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.

Workaround to non-functional Clippings shortcut key prefix on Mac OS X

Mac users who have recently upgraded Firefox or Thunderbird to version 10 may have noticed that Control+Option+V, the shortcut key prefix for inserting a clipping using the keyboard, no longer works.

If this is happening to you, there is a workaround available:

Download and install the Keyconfig extension (also available here). After installation, look for the menu item under Tools -> Keyconfig, or open the preferences dialog for this extension from Tools -> Add-ons.

Locate the command named Insert Clipping. This is the command that is called to insert a clipping using the keyboard.

Select the existing shortcut key and change it by pressing a new shortcut key combination on your keyboard (for example, Command+Option+V), then click Apply. You can then use this shortcut key combination to paste a clipping using the keyboard.

Panic Button 1.5 released!

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

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 Update.

What's New

• New Panic Button action: "Hide and Replace." This hides all browser windows and replaces them with a browser window displaying a web page at a specific URL
• Enhanced extension preferences dialog with descriptions of each Panic Button action
• Fixed Panic Button toolbar icon image so that it appears in the correct size in Firefox 4 and newer on Windows and Mac
• Miscellaneous behind-the-scenes cleanup
  

Help and Support

Questions and comments about Clippings should be directed to the AE Creations forums.

Clippings for Portable Firefox/Thunderbird

Updated 7 January 2012: The Portable Edition of Clippings is now compatible with Portable Firefox/Thunderbird 9.

Unfortunately, the Portable Edition of Clippings, available from the Clippings website, is not yet compatible with Portable Firefox/Thunderbird version 9.0. I will have this problem resolved as soon as possible.

A retort to a Mozilla Add-ons review

UPDATE 1 November 2011: The review of Clippings that I was retorting to has since been removed by the Mozilla Add-ons editors, at my request.

Hi gishpuppy,

I read your flattering review of Clippings which you left on the Mozilla Add-ons page. It is reproduced below for the benefit of the readers of this blog:

Lost (all) my clippings twice. Does not backup to file or cloud. May not even save your clippings in your profile folder, but somewhere else.

The interface and usability are very good, if you don't need your clippings saved.

Normally, I would sympathize with data loss complaints. There certainly have been reports from users of them losing their clippings data from time to time. There's no denying that. Unfortunately, it is hard to isolate the cause of the problem, which is why there is a backup mechanism available in the event of data loss, which I happen to have documented just recently. But I certainly don't sympathize with you, given your rather scathing, and very unhelpful, comments.

Have you made any effort to do a little troubleshooting to figure out WHY your clippings data isn't being saved? Did you check out the Clippings FAQ to learn where your clippings data is being saved to? I assume that the common clippings feature is enabled; that is the default for users since Clippings 3.0. Here's a hint: do you have permissions to the folder where your clippings data source file is located? Ever thought of that?

You allege that Clippings doesn't back up to a file. You are dead wrong. Have you checked out the blog post I just mentioned describing how to restore your clippings data from backup? As for backing up to the cloud -- well, there is no such feature. Not yet. Have you suggested that as an enhancement request in the AE Creations forums?

If Clippings was such an unusable piece of crap, as your so-called review implies, then why is it that over 32,000 Firefox and Thunderbird users around the world continue to rely on it every day at home, at work, and at school, to save themselves from repetitive typing and make their lives easier? And just how on earth would it have become a featured add-on?

And finally, I took the liberty of checking out your reviews of other extensions you left on Mozilla Add-ons -- most of them filled with similar hyperbolic garbage. I'll be happy to reproduce a few of them for my readers' viewing pleasure and amusement.

For Xmarks Sync (rated 4 out of 5 stars on Mozilla Add-ons as of the time of this writing), you wrote, "Horrible, awful, painful sh1ty crap erases your writings forever. Smoke a turd in he11!"

That extension seems to be your all-time favorite, eh? Here's another little gem of yours, again for Xmarks Sync:

xmarks kills the human spirit. It is so dangerous it should be banned. It is the worst functioning addon ever and can led to broken keyboards, monitors, and minds. xmarks is the Al-Qaeda of browsers, terrorizing the user with every possible review. Dangerous and immutably destructive.

