Clippings 4.0 Release Candidate 1 is released!

Finally, after a year of toiling away at improvements to Clippings during my spare time, I am pleased to announce the release candidate of Clippings 4.0!

Barring any last-minute show stoppers, this release candidate may become the official version 4.0 release.

What's new in Clippings 4.0

• 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

• 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, 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

Head over to the Clippings page on the Mozilla Add-ons website, then scroll to the bottom and expand Development Channel.  Click on the yellow "Add to Firefox" button to install it for Firefox.

To install Clippings 4.0 Release Candidate 1 for Thunderbird, right-click on the yellow "Add to Firefox" button and select the option to save the XPI file.  Choose a location to save the file to, then launch Thunderbird, open the Add-ons Manager, then click the Tools icon and select Install Add-on From File.

Help and Support

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

Panic Button 1.5.3.1 released!

A minor release of Panic Button is now available on Mozilla Add-ons and the AE Creations website.

If you already have an older version of Panic Button 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 Panic Button in the list of installed extensions and choose Find Update.

What's New

• Added translations for German and Hebrew
• Extensions preferences in about:config are moved into the "extensions.*" preferences branch

Help and Support

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

Clippings 4.0 beta 3 released!

This is the third beta release of the next version of Clippings, intended for early adopters who crave the latest and greatest. Users not comfortable trying out pre-release software and tolerating its many bugs should stick with Clippings 3.2 for now.

What's new in beta 3

• Bug fix: When searching for clippings and folders, searching for a specific folder doesn't return any results if there aren't also any matching clippings of the same name (bug 25420)
• Bug fix: The drop-down field in the General pane of the extension preferences dialog is distorted (bug 25423)
• Bug fix: On Mac OS X, the height of the extension preferences dialog is wrong, causing the dialog content to be cut off (bug 25443).  NOTE: This issue is fixed on Firefox but is still occurring on Thunderbird.
• Bug fix: On Ubuntu 12.04, the Clippings Manager toolbar background is too dark (bug 25424)

Cumulative list of new features in Clippings 4.0

• Customizable data source location
• 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 
• Redesigned extension preferences dialog 

 How to Get It

Head over to the Clippings page on the Mozilla Add-ons website, then scroll to the bottom and expand Development Channel.  Click on the yellow "Add to Firefox" button to install it for Firefox.

To install Clippings 4.0 beta 2 for Thunderbird, right-click on the yellow "Add to Firefox" button and select the option to save the XPI file.  Choose a location to save the file to, then launch Thunderbird, open the Add-ons Manager, then click the Tools icon and select Install Add-on From File.

Help and Support

Send your questions and comments to the AE Creations forums.  If you wish to report a bug, you can do so in Bugzilla; you will need a Bugzilla account if you don't have one already.

Send Tab URLs 2.1.1 released!

Send Tab URLs 2.1.1 has been released and is available for download from the AE Creations website.

If you already have an older version of Send Tab URLs installed, you will need to uninstall it first, then go to the download link above and download the new version from there.

What's New

• Compatible with Firefox 20
• Automatically reload any unloaded browser tabs before sending their URLs, due to browser tab load optimizations that were introduced in Firefox 20. The auto reload is necessary to retrieve the browser tab titles for the URL list
• Updated localizations, and added support for Simplified Chinese

Help and Support

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

Known issues with Clippings 4.0 beta 2

A few issues have been discovered during testing of Clippings 4.0 beta 2, and are listed here.  This list will be updated as new bugs are reported.

• On Mac OS X, the extension preferences dialog is not sized properly; the bottom part of the dialog is cut off. This happens if the extension preferences dialog is invoked from Add-ons Manager.
• On Gnome, the drop-down list in the General pane of the extension preferences dialog is distorted (bug 25423)  -- Update: This issue is also occurring on Mac OS X, and Windows (if not using the "classic" desktop theme).
• In Clippings Manager, when searching for a folder using the Find Bar, the search doesn't return a match if there aren't any clippings containing the same search term (bug 25420)

What if I've found a new bug?

