Top 10 Firefox Extensions to Improve your Productivity
Firefox is the browser of dreams for many people (myself included). One of the great perks of Firefox is that there are tons of extensions that enhance the functionality of the browser. With over 1500 extensions in existence, there are many that can be used to improve your productivity. The following is my take on the top 10 extensions that will keep you focused, reduce distractions, streamline your daily work flow, and improve your productivity.
Customize Google is a very robust extension that lets you customize many features of the services provided by Google. Customize Google lets you block advertisements on pretty much any Google page (including Gmail). It remaps Google Images search results to point directly at the images (no longer will you need to click through the originating site). Customize Google lets you add links from other search engines directly into your search results. It can also block Google click tracking and allows you to connect to Google Calendar and Gmail securely (https). Give it a try, you won’t be sorry.
2. Gspace
Gspace is a content management extension that lets you turn your Gmail account into an online mass storage device. Gspace integrates nicely into your browser and lets you drag and drop files into Gmail for backup or storage purposes without interrupting your work flow. If you use Gspace, I recommend adding a tag in Gmail to your files so they can be filtered and accessed quickly. The following is the description of Gspace from its homepage: “Gspace turns the 2GB of your Gmail account into free online storage. With Gspace you can manage unlimited Gmail accounts to store all type of files within its simple, user friendly interface. Listen to your favorite stored music directly from your Gspace, view your collections of pictures and manage your Gdrive files as well. Download Gspace now and transfer files between your computer and Gspace at anytime, from everywhere!”
3. Flashgot/DownThemAll
The default download manager built into Firefox is very handy; however, there are many occasions that you’ll find that you need more flexibility with your downloads. This is where Flashgot or DownThemAll comes in handy. The features of Flashgot and DownThemAll have their differences; however, they generally provide finer-grained control of your downloads. My personal preference is Flashgot. I recommend trying at least one of them.
4. Greasemonkey + Stylish + Ad blocking per Gozer
Greasemonkey is an extension that lets you add scripts that alter the web pages you visit. Using Greasemonkey and Stylish and Ad blocking per Gozer together will block pretty much every advertisement from any Web site you visit.
5. Flashblock
The Flashblock extension by default blocks flash from playing when a Web page is first opened. Most (distracting) advertisements are written using flash. Flashblock is particularly useful because it replaces the flash from a Web site with a “play” button so you can watch the flash if it something useful (like a video at Youtube) and leave it blocked if it is an advertisement.
Download Statusbar manages your downloads in the status bar instead of the Firefox Download Manager. I find that the download manager that comes with Firefox to be very intrusive. Download manager tucks your download progress bars into the generally unused status bar of Firefox. This lets you download care-free without the Firefox Download Manager popping up and interrupting you.
7. URL Fixer
URL fixer will replace the common typos you enter when typing a Web site into the URL bar (i.e., http://www.lifehack.rog, htp://lifehack.org). The auto correct feature of URL fixer is very helpful. “[URL Fixer] will correct common misspellings of .com, .net, .org, .edu, .gov, and .mil, as well as the protocol (http:, https:). It will also correct errors in country code TLDS such as .com.XX, .net.XX, and .org.XX.”
8. Tab Mix Plus
Many of the features of Tab Mix Plus were incorporated into the release of Firefox 2. However, Tab Mix Plus allows you to add finer-grained control of your tabs. The following is a description of Tab Mix Plus: “Tab Mix Plus enhances Firefox’s tab browsing capabilities. It includes such features as duplicating tabs, controlling tab focus, tab clicking options, undo closed tabs and windows, plus much more. It also includes a full-featured session manager with crash recovery that can save and restore combinations of opened tabs and windows.”
9. Scrapbook
Scrapbook is extremely useful for researchers and students. Scrapbook saves blurbs from Web pages to your hard drive along with the URL of the originating Web site. It allows you to organize and categorize your blurbs in a format similar to your bookmarks so that when it comes to creating a bibliography or works cited, you won’t waste any time.
10. IE Tab
I find myself using this extension less and less as more Web developers code their Web sites following standards. However, occasionally you will find it necessary to open a Web site using Internet Explorer in order for it to render correctly. Rather than taking the time to launch a separate browser, just choose “View Page in IE tab” and an Internet Explorer tab opens in Firefox. This is very useful if you like to have multiple Gmail accounts open and active on one computer.