Not bad for someone who lists his occupation as "Unsatisfied."

It also gives me even less of a reason to take any of your nonsense seriously. Either come back to me with helpful, pertinent troubleshooting information to help narrow the cause -- or quit spewing your asinine hate and move on. Don't worry, I won't feel bad if you uninstall Clippings.

Problems when going to My Account from the AE Creations forums

Due to a recent, and clearly botched, Mozdev site upgrade, users going to their My Account page will see error messages, and are not able to do anything.

I have brought this to the attention of the Mozdev admins, and am awaiting word on resolution.

Data loss problem in Clippings after upgrading to Firefox 7.0 or Thunderbird 7.0

I've received a few reports from users having lost their Clippings data after upgrading to Firefox 7.0 or Thunderbird 7.0, both of which were released yesterday.

If this has happened to you, you can try to rescue your Clippings data by doing the following:

1. Locate the folder where your Clippings datasource file is found. To determine this, please refer to the Clippings FAQ. The datasource file is named clipdat2.rdf.
   
2. Copy the backup files under the .clipbak subfolder to another location on your computer. Doing this ensures that your most recent, and hopefully pristine, backups are preserved.
3. From Firefox or Thunderbird, open Clippings Manager, then Options → Import. Locate the most recent backup file you saved from step 2.

Hopefully you will be able to recover your clippings.

If this fails, exit Firefox or Thunderbird and delete the clipdat2.rdf datasource file. Then restart the application and open Clippings Manager. This will generate a new, empty datasource file. Then repeat step 3 above.

If You Have Not Yet Upgraded

Your clippings are automatically backed up whenever creating a new clipping, editing them in Clippings Manager, and when closing the Clippings Manager window. But to be extra safe, you should export your clippings before upgrading Firefox or Thunderbird. Open Clippings Manager, click Options → Export, then choose the desired location to export your clippings data. Having this backup will be incredibly handy in case you ever lose your clippings after upgrading Firefox or Thunderbird.

Breakage in Delicious Post due to Delicious relaunch

Delicious Post users take note: Due to changes introduced by yesterday's relaunch of Delicious, the Post to Delicious dialog doesn't save your tags correctly.

Until yesterday, you could specify multiple tags for a new bookmark by separating them with a space; for example, entering "aecreations extensions firefox" in the tag field would create a new bookmark with those three tags. Now, a single tag is created instead, named "aecreations extensions firefox".

A workaround to this is to separate each tag with a comma; for example, "aecreations, extensions, firefox". Spaces after the comma are allowed; they will be stripped out automatically.

A fix will be available shortly to change the instructions in the Post to Delicious dialog.

EDIT: This post has been corrected with information about spaces after the comma separating the tag names.

Send Tab URLs 2.1 released!

Send Tab URLs 2.0 was released in 2008. Since then, Firefox 4 came out, which dramatically altered the browser UI for users on Windows Vista or Windows 7 by replacing the menu bar with a Firefox application menu (though it can be enabled if users could find the setting to do that). A new release was needed to improve usability for affected users -- and it's finally here!

Version 2.1 is now available on Mozilla Add-ons and the AE Creations website. Current users should receive an update if automatic extension updates are enabled.

What's New

• New option to add the Send Tab URLs command to the List All Tabs menu (usually located on the far right of the tab strip in Firefox 4 and newer); option is enabled by default
  
• Removed experimental support for Yahoo! Mail
• Added translations for German, Hebrew and Swedish. Thanks to the translators at Babelzilla for their contributions!
  

Help and Support

Questions and comments about Clippings should be directed to the AE Creations forums.

Clippings 3.1.7 released!

A new version of Clippings is available from Mozilla Add-ons and the AE Creations 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 Update.

What's New

This release addresses the problems with the Swedish localization of Clippings that was introduced in version 3.1.6. This release contains the following fixes:

• Updated Swedish translation
• Bug fix: Shortcut key prefix is different on Swedish locale. This is fixed so that it is now CTRL+ALT+V, as advertised (bug 24375)

Many thanks to Lakrits at Babelzilla for addressing these issues quickly.

Help and Support

Questions and comments about Clippings should be directed to the AE Creations forums.