Archive FAQ > Unofficial Browser Tools

How can I use userscripts with the Archive?

Userscripts can add to and alter webpages in your browser, allowing you to do some cool things with the Archive of Our Own (AO3) that aren't normally possible. Note that they don't change the AO3 itself, just the way your browser interacts with it. Most mobile device browsers don't have the option to apply userscripts, so unfortunately these tools can only be used on desktop or laptop computers. You can, however, use bookmarklets in most mobile device browsers.

You'll need a browser extension to run userscripts. You can use any extension you prefer, but here's a list of some known extensions for the most popular browsers to get you started:

For more detailed descriptions of some of the tools we list here, you can refer to Archive user Arduinna's unofficial tutorial.

How can I change the appearance of the Archive?

To change the appearance of the Archive of Our Own (AO3), you can apply a Site Skin (for more information on skins, refer to the Skins and Archive Interface FAQ).

Is there a search engine plugin for AO3?

Archive of Our Own (AO3) user punk has created an AO3 search engine plugin. To install, simply select the "Archive of Our Own" link in the list and confirm that you'd like to add it to your search engines. This plugin should work with Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Chrome and will allow you to search AO3 directly from your browser search box.

What tools can let me sort, filter, or modify my search results?

  • To sort any of our fandom listings, e.g. all Movies, by number of works instead of alphabetically, you can use carene waterman's Reorder Fandoms bookmarklet.
  • To exclude certain keywords by default when using the tag filters, install tuff_ghost's AO3 Saved Filters userscript and put in unwanted terms preceded by a minus sign. You can then enter these tags in the "Saved Filters" box, which is added above "Search Within Results".
  • If you'd like the option to sort works not just by number of hits or kudos, but also by the ratio of kudos per hits, Min has a kudos/hits percentage script for you!
  • Min's AO3: Kudosed and seen history userscript allows you to easily determine whether you have already accessed, left kudos, and/or bookmarked a work on any work listing. Min has helpfully provided instructions on how to use these scripts on their greasyfork page.
  • Another of Min's helpful userscripts is AO3 Tracking, which allows you to save any search or filter combinations and then check them for new matches. Please review the Author Description on the AO3 Tracking page for instructions.

What tools can let me filter out triggering, offensive, or unwanted content?

  • Front end coder Sarken put together a Blurb Blocker userscript that allows you to hide work blurbs from tag listings, search results, etc. if they contain one or more terms you have specified in the script.
  • In the same vein, front end coder tuff_ghost cloned the popular Tumblr Savior userscript for use on the Archive of Our Own (AO3): AO3 Savior lets you define creators, tags, or summary keywords and will hide all work blurbs that contain one or more of these terms.
  • If you'd prefer not to have comments and named kudos from certain users or any anonymous commenter show up on your works (or anywhere on AO3!), you can use tuff_ghost's Personal Hellban script and either enable guest blocking or insert a list of usernames. This will not actually prevent people from commenting or leaving kudos, but it will hide anything you specify in your own browser.

What tools can help me when posting to the Archive?

If you use Google Drive to work on text-based fanworks, you might have run into formatting issues when copying from Google Drive to our Rich Text Editor. In particular, italics and bold text do not carry over correctly when copy-pasting text. To solve this problem, Min has created a script for Google Drive that will take your finished work and convert all basic formatting into HTML for you. You can find it in this example document for posting to AO3.

Select the "Make a copy..." option in the File menu, which will put a private copy of the document into your own Google Drive account. Then just delete the sample text and use the blank document for your own work. When you're done, use the "Post to AO3" menu to prepare the whole thing for pasting into the HTML editor. HTML tags will be added for you! In most cases, this will be much more reliable than using the Rich Text Editor. If you're posting on a mobile device, you will need to open Google Drive in your browser and change to the desktop version in order for the script to work.

What tools can help with accessing and downloading works?

  • Sometimes a work will have a lot of whitespace between paragraphs, possibly due to issues with our Rich Text Editor when posting from a word processor. You can use carene waterman's Strip Empties bookmarklet to temporarily remove excess blank lines between paragraphs.
  • Check out adevyish's AO3 Lazier userscript, which adds a "latest chapter" button next to the chapter menu.
  • The AO3 eBook Download Helper displays download links for every work on a search results page, or any page containing a list of multiple works (such as series and collections), so you can quickly download multiple files!
  • tuff_ghost's AO3 Download Buttons adds download buttons to each blurb on any work listing.
  • The freeware ebooks manager Calibre has a pair of plugins, FanFicFare and EpubMerge, which, when both installed, allow you to automatically download Archive of Our Own (AO3) series as a single ebook. (It can also download all the work links on a given AO3 page, so you can enter a link to the creator's works page for a particular fandom and get all their works in one ebook.) It will even update the ebooks when a new work is added to the series. There is also a guide to using these plugins (which was written when the plugin was called FanFictionDownloader) and a FanFicFare Wiki.

What tools allow me to download my stats and other information from AO3?

  • Flamebyrd's AO3 Statistics CSV Bookmarklet lets you download your Archive of Our Own (AO3) work stats (number of hits, kudos, bookmarks, etc.) as a .csv file, which can be neatly imported into a spreadsheet for your own number-crunching.
  • If you'd rather have a list of all your works, including title, tags, basic stats, and URL, try Flamebyrd's AO3 Works List CSV Bookmarklet instead.

What tools can help me manage my collections and challenges?

Front end coder Sarken created a Sign-up Summary Sorter userscript, which will add sorting options to any challenge's Sign-up Summary page. It allows you to sort by fandom name, number of offers, or number of requests in ascending or descending order.

What tools can make it easier to share AO3 works on other sites?

How can I tell you about a cool tool I found that you haven't listed here?

You can contact Support to let us know of tools you think should be included in this FAQ. To help them direct your feedback appropriately, please mention this FAQ in your submission.

Where can I get more information if my question isn't answered here?

Some frequently asked questions about the Archive are answered in other sections of the Archive FAQ, and some common terminology is defined in our Glossary. Questions and answers about our Terms of Service can be found in the Terms of Service FAQ. You may also like to check out our Known Issues. If you need more help, please submit a Support request.