This guide will show you how to capture entire content sections (like full news articles with both headlines and body text) instead of just partial elements.
Example Website:
Step-by-Step Process
1. Selecting the Target Element
Hover over a news article on the page
Click to select what appears to be the headline (initially highlighted in green)
Common Issue: Sometimes only part of the content gets selected (e.g., just the title)
2. Expanding Your Selection
In the Tips Panel, locate and click the "Expand Selection" button
Each click expands the highlighted area outward
The green highlight shows what's currently selected
Continue expanding until:
The entire article block is highlighted
Both headline AND content text are included
3. Verifying Your Selection
Check the Data Preview panel to confirm:
Article titles appear
Full content text is captured
No unwanted elements are included
Pro Tips for Perfect Selections
🔹 Use the selection breadcrumbs (bottom of Tips Panel) to understand the HTML structure
🔹 Try different expansion levels - sometimes the ideal selection takes 2-3 clicks
🔹 Combine with pagination to scrape multiple articles across pages
Troubleshooting
❌ Getting too much content?
Try the "Refine Selection" button to narrow down
Use XPath/CSS selectors for precision
❌ Missing some articles?
Check if content loads dynamically (enable AJAX/JS handling)
Verify your selection works across different article formats
Next Steps
Add pagination to scrape multiple pages
Set up data cleaning to format your results
Export to Excel/Google Sheets for analysis