with URL

Go back to HTTrack and paste that URL in the URL box

Insert the URL of the website you would like to copy

Click Next, the next window appears

Here you can click FINISH, and HTTrack with starts doing it's magic, and when it's complete this dialog box appears,

HTTrack Finished dialog box

The error log button will probably be flashing, click on it just to see if there are any serious errors.  

NOTE: If there are serious errors that results in the website not being copied, it takes just as much time as when the website is copied completely, so do not use the time it takes and assume the website has been copied.

NOTE: If you did not make the website public, HTTrack will not be able to copy it and that will result in a serious error.

Now you can go back to Windows Explorer and navigate to the directory where you asked the website to be saved

Mine looked like this

To open the copied website, just double click the index.html file.

NOTE: Not all the website contents are in the sub-folders, some are in the main Website folder, that is why it was necessary to create the Website directory so that these files, like index.html does not get lost in and amongst a bunch of other files.

And there you have it, a local copy of you Google site, that is fully operational with links and all. Even if you have Adsense ads on your subject site, they will also be copied!