If you wish to report a bug, you can do so in Bugzilla; you will need a Bugzilla account if you don't have one already.  You can also post your findings to the AE Creations Help and Support forums; make sure to tag your post with "Clippings."  Make sure you check first that your bug has not already been reported.

Clippings 4.0 beta 2 released!

Clippings 4.0 beta 2 is now available for download!

This beta release is intended for early adopters who crave the latest and greatest. Users not comfortable trying out pre-release software and tolerating its inevitable bugs should stick with Clippings 3.2 for now.

What's new in beta 2:

• The new Find Bar in Clippings Manager now lets you choose the search scope.  You can search for clippings only, or search for clippings and folders.
• Redesigned extension preferences dialog
• Several bug fixes and refinements of functionality introduced in beta 1

Cumulative list of new features in Clippings 4.0

• Customizable data source location
• 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

How to Get It

Head over to the Clippings page on the Mozilla Add-ons website, then scroll to the bottom and expand Development Channel.  Click on the yellow "Add to Firefox" button to install it for Firefox.

To install Clippings 4.0 beta 2 for Thunderbird, right-click on the yellow "Add to Firefox" button and select the option to save the XPI file.  Choose a location to save the file to, then launch Thunderbird, open the Add-ons Manager, then click the Tools icon and select Install Add-on From File.

Help and Support

Send your questions and comments to the AE Creations forums.  If you wish to report a bug, you can do so in Bugzilla; you will need a Bugzilla account if you don't have one already.

Panic Button 1.5.2 released!

Panic Button 1.5.2 has been released and is available for download from the AE Creations website or from Mozilla Add-ons.

If you already have an older version of Panic Button 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 Panic Button in the list of installed extensions and choose Find Update.

What's New

• Compatible with Firefox 20 and newer.  Fixed missing toolbar icon issue that was present in Firefox 20 beta releases
• Bug fix: Restore Session toolbar shows black-colored space below the toolbar content on Mac OS X

Help and Support

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

Compatibility issues with extensions on Firefox 20

Firefox version 20 is now in beta, and some initial testing has revealed some issues with Panic Button and Send Tab URLs.  New releases of both extensions will be needed.

Clippings and Delicious Post don't appear to be affected.

Panic Button

On Firefox 20, the Panic Button toolbar button icon is not displayed.

Send Tab URLs

Firefox 20 further optimizes the loading of browser tabs by not loading their content until the user clicks on the tab.  This includes the web page title, which is used by Send Tab URLs to create the tab list.  The problem is that if the browser tab isn't loaded, Send Tab URLs is unable to retrieve the title of the web page in the browser tab; it will appear as "null" in the URL list.

Clippings 4.0 beta 1 released!

Clippings 4.0 beta 1 is now available for download!

This beta release is intended for early adopters who crave the latest and greatest. Users not comfortable trying out pre-release software and tolerating its inevitable bugs should stick with Clippings 3.2 for now.

What's New

• Customizable data source location
• 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

How to Get It

Head over to the Clippings page on the Mozilla Add-ons website, then scroll to the bottom and expand Development Channel.  Click on the yellow "Add to Firefox" button to install it for Firefox.

To install Clippings 4.0 beta 1 for Thunderbird, right-click on the yellow "Add to Firefox" button and select the option to save the XPI file.  Choose a location to save the file to, then launch Thunderbird, open the Add-ons Manager, then click the Tools icon and select Install Add-on From File.

Help and Support

Send your questions and comments to the AE Creations forums.  If you wish to report a bug, you can do so in Bugzilla; you will need a Bugzilla account if you don't have one already.

Send Tab URLs: Send to Gmail feature doesn't work with new Gmail message composer

Update 17 February 2013: The problem described in this post appears to have been resolved.

Google has recently rolled out a new, redesigned message compose user interface, which breaks Send Tab URLs when selecting the option to send the list of browser tab URLs to Gmail.  After logging in to Gmail, users are stuck at the screen showing the progress for loading the inbox.

To workaround this problem, switch back to the old message compose UI.  This Gmail Help article describes how to do it.

I am holding off on a "proper" fix for this bug until I have a better sense of where Google is going with this new feature.

