Tuesday, 22 July 2008

Make add-ons work after updating Firefox






Did a fave Firefox extension stop working after you upgraded to a newer version of Firefox (which I've just done to Firefox 3.0.1, because of the security issues with 3.0)?

For those who don't know it yet, here's a tip: you can often make Firefox add-ons compatible with upgraded versions of Firefox just by using the fab free MR Tech Toolkit extension from MR Tech (formerly known as MR Tech Local Install) - even if the writer of the extension hasn't provided an update for it yet.

How to make a Firefox extension compatible with a later version of Firefox

Be warned that this doesn't necessarily work, and if it doesn't you may need to uninstall the add-on in question or wait for the author to produce an update. Still, it's worth trying, and it's worked for almost every extension I've tried it with. Here's how:
  1. Install the MR Tech Toolkit addon (for beginners: how to install a Firefox add-on).
  2. Restart Firefox.
  3. Go to the menu Tools > Add-ons.
  4. Rightclick on the desired extension (which will have a big exclamation mark against it if it's not compatible with the updated Firefox), then choose "Make compatible"


  5. OK the next box (having first ticked "Don't ask me again" if you don't want the box to pop up again for other extensions):


  6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 for each add-on you want to try to make compatible.
  7. That's it! Handy trick, eh?
  8. (If when you right click an addon you don't see a "Make compatible" menu option, then sorry, even MR Tech can't fix it and you'll have to wait for the author of the add on to update it.)
I've used the MRTech Toolkit to make the following addons work in Firefox 3.0.1, for instance:
  1. my fave extension TabMixPlus
  2. the Mippin sidebar
  3. CLEO and FEBE (to backup my Firefox settings and extensions)
  4. Spiderzilla (to backup my blog).
There are lots of other uses for the Toolkit, but this feature alone makes it worth the download.

2 comments:

Shadoefax said...

FEBE 6.0beta for Fx 3 is available at http://customsoftwareconsult.com/extensions/febe/febe60.html

Improbulus said...

Ta shadoefax. Though the existing version of FEBE seems to work fine after applying MRTech.