Save your PlayStation download history, before you can’t [UPDATE: You Can’t]

[UPDATE 03/29/21] On the evening of March 27th, 2021, the “old” PlayStation Store website ceased to function for the majority of users worldwide. Sony appears to have finally closed the loophole that many of us were using to access pre-PlayStation 4 content from the web. It is still possible to search and buy content from each console and handheld. Our original post is archived below.

[UPDATED 12/21/20] Surprise! The Australian and European PlayStation Store websites came back online around December 17th. I’ve seen no official explanation as to why they were down or any indication that the “old” Store pages will remain online. Take advantage as long as you can and check out our posts for all the links and for steps to download your purchase history. Thanks to everyone who pointed out this news.

[UPDATED 11/22/20] The old Australian and European PlayStation Store websites were taken offline by November 17th, 2020. The information in this post is no longer applicable to those regions. The alternative is to load up your PlayStation 3 or Vita in these territories to view the PlayStation Store or watch our video archives. The original post follows, updated as applicable.

Still having access to the good version of the PlayStation Store website after Sony crippled the interface a few weeks ago has been a blessing. But it’s a gift that I truly believe isn’t going to be around for very long. Trust me, I’d love to be dead wrong and have it remain functional until the end of time. But just in case the worst happens here’s a solid way to archive YOUR digital PlayStation history now before this functionality is also taken away.

PSDLE has been a great browser-based tool that for years has given us an easy way to browse, search, and queue-for-download almost all of our digital PlayStation content. Unfortunately PSDLE is broken on the new PlayStation Store interface but it does still work on the old one. So right now is a great time — and potentially your last chance — to load up PSDLE and export a copy of your purchases and downloads. Here are the steps:

Install the PSDLE browser extension for Chrome or Firefox. You can also copy-and-paste some javascript code or use a bookmarklet, but installing the extension is the most straightforward.
After it’s installed, head to your country’s version of the old PlayStation Store.
Once there, simply activate PSDLE (the icon may be hidden in your browser’s Extensions menu)
‘Purchase History’ is selected by default but you should also enable ‘Catalog’
Click ‘Start’

Depending on how long you’ve been downloading demos, DLC, and games this next step might take a few minutes. You’ll see the progress bar slowly filling up and eventually you’ll have a huge display of content. You can toggle platforms and content types on and off as well as search for specific things. But all of this could disappear so we want to leave all the options toggled ON and click ‘Export View’ at the top left.

The basic items (Name, Platform, Size, Date) are probably enough for most people but you can click the ‘+’ icon to add a ton of variables. I found the ‘PlatformUsable’, ‘Vita Compat’, and ‘plus’ properties to provide some handy details like all of the consoles the game is playable on and whether I got it through PlayStation Plus. Once you’re happy with the options, click the ‘CSV’ button to download the data.

You can import this file into Microsoft Excel or another spreadsheet application but it’s just as easy to upload it to Google Sheets. From there you can color coordinate, organize, and sort the info like in the image at the top of this post. It should give you a faster way to check your games and DLC before plodding through the slow PlayStation 3 and Vita interfaces to queue it up. Best of all, Sony can’t take this data away once you’ve got it saved.

A Note on Downloading
Until Sony cuts off PSDLE’s access you can also use the extension to queue up downloads. Just follow the 5 steps above and instead of exporting, use the extension to sort or search for an item. Click on its name and then click the ‘Download to’ button. It should eventually pop up on your console. It worked for me on PlayStation 3 and 4 but I’m still waiting for anything to happen on the Vita. “Your mileage may vary”.