Using Panic Button to minimize browser windows to the system tray

A common request from users of Panic Button is to be able to minimize all Firefox browser windows to the system tray when clicking the Panic Button or pressing the F9 key, to make web browsing less conspicuous.  Well, there is a way to do that.

Download and install MinimizeToTray Revived, a Firefox extension.  After installation, go to Tools → Add-ons, locate the entry for Panic Button in the list of installed extensions, then click Options.  Select the Panic Button action to "Minimize all windows."  Then every time the Panic Button action is invoked, all open Firefox windows will be minimized to the system tray, instead of to the Taskbar.

MinimizeToTray Revived is not developed by AE Creations, so any questions and comments about it should be directed to its developer.

Panic Button 1.5.1 released!

A new, albeit minor, release of Panic Button is now out, and is available from the AE Creations website as well as Mozilla Add-ons.

If you already have Panic Button 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 Panic Button  in the list of installed extensions and choose Find Updates.

What's New

• After installing Panic Button, the Panic Button toolbar button will be automatically added to the browser toolbar, if it is not there already
• Bug fix: Missing title bar grippy for the Restore Session toolbar on Linux
• Styling improvements to the Restore Session toolbar icons, mainly for Mac users; the toolbar icons now provide visual feedback when they are being clicked on

Help and Support

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

One More Thing...

Panic Button is now a Featured Extension on the Mozilla Add-ons website!

Panic Button page on Mozilla Add-ons.

Clippings was previously a Featured Extension on Mozilla Add-ons.  Now, another one of my extensions has been selected for this coveted honor!  A big thanks to all my users for their support, comments, suggestions and bug reports, as well as the translators at Babelzilla for localizing Panic Button into several languages.  You guys ROCK!!!

Clippings 3.2 released!

A new release of Clippings is out, and is now available from Mozilla Add-ons and the Clippings website.

If you already have 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 Updates.

What's New

• Compatible with Firefox and Thunderbird version 14 or newer. Clippings is no longer compatible with Firefox 3.6 or Thunderbird 3.1.
• Bug fix: Missing Clippings submenu on the context menu since Firefox and Thunderbird 14
• Mac OS X shortcut key prefix has been changed to Command+Option. Previously, it was Control+Option, but it stopped working in a previous Firefox/Thunderbird release.

Help and Support

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

Coming soon: a minor release of Clippings

Finally, some good news.  A new minor release of Clippings is in the works, which fixes the disappearing Clippings menu from the context menu in Firefox (when the cursor is in a web page text box) or Thunderbird (when composing a new message).

This issue was caused by a change introduced in Firefox and Thunderbird 14 which broke Clippings.  As a result, Clippings is currently incompatible with Firefox and Thunderbird versions 14 and 15, and the bug fix requires a new release.

In addition, the new release fixes a long-standing bug on Mac OS X where the shortcut key prefix, Control+Alt+V, stopped working several versions ago of Firefox and Thunderbird.  Mac users have had to work around it by installing KeyConfig, and then specifying their own replacement shortcut key prefix.  With the new release of Clippings, the shortcut key prefix on the Mac will be changed to Command+Option+V, and KeyConfig will no longer be necessary to be able to paste a clipping using shortcut keys.

The new release has been submitted for review by Mozilla Add-ons reviewers. An announcement will be made here once it is made available for download.  In the meantime, users should confirm that automatic add-on updates are enabled so that they get the new release when it is available.

Back from holidays

I have been away on holidays over the past few weeks, and am now catching up on messages, bug reports and requests to join the AE Creations forums.  Please bear with me as I catch up on everything I missed while I was away.

AE Creations forums have moved

Due to a shutdown of the forum hosting software on Mozdev.org, the AE Creations forums are no longer available.  Unfortunately, any messages that were there before have disappeared.

I've created a new forum on Google Groups, which you can find here:

https://groups.google.com/d/forum/aecreations-help

Anyone can view postings, but a Google account is required to post a new message, or reply to an existing message.

P.S.: The link to the forums from the AE Creations web site is still pointing to the old, non-functional forums.  That will be changed shortly.