By default PageCrawl tracks the words on a page as plain text. With Capture formatted text turned on, it also keeps the page's structure: headings, lists, links and tables become part of the tracked content, so a change reads the way the page presents it.
What does Capture formatted text do?
Capture formatted text stores the tracked content as structured text instead of plain text. Headings stay headings, list items stay list items, links keep their destination, and table rows keep their columns. Diffs, AI summaries, emails and reports then show a change inside that structure, for example one changed cell in a price table instead of a run of words.
The change history shows formatted content with its headings, lists, links and tables. Email alerts and shared digests show it formatted too, and chat notifications (Slack, Discord, Microsoft Teams, Telegram) use the formatting each app supports.
Which tracked elements support formatted text?
Formatted text is available for the text-based element types below, on every engine, including Fast.
| Element type | What is captured as formatted text |
|---|---|
| Full Page Text | The page content you chose to track |
| Text | The first element that matches your selector |
| Text (all matches) | Every element that matches your selector |
| Text (all matches, sorted) | Every match, in sorted order |
| The document, with headings, tables and a page count line |
PDF documents have their own setup and notes, described in Tracking Text Changes in PDF Files.
How do I turn on formatted text for a web page?
Turn it on while adding the page in the simple editor:
- Click Track New Page and enter the page URL.
- Under What to Track, choose Full Page Text.
- Open Page adjustments and switch on Capture formatted text.
- Save the monitor.
For a selected element, or for a monitor that already exists, use Advanced Setup. Under Tracked Elements, find the Full Page Text, Text, Text (all matches) or Text (all matches, sorted) element and tick Capture formatted text below it, then save.
Note: while a monitor is linked to a template, the option is locked and follows the template. Change it on the template instead.
Will turning on formatted text trigger an alert?
Yes, once. The first check after you turn Capture formatted text on or off compares the new format against the old one, so it can report a change even though the page did not change. After that, checks compare like with like. Switching the engine of a monitor can also report a one-time change, because each engine reads a page slightly differently, with or without formatted text.
Is there a size limit for formatted text?
Yes. Formatted text keeps up to 200,000 characters of a page or element. Content past that point is not part of the formatted capture, so for very long pages consider tracking a specific part of the page with a Text element. PDF documents have a separate limit, described in the PDF article.
Related Articles
- Available Tracked Element Types - Every element type you can track
- Tracking Text Changes in PDF Files - Formatted text for PDF documents