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Mozilla Firefox - Plugins and Extensions

Tired of Retyping the Same Text in Web Pages? Use Clippings to Store and Recall Clips

SUMMARY: The Clippings add-on lets you organize clips that can be pasted into web page text fields via a shortcut key or right-click of the mouse.

If you frequently type the same text into web forms such as your name, blog URL, Twitter ID, Facebook page, etc., you might choose to install a clipboard manager to help you store this information and make it available for pasting.

However, if you browse the web with Mozilla Firefox, another option is the "Clippings" add-on. This adds a clipboard manager accessible from the status bar, or even easier by right-clicking a web page textbox and selecting "Clippings". From there you can easily paste previously-added texts.


Pasting an URL into a web page text box with the Clippings add-on for Firefox



1. Visit the following page from within Firefox:

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1347

2. Click the "Add to Firefox" button.

3. The "Software Installation" dialog box will eventually appear. Click "Install Now" as soon as the button is enabled.



Installing the Clippings add-on



4. Once the add-on has installed, click the "Restart Firefox" button. Depending on your configuration, Firefox may note that it will try to restart your windows and tabs.


Once Firefox has restarted you should see a Clippings icon in the status bar. After copying text to the clipboard, right-click this icon and choose "New from Clipboard" to make a new clip. From here you can edit the clip, give it a descriptive name, move the clip to a sub-folder to organize clips, or give the clip a shortcut key.

Right-clicking the Clippings icon also allows you to organize your clips. From here you can create new clippings and folders, move clippings between folders, edit and delete clippings, or import and export clippings databases ("Options" button) to move your copied clips between computers.



Organizing clips via the Clippings Manager



Note that I was unable to find anywhere in the documentation about encryption of the Clippings database. Thus you may wish to think twice before storing passwords or other sensitive data using this add-on, especially if others have access to your computer.



This tip was written regarding Mozilla Firefox v3.5.7 and Clippings v3.1. Screenshots, instructions, and features for other versions may vary.

Return to the Mozilla Firefox - Plugins and Extensions page.

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The MalekTips website was created in 1998 by Andrew Malek of Envision Programming. The page's goal is to freely disperse computer-related tips, hints, and informative articles. Tips are organized to be easy to find, and are presented clearly, in easy-to-understand language. MalekTips also provides information and links to public-domain, open source, freeware, shareware, and commercial software available for download. < more >