That’s my take on the extensions that will improve your productivity. Like I previously mentioned, there are tons of Firefox extensions. What extension didn’t I mention that you can’t live without? Please tell us about your favorite productivity-enhancing Firefox extension in the comments.
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Comments
Anne Helmond says on March 7th, 2007 at 10:27 am
Re: Scrapbook – “so that when it comes to creating a bibliography or works cited, you won’t waste any time.”
What works even better is Zotero, a free Firefox extension that makes it easy to collect, manage, and cite your research sources. You can compare it to EndNote, a frequently used program to create research bibliographies, but Zotero is free and works within your browser. Not only can you create notes from webpages, save their location and export them in a formatted bibliography style it also works nicely with Google Books and Google Scholar!
Anne Helmond says on March 7th, 2007 at 10:28 am
Thanks for this great list and pointing my attention to a few addons I had not noticed yet!
Re: Scrapbook – “so that when it comes to creating a bibliography or works cited, you won’t waste any time.”
What works even better is Zotero, a free Firefox extension that makes it easy to collect, manage, and cite your research sources. You can compare it to EndNote, a frequently used program to create research bibliographies, but Zotero is free and works within your browser. Not only can you create notes from webpages, save their location and export them in a formatted bibliography style it also works nicely with Google Books and Google Scholar!
auctoris says on March 7th, 2007 at 2:33 pm
NoScript and CookieSafe are must haves!!!
dissatisfied says on March 7th, 2007 at 4:31 pm
Firefox has huge memory leaks when it comes to extentions. I have a bunch that realy assist me in web development but I have to keep deativating them because I FF starts using more than 300MB. Same thing happens whith memory leaks caused by poor javascript implementation. For example if I keep google map tabs open memory usage goes up, and up, and up…
It is disappointing to read all these articles about firefox extentions from people that do not know exactly what they are talking about :-/
KylePott says on March 7th, 2007 at 4:40 pm
@dissatisfied – As someone who has developed several Firefox extensions, I hope you can remove me from the, “don’t know exactly what they are talking about” category.
You do have a compelling argument…while some poorly coded/tested extensions can cause memory leaks, most extensions do not “leak” memory. Memory usage tends to increase when using extensions — that’s just the nature of running more complex applications. However, extreme memory leaks like you describe are rare.
Speaking in specifics about my article, which extension(s) do you use that causes a memory leak? I have been using all 10 for quite some time and have never had any problems.
leo says on March 7th, 2007 at 5:18 pm
How to share file with friends using Gspace without giving out the account login and password?
jason says on March 7th, 2007 at 5:29 pm
u forgot All In One Gestures firefox extension. thats the best extension that has ever been invented…it makes ADD and lazy America even more ADD and more lazy!!! u have to go download it and see for yourself…
https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/12/
qrayg says on March 7th, 2007 at 6:34 pm
Another vote for “All In One Gestures”. “Google Browser Sync” is another must have.
Nxqd3051990 says on March 7th, 2007 at 7:35 pm
I think Gmail GTD is good
Clipmark Replace for Scrapbook
nXqd
Ann says on March 7th, 2007 at 7:51 pm
I find the integrated delicious bookmarks to be very useful since as a student and a graduate assistant i am often switching between my personal laptop, our office computer, library computers, and others. it lets me bookmark left and right, and always be able to pull up whatever i need quickly using the tags. https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/3615/
Ken says on March 7th, 2007 at 8:06 pm
Nice compilation !
Also checkout ‘All in one gestures’ and ‘ImgLikeOpera’ plugins.
Rich says on March 7th, 2007 at 8:14 pm
I used to use scrapbook but replaced it with the Google Notebook extension. My data is available everywhere without having to sync it.
James says on March 7th, 2007 at 11:07 pm
Does the IE Tab extension work well enough to allow you onto Windows Update with Firefox?
deeesseee says on March 7th, 2007 at 11:24 pm
Suggestions:
IE View Lite instead of IE View. I’ve used both of them, and IE View is just too bulky for me. IE View Light instead opens up the page actually using IE.
