How to Use Subscriptions in Microsoft Internet Explorer

With Internet Explorer 4.0, you can subscribe to any page on the Web. When you subscribe to a page, Internet Explorer monitors the page, notifies you when the page is updated, and optionally delivers the updated content at your convenience.

This article describes how to use subscriptions in Internet Explorer 4.0. The following topics are discussed:

• Subscribing to a site
• Removing a subscribed site
• Configuring a subscription
• Subscription options

Subscribing to a Site

To subscribe to a Web site, use one of the following methods:

Add to Favorites and Subscribe:

1. Open the Web site in Internet Explorer.
2. On the Favorites menu, click Add To Favorites.
3. Click "Yes, but only tell me when this page is updated", or "Yes, notify me of updates and download the page for offline viewing", and then click OK.
4. In the Add Favorites dialog box, click OK.

Removing a Subscribed Site

To remove a subscribed site, follow these steps:

1. In Internet Explorer, on the Favorites menu click Manage Subscriptions.
2. Right-click the subscription you want to remove, click Delete, and then click Yes.

Configuring a Subscription

For a New Subscription:

You can customize the options for a subscription when you subscribe to a site. When you are subscribing, click Customize in the Add Favorite dialog box to customize the notification and download options.

For Existing Subscriptions:

1. On the Favorites menu, click Manage Subscriptions.
2. Right-click the subscription you want to modify, and then click Properties.
3. Select the options you want to use, and then click OK.

Subscription Options

When you subscribe to a Web site, click "Yes, notify me of updates and download the page for offline viewing", and then click Customize in the Add Favorite dialog box, when prompted "How should the subscription be updated" in the Subscription Wizard you can choose from the following download options:

• Scheduled: Causes subscription updates to occur daily at 12:00 A.M. if you connect to the Internet using a local area network. If you connect to the Internet using a modem, you must manually update your subscriptions. To do so, see the description of the "Manually" option below.
• Custom Schedule: You can specify when subscriptions will be updated. If you connect to the Internet using a local area network, subscription updates occur automatically based on the schedule you specify. If you connect to the Internet using a modem, subscriptions can be updated in any of the following ways:
  
  
  • You are connected to the Internet when your subscriptions are automatically updated.
  • You manually update your subscriptions. To do so, see the description of the "Manually" option below.
  • You must enable unattended dial-up for subscription updates. To do so, click the "Connect automatically to update subscriptions" check box to select it. Note that you must have an active Dial-Up Networking connection with the automatic dialing option enabled for unattended dial-up to work. To enable the automatic dialing option in Internet Explorer, follow these steps:
    
    
    1. In Internet Explorer, click Internet Options on the View menu, and then click the Connection tab.
    2. Click Settings.
    3. Click the "Connect automatically to update subscriptions" check box to select it, and then in "Log on to this connection using the following information" type your logon information.
    4. Click OK, and then click OK again.
• Manually: Subscriptions are updated only when you manually update them. To manually update your subscriptions, on the Favorites menu, click Update All Subscriptions. If you do not want to update all of your subscriptions, click Manage Subscriptions, right-click the subscription you want to update, and then click Update Now.