Clippings 4.0.1 released!

Clippings version 4.0.1, the update to the now-infamous version 4.0, is now available for download from Mozilla Add-ons or the Clippings website.

This minor release fixes the problem in version 4.0 where clippings were disappearing when upgrading from Clippings version 3.2 or older.  Users who have not yet upgraded to version 4.0 (before it was withdrawn from the download sites) can now upgrade to version 4.0.1 without fear of having their clippings disappear on them.

What if I have already upgraded to version 4.0?

If you have already upgraded and have noticed that your clippings have disappeared, please click here to see the blog post for instructions on how to get them back.

Clippings 4.0.1 does not introduce anything new except for the fix for the disappearing clippings issue, as described above.  Users who already have version 4.0 can upgrade to version 4.0.1 anyway.

What's new in Clippings 4.0/4.0.1

For readers who missed out on it when version 4.0 was originally released, here is the list of new features and improvements:

• Customizable data source location.  You can now change the location of the data source using the new, redesigned extension preferences dialog.
• Data source backup and restore from Clippings Manager
• Search for clippings in Clippings Manager using the new Find Bar
• Auto-incrementing placeholders. These are special placeholders that you will be prompted for once to enter a starting numeric value; every time the clipping containing this placeholder is pasted, the placeholder will be automatically substituted with a value that is incremented from the last paste. Auto-incrementing placeholder names are in the format #[variable_name].
• Tab-modal placeholder prompt dialog for Firefox. With this enhancement, it is possible to interact with other browser tabs in the same window while prompted for a clipping placeholder value
• Auto spell checking of clipping text (in New Clipping dialog and Clippings Manager)
• New extension option to enable or disable the shortcut key prefix, CTRL+ALT+V (or Command+Option+V on Mac OS X)
• Shortcut key help. Press the usual shortcut key prefix, CTRL+ALT+V (or Command+Option+V on Mac OS X), then press F1 to get a list of shortcut keys and the clipping they are assigned to. This list can be printed, or saved to an HTML file.
• On Firefox, add the Clippings toolbar button to the Add-on Bar, if it is not there already

Things you should know about Clippings 4.0.1

• If you are a new user of Clippings, the default data source location will be your Firefox or Thunderbird profile folder.  If you're a current user upgrading to version 4.0.1, your data source location will be unchanged.  If you want your clippings to be available in both Firefox and Thunderbird, you will need to change the data source location to a folder accessible to both applications.
• Changing the data source location will not automatically move your clippings to the new data source.  If you want to move your clippings into the new data source location, you should export your clippings (using Tools → Export in Clippings Manager) before changing the data source location.  After changing the data source location, you can then import your clippings (Tools → Import in Clippings Manager).
• The status bar in Clippings Manager is now turned off by default, to reduce visual clutter.  This only affects new Clippings users; the status bar will still be visible to existing users who are upgrading from a previous version.  The status bar can be turned on or off anytime by selecting Options from the Tools menu button in Clippings Manager.

How to get it

Clippings 4.0.1 is available for download from Mozilla Add-ons, or from the Clippings website.

If you already have an older version of Clippings installed, it will be upgraded for you if automatic extension updates are enabled. Otherwise, open Extension Manager (Tools → Add-ons), then right-click on the entry for Clippings in the list of installed extensions and choose Find Update.

Users of Portable Firefox or Portable Thunderbird: Starting with Clippings 4.0/4.0.1, the default location of your clippings data source will be the Portable Firefox or Portable Thunderbird profile folder, which is usually located on your portable media (e.g. USB thumb drive). As a result of this change, the "Portable Edition" of Clippings is not needed anymore, and is no longer available.


Help and support

Questions and comments about Clippings should be directed to the AE Creations forums, now hosted on Google Groups.

New Clippings release coming

The fix for the problem where clippings were disappearing after upgrading to version 4.0 requires that a new version of Clippings to be released.  Due to the Mozilla Add-ons review process that is required for all extension releases, I anticipate that it will be approximately 1-2 weeks before Clippings 4.0.1 is available for download.

Due to the serious nature of this issue, version 4.0 of Clippings has been withdrawn.  New users can continue to install version 3.2.  Current users wanting to upgrade will have to wait until version 4.0.1 is released.

What if I have already upgraded?

If you have already upgraded and have noticed that your clippings have disappeared, please click here to see the blog post for instructions on how to get them back.

Disappearing Clippings data after upgrading to version 4.0

There have been a few reports from users that their clippings have disappeared after upgrading to version 4.0.

This problem is under investigation (bug 25520).  In the meantime, if you have experienced this problem, try doing the following:

Update - 3 August 2013 - The following steps should get your clippings back.  Follow them first before trying the other approaches below:

1. In Firefox, enter "about:config" in the address bar.  In Thunderbird, invoke the preferences dialog (on Windows, Tools → Options; on Mac OS X, Thunderbird → Preferences; on Linux, Edit → Preferences), click Advanced, then click Config Editor.
2. Search for the pref "extensions.aecreations.clippings.datasource.location"
3. Change the value of that pref to your user home folder.  For example, this would be C:\Users\username on Windows 7, C:\Documents and Settings\username on Windows XP, ~\username on Linux and Mac OS X.
4. Exit and restart Firefox or Thunderbird

 The original suggested steps for recovery are below.  Try them if the above steps don't work:

• Open Clippings Manager, select Tools → Restore and choose the most recent date/time that appears in the menu.
• If that doesn't work, select Tools → Import, browse to the Clippings backup folder (e.g. for users on Windows 7 this would be C:\Users\username\.clipbak; on Linux and Mac OS X, it would be ~/username/.clipbak), and then choose the most recent backup file