Also, with Download Status bar, the settings can be very annoying if you don’t get them right. When I first got it, I had to go in to tweak all of the settings, and even then, it wasn’t very user-friendly.
I’m also adding another vote for Google Browser Sync, although Foxmarks does almost the same thing. The problem I had with Foxmarks is that it had problems accessing the server, which I never experienced any issues with when using Google Browser Sync.
Of course Stylish has many other features, besides just ad-blocking through that one script (although I had never seen the Ad blocking per Gozer style, so I’m very thankful towards you for mentioning it). Maybe you could go into others such as the various userChrome modifications you can easily preform with it.
While I love the idea behind GSpace for using Gmail (as opposed to other online storage options), I just can’t stand that you can’t share files without giving away your login information.
And lastly, I just wanted to point out that I’ve never really been that much of a supporter or Tab Mix Plus since Firefox 2. There aren’t any really appealing features of it that I don’t already have (such as Ctrl-Alt-T for Undo Closed Tab). Do you have any favorites?
Jawboot says on March 7th, 2007 at 11:25 pm
IE Tab I think “opens” IE within Firefox, so it should act exactly the same (as far as I know).
I like your list; IE Tab is also good for the website designers because you can use FireFox and check quickly in IE.
FlashBlock is a good idea – new to me.
Great post.
Sak says on March 7th, 2007 at 11:31 pm
I’d like to add a few to the list:
- AdBlock Plus / Filterset Updater / FlashBlock / NoScript (all remove annoyances, so I’m listing them together)
- Compact Library Extension Organizer / Firefox Extension Backup Extension (lets you back up all your settings and extensions as XPIs, or make a custom XPI to install all of your favorite extensions at once)
- Mr. Tech Local Install
- Flashgot
TotalBalance says on March 7th, 2007 at 11:31 pm
FYI, I really liked Tab Mix Plus, however, it needs an update.
The new Google Toolbar “Send to” feature allowing one to clip web content to Gmail Blogger, SMS, does not work if Tab Mix Plus is enabled. If I have to give up one, it’s Tab Mix Plus.
Perhaps it’s just my system but I’d love to hear if others have experienced the same issue.
Rob says on March 8th, 2007 at 12:08 am
Another vote for Google Browser Sync here – it’s the best thing since sliced bread IMHO for anyone who works on multiple computers.
Joost Jenni says on March 8th, 2007 at 12:11 am
some are great, also fasterfox is good – loads pages faster.
NewsFlashMusic says on March 8th, 2007 at 12:46 am
I don’t really like these extensions.
Baris says on March 8th, 2007 at 1:41 am
We need an autocorrect extension, badly in firefox. This would fix common spelling errors and possibly even capitalize your letters after a period. Would fix common spellings such as teh, extention, things like that, autocorrect on the fly; been searching all over the place for an extension like this.
Windows Vista says on March 8th, 2007 at 1:48 am
The IE Tab may not work in Vista
-
http://www.WindowsVistaUserGuide.com
Duncan says on March 8th, 2007 at 1:52 am
With IE Tab, you don’t even need to go as far as you’ve described, the current version gives you a little icon down in the bottom status bar, click on the FF logo and it switches to an IE one and renders the page in IE. Absolutely brilliant when you need to test sites in IE and FF
digirat says on March 8th, 2007 at 2:12 am
here is what i always install:
-fasterfox (as mentioned above)
-gmail notifier is a must
-scrollbaranywhere 0.8 (http://forum.moztw.org/downloa......8_183.xpi)
lets you scroll pages by holding down the right mouse button. and if you only want to rightclick, it still leaves that one on
-adblock plus (google “adblock plus mozilla”) blocks every ad on just about every page.
-tinyurl creator (when you don’t want to paste insane links into conversations)
Emile says on March 8th, 2007 at 3:08 am
Before installing the extensions mentioned above, first read this article:
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Problematic_extensions
Larry says on March 8th, 2007 at 3:47 am
here’s a few more
all-in-one gestures
all-in-one sidebar
bookmark duplicate detector
cooliris previews
dictionary tooltip
extension list dumper
grab and drag
no squint
tab sidebar works w/all-in-one sidebar
undo closed tabs button
arup says on March 8th, 2007 at 4:14 am
liked the list of extensions, have been using some of them for a long time, shall try the others also!
