Requirements
- Active Enterprise or Business plan. (If you don't see widget options, check your plan in the dashboard.)
- Chrome or any Chromium-based browser (Edge, Brave, Arc, Opera, …).
- Active GetProofAnchor account with an API key generated in the dashboard settings.
- The page you want to capture must be openable in your own browser — public, or one where you're already signed in. The widget captures from your real browser session.
Step 1 — Install the Chrome extension and connect your API key
The setup is one-time and takes about a minute. The video below walks through the entire flow — install, API key, first capture.
1.1 — Install the extension
Add the GetProofAnchor Browser Widget from the Chrome Web Store. After installation, click the Chrome puzzle icon in the toolbar and pin GetProofAnchor so the icon stays visible.
1.2 — Connect with your API key
Open the GPA dashboard , go to settings, and copy your API key. In the widget popup, paste the key and confirm. The extension is now authorized to create proofs on your account — no separate login each time.
If your organization uses managed Chrome, ask IT to allow the GetProofAnchor extension and (optionally) pin it by policy. The widget needs no special permissions beyond reading the active tab when you click it.
Step 2 — Pick the right capture mode
The widget supports two distinct capture modes. They produce equivalent forensic records — same Proof ID format, same Evidence ZIP, same trust stack — but they reach different parts of the web.
The widget tells the GPA backend to fetch the URL from its servers and render it in a clean, headless browser. Same engine as the dashboard. Use this for content that's reachable by anyone, no login needed.
Perfect for: public articles · blog posts · public social profiles · pricing pages · news
The widget captures exactly what your real browser is rendering — including pages that require login, 2FA, paid subscription, or a specific session. The captured screenshot, DOM and text reflect what you actually see on your screen, in your account, right now.
Perfect for: analytics dashboards · social media inbox / DMs · internal admin pages · customer portals · subscription content · webmail
The browser snapshot mode uploads only the rendered page artifacts: screenshot, captured DOM/HTML, extracted text and capture metadata. Your cookies, saved passwords, browser history, and other account secrets never leave your machine. The widget only reads the active tab when you explicitly click capture.
Step 3 — Capture
Once the extension is installed and the API key is connected, capture is fast:
- Open the page you want to capture in your browser. For behind-login content, make sure you're already signed in and the key information is visible (scroll if needed).
- Click the GPA icon in your toolbar, then pick the mode — Server for public URLs, Browser snapshot for everything else.
- Confirm. The capture takes a few seconds (Server) or runs in your tab and uploads the artifacts (Browser snapshot).
- When it's done, the widget shows a Proof ID and a link to the proof in the dashboard.
A few small things that make captures cleaner — especially for behind-login content:
- For behind-login content, sign in BEFORE clicking capture. The widget uses your current session — if you're not logged in, you'll capture the login screen instead.
- For dynamic / lazy-loaded content (Twitter timeline, infinite-scroll lists, deferred images), scroll through the page first so the content you care about is rendered.
- For single-page apps (SPAs), wait until the page is fully loaded — visible network spinners or skeleton screens mean content is still arriving.
- If a cookie banner or modal is blocking the content, dismiss it first. (Server capture auto-handles many CMP banners; the browser snapshot captures whatever is on screen at the moment of capture.)
Step 4 — After capture (same artifacts as the dashboard)
Whichever mode you used, the result is the same kind of tamper-evident record as a dashboard capture:
- a permanent Proof ID — share it as a link, anyone can verify it online without an account
- an exportable Evidence ZIP — portable, self-contained, offline-verifiable (manifest, hash chain, Bitcoin OpenTimestamps anchor, eIDAS qualified timestamp)
- the same anchoring layers — your behind-login capture is anchored in the global hash chain, stamped to Bitcoin, and signed by an EU-qualified TSA, exactly like a dashboard proof
Two natural follow-ups:
- Want to know how to verify the proof or the ZIP later? Read How to verify evidence (Proof ID & ZIP).
- Want to see exactly what's inside the exported ZIP, file by file? Read Evidence ZIP — every file inside, offline-verifiable.
Widget vs dashboard — which to use?
Both produce identical, tamper-evident proof records. Pick based on the page you're trying to capture:
- the page is behind login, 2FA, or a paywall
- you're capturing analytics dashboards, social media DMs, internal admin tools, or customer portals
- you want to capture quickly while reviewing content, without copy-pasting URLs
- you're doing repeated captures (investigation, change tracking, OSINT)
- the page is publicly reachable and a logged-out browser would render the same content
- you have a list of URLs to capture from records or notes
- you don't want to install anything — every plan supports the dashboard
- you're managing or browsing existing proofs in the workspace
Continue with: How to verify evidence — Proof ID, Evidence ZIP, online and offline.
Not legal advice. Admissibility depends on jurisdiction and circumstances.