How to make old extensions work in a new version of Firefox

by Jordan Running Feb 3rd 2006

Whenever a new version of Firefox comes out there's always some grumblings about it deciding that certain extensions are now incompatible. It seems especially needless with so minor a version change as 1.5 to 1.5.0.1. The fix is not new but not widely known, so it's worth posting here:

In the address bar type about:config. Use the Filter field to find app.extensions.version (if it's not present, create it by right-clicking and choosing New > String). Double-click on it and in the pop-up box enter 1.5 (or the previous version of your choice--if you're creating a new value the box will pop up automatically). Restart Firefox and when it's started go to Tools > Extensions. Find the "incompatible" extensions in the list (they'll be greyed out), right-click on them, and click Enable. Restart Firefox and you're done.

And as always, the above tip is at-your-own-risk and YMMV. For more technical information check out Extension Versioning at Mozilla.org.

Tags: extensions, firefox, fix, hack, tip, version

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Gratis Kontaktanzeige said 3:52PM on 2-03-2006

As much as i want to have old Firefox extensions work forever but sometimes incompatible extensions have caused my browser to behave funny for example Autoforms. So guys - at your own risk!

Sander said 3:53PM on 2-03-2006

Sorry, a better tip here. Install the Nightly Tester Tools. This will add a 'make compatible' mouse option to installed extensions, and an additional method of installing incompatible extensions, which you of course do so at your own risk.

murph said 4:30PM on 2-03-2006

i actually UNINSTALLED Nightly Tester Tools and i'm using this method instead. i don't need the extra features and figure this is an easier method. one less extension to install.

tevetorbes said 7:55PM on 2-03-2006

This is a super-easy way to make (relatively) innocuous extensions work brilliantly. For instance, I got SmoothScroll to work without a hitch- I'm scrollin' in style again!

Ken Kline said 11:58PM on 2-04-2006

Works superbly. After restarting, the incompatible extensions were back to normal, no enabling necessary. Thanks

Devon Jones said 4:21PM on 2-08-2006

There is one more solution, edit your extensions.rdf. I think that one is probably the safest method of all of them, becasue it actually corrects the bug in the extension that prevents it from being compatible with security updates. I posted the whole process here: http://www.evilsoft.org/?p=69

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