About SFGate Clip Ads
 
SFGate Clip Ads allows readers to save specific classified advertisements in a personal area for later retrieval or convenient printing.
 
Possible uses of SFGate Clip Ads are:How Clip Ads works
 
Taking advantage of Clip Ads could hardly be easier.
 
At the bottom of each classified ad on SFGate, you will note a hypertext link that invites you to "clip this ad."
 
If you click your mouse on this link, the associated ad will be automatically added to a personal list. As this happens, a small window with your ad list will open automatically so that you can browse your saved list.
 
As you find items in SFGate's classifieds that you want to save, click on the "clip this ad" link as often as you like. There is no limit to the number of ads you may save.
 
When you return to SFGate's classifieds later, simply click on the "show my Clip Ads" link from the main classifieds page and a small window will open with your saved ads. Your clipped ads are visible in your personal area as long as they are still visible online.
 
If you want to remove a previously clipped ad from your list, simply click the "delete this ad" link beneath the ad in question in your personal window. Presto, the ad is now removed from your list!
 
Generally speaking, your saved ads remain on your list for one week after their last publication date online. For instance, if a new ad for a used auto runs on Monday and you clip the ad that day, the ad will be visible in your list until the following Monday.
 
Under certain circumstances, an ad might disappear sooner. For example if an ad was removed from online presentation early for some reason - perhaps at the request of the advertiser - it might disappear from your personal clip ads list before the week is out.
 
Notes
 
Your list of clipped ads is linked to the computer from which you save the ads. This means that if two different people use the same computer, they will end up adding to the saved clipped list. We've designed the system to be used this way because in many cases, for example a couple saving houses for sale to a list they jointly access, this is precisely the behavior one wants.
 
However, be aware that the clipped ads can be viewed by anyone who has access to your computer. So if you don't want people at your workplace to know that you've been clipping help wanted ads from our wonderful employment resources, make sure you're the only one using the computer!
 
We keep track of your ad list by using "cookies." The use of cookies is common on the web. A cookie is a small amount of data that resides in a file written and managed by your web browser.
 
In this case, the cookie simply tells us which collection of saved ads to present when you click on the "show my Clip Ads" link or save a new ad. Using cookies allows us to present your clipped ads to you without relying on a cumbersome process of logging in, creating a user name and password, etc.
 
Limitations
 
Because the cookie is stored by the browser of a particular computer you can't carry the clipping sessions between computers. In other words, if you clip ads at work they won't be visible to your home computer. Likewise ads clipped at home will not be visible to your work computer.
 
In addition, certain types of ads - those identified in the ad feed list with partner logos - can only be saved for a single day. These ads are refreshed by our partners each night and thus are not "durable" between days. We will work with our partner information providers to remedy this in future versions of the Clip Ads feature.