Terinea Tech Tips says on March 8th, 2007 at 4:32 am
If you use Firefox on more than one PC’s or Mac, check out Foxmarks that can synchronise your bookmarks between them all.
Arun says on March 8th, 2007 at 4:38 am
I really feel that the delicious extension is also a must have.
Neon says on March 8th, 2007 at 5:05 am
Heh, I have most of these installed already!
dj says on March 8th, 2007 at 5:24 am
Another vote for all-in-one gestures.
I’d install Firefox for the mouse gestures alone. It’s the ultimate time saver and it make surfing the web feel more like surfing or riding a bicylce, (if you get what I mean by that). Combine that with a hack that lets your mouse wheel scroll one whole page when you hold down the SHIFT-key and you can double your web surfing speed.
If I have to work on someone else’s computer that doesn’t have them, it feels like surfing the web with boxing gloves on.
Martin Neumann says on March 8th, 2007 at 6:00 am
Nice list.
I’d second the first commenter and add in Zotero in place of Scrapbook – it’s a great research tool.
Also take a look at Reminder Fox – a simple little reminder tool that hangs in the status bar.
smb says on March 8th, 2007 at 6:40 am
Where’s Tabeffect. It’s totally pointless and works for about 85%, but it’s so cool.
Daniel says on March 8th, 2007 at 7:00 am
All-In-One Sidebar
Download Statusbar
Foxmarks
one-button-menu (I don’t remeber the name)
and i second that what Baris point out about spell errors.
LARRYG4 says on March 8th, 2007 at 7:13 am
all-in-one sidebar is also very handy, i use most of the extensions u mention here.
Bucciarati says on March 8th, 2007 at 7:36 am
You are missing the web developer bar, keyconfig and “tamper data” extensions
Lex says on March 8th, 2007 at 7:45 am
The best add-on for FireFox you can get is called ‘Internet Explorer 7′.
Kicks Firefox right up the butt…
Aplusproxy says on March 8th, 2007 at 7:52 am
I install PhProxy addon (https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/3239/), then go to
http://www.myspaceproxyindex.com/php-proxy/ to find newest phproxy, so that I can access filtered sites in my area.
Brian says on March 8th, 2007 at 8:13 am
Sweet list!
I strongly recommend using AdBlock, which allows me to be more productive with Firefox, because it prevents useless pictures, videos and other media to show on the screen.
Nick says on March 8th, 2007 at 9:03 am
==Removing Ads==
Adblock plus
Filterset G Updater
Remove it permanently
==Speed==
Fasterfox
DownThemAll
Mouse Gestures
==Safety==
LinkAlert
==Development==
**FIREBUG**
Webdeveloper toolbar
==Misc.==
greasemonkey
Menu editor (these all take up lots of space in the tools menu!)
Imagezoom
Linson Chan says on March 8th, 2007 at 9:14 am
Nice widgz… though sometimes firefox has problem reloading pages and cache, but its a lot better than IE :)
// Linson Chan
// CDOC
// PC CD GAMES
drwho says on March 8th, 2007 at 9:54 am
digg suXX! digg suXX! digg suXX! digg suXX! digg suXX! digg suXX! digg suXX! digg suXX! digg suXX! digg suXX!
Martin says on March 8th, 2007 at 10:25 am
GREAT, thanks for the recommendation of gspace! This crappy extension locked me out of my gmail account without any warning. Sure I found a little note in the faq of gspace but that was *after* I realized I cannot work for the next 24 hours!
This screen shows up after trying to upload a couple of photos:
—
Our system indicates unusual usage of your account. In order to protect Google Mail users from potentially harmful use of Google Mail, this account has been disabled for up to 24 hours.
If you are using any third party software that interacts with your Google Mail account, please disable it or adjust it so that its use complies with the Google Mail Terms of Use. If you feel that you have been using your Google Mail account according to the Terms of Use or otherwise normally, please contact us using this form to report this problem.
