Filed under: Internet, Utilities, Features, Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Mozilla, Open Source
Firefox 2: Making your old extensions work
by Jordan Running Sep 1st 2006 at 3:00PM
With every new release of Firefox--like yesterday's release of Firefox 2 Beta 2--comes the question, "How do I make my old extensions work with the new version?" Some extensions--which Mozilla is now calling Add-ons--made for older versions of Firefox really don't work with the newer features and can cause problems, but for the majority of add-ons, all that's needed is basically the flip of a switch. Of course, that switch is hidden deep in the add-on's code, but Nightly Tester Tools makes it possible to flip that switch with just a couple clicks. To that end, I've put together a short tutorial video showing how to use Nightly Tester Tools to make most of your old add-ons work with the latest version of Firefox. It was recorded in Windows, but should work basically the same on OS X and Linux:
In case you have any trouble with the video, or if anything's not clear, you can find complete instructions after the jump. Also, this is my first-ever screencast, so if you have any comments on the video itself, please voice them in the comments.
After you have installed your new version of Firefox, run it as usual. A dialogue will pop up to tell you that it's checking your add-ons for compatibility with your new version of Firefox. Then it will probably tell you that several of your old add-ons are not compatible. Click on the Check Now button to see if there are new, compatible versions of any of your add-ons, and let Firefox install any that it finds. If you have add-ons for which there is no compatible version, Firefox will disable them. That's okay--click Finished.
Now go to the Nightly Tester Tools web site and click on the Install link. You may get a yellow alert at the top of the window, in which case you'll have to click on the Edit Options... button in the upper right and then click on Allow. Then you'll have to click on the Install link again. Once Nightly Tester Tools is installed, restart Firefox.
Once Firefox has restarted, go to Tools > Add-ons. You'll see that your disabled extensions are grayed out and have a red exclamation point next to them. For each extension you want to enable, right click on it and choose Make compatible. If you have a lot of disable extensions, you may want to do a few of them at a time, rather than all at once, because this will help you narrow down which extension is causing problem in the event one or more is truly incompatible with your new Firefox. If you're feeling lucky, though, you can click on Make all compatible button instead.Now quit and restart Firefox again. This time when you go to Tools > Add-ons, the extensions you made compatible should no longer be grayed out. You're done!