What's New in Version 8.5
Updated over a week ago

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This video walks you through the updates of the new version of Octoparse 8.5:

Delivering on a promise to provide faster web scraping, the Octoparse team is rolling out an 8.5 update, which is now available for download.

Octoparse 8.5 is a stable version and includes several features our users have long requested. It is built on the same solid foundation as 8.4. If you use Octoparse 8.4, then the 8.5 update is a natural transition. However, there are still many changes to what you know, and what you’re familiar with. With this major update, Octoparse offers innovations focused on enhancing local run efficiency and is designed to make use of the power of your local devices with a brand new Boost Mode.

This article lists what’s new, and some of the features and improvements. Let’s explore the new exciting features together and see how the 8.5 update stacks up against the previous versions.

Welcome to Octoparse. Again.

In this article:

    • Boost Mode vs Standard Mode

    • New data run window

    • Pause/resume a local run

    • Event logs

    • Cloud data backup for local runs

    • Batch actions for task management

    • More task sorting ways and task filters

    • Local run time and repeats

    • New task priority levels

    • More handy quick buttons

    • Timezone conversion

    • Original input URLs

    • Public IP pools switch

    • Security Enhancements

    • Compatibility Fix

Local Data Runs

As the highlight of this major update, Octoparse gets a new multi-thread “Boost Mode” for local data runs. When this mode is turned on, Octoparse takes advantage of the idle resources of your local devices and splits your tasks into subtasks to achieve faster scraping.

This new feature also comes with more freedom of choice than ever. When you click the run button like you normally do after you finish building your task workflow, a pop-up window will appear and ask you how you’d like to run your task. In addition to choosing between Run on your device and Run in the Cloud, you can now run your task in a traditional Standard Mode (with task split disabled), or push your local device to its limit (not past it) with the brand new Boost Mode.

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TIP: Read this article for more information on the difference between the Standard Mode and Boost Mode.

We also redesign almost everything around local data run, featuring a new data run window. It has the option to pause/resume a local run task any time you want. You can also check for event logs in one of the four tabs within the window, which is extremely helpful in troubleshooting tasks.

Octoparse now supports cloud data backup for local runs. If you're subscribed to pro or above plans, you can now set Octoparse to auto backup your local run data to the cloud after a task is stopped or completed. This is extremely helpful if you want to use API to connect your local data to a database.


Renovated Dashboard for Task Management

A poorly designed and organized dashboard will make it a chore to find the task you're looking for. With this new update, we have made several adjustments to the dashboard to help you improve productivity and the efficiency of workflows. The new customizable interface will collect more real-time data from multiple tasks and display the generated insights in the form of charts.

  • More batch actions for task management The 8.5 update enables more batch actions for task management. You can now select multiple tasks and manage them at the same time.

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  • More task sorting methods and task filters There are also more ways to sort and filter your tasks. With more freedom on how you can customize the filters to your liking, the new dashboard will be a delightful tool for users with a large number of tasks.

  • Local run time and repeats As we have made big changes to local data runs, the dashboard will now show local run time and repeats by default.

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  • New task priority levels We have also updated the way of showing task priority. When more than one task is running in the cloud, you can prioritize them by setting priority values ranging from 1 (lowest) to 99 (highest).

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  • More handy quick buttons We put the Delete and Duplicate buttons near at hand.

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More Options in Task Configuration

We have also added some useful new features to help you better configure your tasks.

  • Timezone conversion You can now effortlessly convert times from one time zone to another in any data field with a newly-added timezone conversion function.

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TIP: Read this article for more tips and tricks on time conversion.

  • Original input URLs You can extract the original input URLs (before getting redirected) as a data field

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TIP: Read this article to learn how to extract the original input URL.

  • Public IP pools switch For cloud runs, there is a new option to switch among several public IP pools. Try to use it when your website targets its content to a specific country.

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TIP: Read this article for more information about when/how to switch between different IP pools.


Enhanced macOS Support

With this update, we also bring some good news for macOS users. This update improves the stability, performance, or compatibility of Octoparse and is recommended for macOS users (above 10.13).

  • Security Enhancements Octoparse 8.5 is now notarized, which indicates that Apple checked it for malicious software and none was detected. You will no longer encounter any verification issues if the security and privacy preferences of your Mac are set to allow apps from the App Store and identified developers.

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  • Compatibility Fix We certainly didn’t leave behind end users with older systems and edge case setups. The 8.5 updates also fixed the compatibility issues with macOS 10.13.

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