—
Henrietta McFrooFroo says on March 8th, 2007 at 11:22 am
IE Tab is great. In addition to manually choosing to render a page with IE, you can configure IE Tabs so that certain pages or domains will render using IE all the time. The only problem here is that when the website operator takes a look at their usage metrics wrt their browser audience, they’ll see that you’re running IE rather than Firefox.
All-in-one gestures is another great one. It duplicates the gestures feature that you might have seen in Opera.
fluff says on March 8th, 2007 at 4:45 pm
There is only one possible number one: ADBLOCK!
I seriously cannot understand that people actually live with all the annoying, flashing and stupid ads that scramble some pages so badly, that you can’t properly read it anymore…
Topher says on March 8th, 2007 at 5:19 pm
Mouse Gestures is a must!
Every time I’m in IE now, I try to use them and cry when I can’t.
Dean says on March 8th, 2007 at 7:31 pm
Nice article, I’m going to install the GSpace right now, I didn’t know you could do that.
Anybody can recommend another good online storage drive?
shik says on March 9th, 2007 at 3:54 am
It is outstanding article.
Jeff says on March 9th, 2007 at 2:56 pm
Don’t forget “FasterFox”. It turbo-charges your browser speed.
Senior’s Guide to Computers
http://www.seniorsguidetocomputers.com
Mark says on March 9th, 2007 at 10:01 pm
Maybe also you need to try this extensions:
Mouse Gestures
connect to address
PDF Download
Quick Restart
Reminder Fox
Update Notifier
ErrorZilla
Firefox Showcase
Image Zoom
Image Tollbar
Minimize to Tray (only in windows)
Linkification
Bye
Bye
Mahmoud says on March 10th, 2007 at 4:16 am
Very useful collection of extensions, I already use 6 of those extension. And I downloaded both google extensions, they have very nice features to increase productivity specially Gspace which I was searching for extension or application like this.
Thanks
Mahmoud Abdelaziz
master_mahmoud@hotmail.com
http://zprogramming.blogspot.com/
Top ten Firefox List says on March 10th, 2007 at 3:32 pm
[...]Top 10 Firefox Extensions to Improve your Productivity[...]
Jeff says on March 12th, 2007 at 11:49 am
Why stop at 10? Why not 20?
http://www.computerworld.com/a.....geNumber=1
There are some really good extensions in there.
http://averageidea.com
jusore says on March 12th, 2007 at 12:55 pm
· all-in-one sidebar
· Adblock Plus
· Bugmenot
· Download Helper
· FaviconizeTab
· Context Search
· CuteMenus – Crystal SVG
· FireFTP
· Gmail Notifier
· gTranslate
· Link Alert
· LinkPreview
· Linkification
· NoScript
· Organize Status Bar
· Searchbar Autosizer
· Statusable
· Stop-or-Reload Button
· Unhide Menubar
· Update Notifier
· MediaPlayerConectivity
· Google Web Comments
· Colorful Tabs
· ClearURL
· Auto Copy
Geoff R. says on March 13th, 2007 at 8:14 pm
Wow, I was really surprised to see this article pop-up in my google reader account. I wrote a very similar article last year:
http://www.gearfire.net/top-10.....xtensions/
Really shows how much more popular an idea can be when published to a well-respected site :P
Good luck, and keep up the good work!
Geoff
Gregor says on March 15th, 2007 at 4:01 am
What do you think about it? http://www.coount.com/firefox/coount.xpi Now, you can count everything! Step by step free online scintific calculator. Do Your homework quickly and successfully!
Vlad says on March 19th, 2007 at 6:44 pm
http://www.dangeroushacker.kwikphp.com/index.html
blog:http://www.dangeroushacker.kwikphp.com/blog/
forum: http://www.dangeroushacker.kwikphp.com/forum/
MadCadder says on April 25th, 2007 at 5:57 pm
“IE View Lite” works the same as “IE Tab” and is a fraction of the size
Andrew says on May 31st, 2007 at 11:52 am
No mention of NoScript !!! Shame.
awflasher says on September 29th, 2007 at 1:11 pm
Actually, I really don’t like Flashblock :)
opalubka-monolit says on October 2nd, 2007 at 3:10 am
Yes, it is outstanding article.
MR69 says on October 11th, 2007 at 1:38 am
You gotta try out Youlicit.com, it saves me a lot of time when I’m researching and looking for similar sites to the one I’m on. It’s kinda like del.icio.us and stumbleupon, combined. Good Firefox extension if you’re into finding websites without having to search for ‘em.
david says on November 2nd, 2007 at 2:59 am
I like how I already had like 8 out of the 10 given installed. I guess smart minds think alike? :P But thanks for the list! :)
Zia says on March 19th, 2008 at 7:42 am
Thanks for this
Check out my suggestions
http://zia.blogspot.com/2007/1.....sions.html
http://zia.blogspot.com/2007/0.....ons-i.html
Worth also checking what the Firefox community at large reckons is their best add-ons:
http://zia.blogspot.com/2007/1.....e-are.html
Muay Thai says on May 7th, 2008 at 3:19 am
tq for ur collection ….it’s very useful to me …
new myspace layouts says on June 17th, 2008 at 1:54 pm
Thank you very much for the list of extensions.
sharfah says on July 18th, 2008 at 3:51 am
My favourites are:
Adblock Plus
All-in-One Sidebar
Cache Status
Colorful Tabs
ColorZilla
Delicious Bookmarks
Dictionary Tooltip
DownThemAll!
dragdropupload
Firebug
FireFTP
Fission
Forecastfox
FoxClocks
Googlepedia
Hyperwords
IE Tab
Link Alert
Mouse Gestures Redox
Tab Mix Plus
Tab Preview
URL Fixer
AlexJ says on September 17th, 2008 at 10:52 am
Have you tried TopicInsight?
It suggests search queries that help find related web pages. For example, you are reading a review of a new digital camera and this add-on guesses just the right query to find more about this camera, and so on. I even tried it in forums… And, yep, it really works!
J.J. says on November 3rd, 2008 at 12:24 pm
Thanks for the cool stuffs. Hope that you’ll update more extensions in near future.
Nicole says on November 4th, 2008 at 10:51 pm
so many extensions….so little time. which is why my fav. extension is a new one from Grouptivity. let’s me e-mail content to a friend from my browser, post to FB etc., and saves it so i can search later. nice piece of work.
Wind says on December 12th, 2008 at 7:21 am
You can have a try on AutoPager from http://www.teesoft.info/conten.....9/lang,en/.
AutoPager is a Firefox extension which automatically loads the next page of a site inline when you reach the end of the current page for infinite scrolling of content.
By default AutoPager works with a ton of sites, including Lifehacker, the New York Times, Digg, and, of course, Google.
JIll Janeks says on January 7th, 2009 at 3:56 pm
I use a few addons with firefox. One to download websites in PDF form so that I can read them later on my Portable PDF Reader. The plugin is called PDFIt. And another plugin to download youtube videos.
Marc says on January 19th, 2009 at 3:38 am
I would suggest also:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/9508
Enables multisearch via google, yahoo and msn
Peko says on January 31st, 2009 at 12:00 pm
I think fasterfox is good – loads pages faster.
Myers says on June 1st, 2009 at 2:21 am
I like fasterfox works nice.
cyuk1i says on June 11th, 2009 at 1:50 pm
dsfsdfs67877 test test
48ttw8 says on June 11th, 2009 at 2:09 pm
dsfsdfs67877 test test
Владимир Осокин says on July 7th, 2009 at 9:43 am
Браво, великолепная идея и своевременно
Joey says on August 18th, 2009 at 12:32 am
Try:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/9508
I love this plugin, helps finding things on Google, Yahoo and bing simultaneously …
Raghu says on September 8th, 2009 at 7:37 am
i Love flash block it helps in blocking annoying ads.
Coupon says on September 20th, 2009 at 11:11 pm
I have used the downthemall firefox extension for over 3 years and it is absolutely awesome.
Coupons says on October 19th, 2009 at 9:02 pm
scrapbook has come in handy many many times, great recommendation! I also dugg this on digg!
Иларион Шумилов says on October 22nd, 2009 at 4:54 am
Хороший и интересный пост, всегда с удовольствием Вас читаю