Firefox & Thunderbird Add-on Converter for SeaMonkey

[Lemon Juice]

I've been thinking about it for some time and finally I got myself do it - a tool that will automatically modify Firefox and Thunderbird extensions to work with SeaMonkey. This can be useful for people who are not technically savvy enough to understand how to change install.rdf and force this way an extension to work in SeaMonkey - but it can also be useful for those who know how to do it but would prefer an automated tool that will do it in an instant.

Moreover, this tool goes a little further beyond simply modifying install.rdf - it also identifies a few more other things in the code that are Firefox or Thunderbird specific and attempts to change them. Of course, not all extensions can be ported so easily to SeaMonkey since there's only so much an automated tool like that can do.

Here it is:

Add-on Converter for SeaMonkey

If you use this tool then it would be beneficial for all of us if you can post your results in this thread so we can expand the list of which extensions can be ported and which not. Also, if you know more about extension development then any ideas on how to improve the tool are welcome.

If an extension works well after conversion then it's a good idea to contact its author and ask for official support of SeaMonkey. If they see that it's so easy that even a dumb automatic converter can do it then they might be willing to accomodate your request. For example, the author of FLST (Firefox 4+) was kind enough to add support for SeaMonkey after I showed him this was such an easy thing.

Below is a list of extensions tested by me and other users. This was not always a thorough testing - they are expected to work but it's possible some more obscure features may not work as expected. I'll keep updating the list from time to time but some other extensions may be mentioned by other users in this thread.

Update:
This list below is no longer maintained and will be removed shortly. It has been moved to the converter site so please visit the new link:

http://addonconverter.fotokraina.com/compatibility/


Extension version numbers below only indicate which version was tested. In most cases newer versions will also work. The "Install" links will lead to conversion of the newest versions of extensions.

Firefox extensions that work after conversion:

• Turn Off the Lights — [ Install ]
• QuickWiki — [ Install ] (works but some js errors in console)
• Empty Cache Button — [ Install ]
• Adblock Plus Pop-up Addon — [ Install ]
• Google Translator for Firefox — [ Install ]
• Text Link — [ Install ]
• Fast Dial 4.12 — [ Install ] works partially
• ReloadEvery — [ Install ] works but context menu on tabs doesn't appear
• NoSquint — [ Install ] partly
• BlockSite — [ Install ] partly - password protection doesn't work
• Color Transform — [ Install ]
• easy Xdebug — [ Install ] - SM support is formally included but this add-on is very old and will benefit from this tool
• Easy Copy — [ Install ]
• Web of Trust - WOT — [ Install ]
• DictionarySearch — [ Install ]
• fontinfo — [ Install ] - partly: Page Info window will be a bit broken - convert without porting Page Info features (in options) to keep right-click context menu feature only without breaking Page Info. You may also be interested in converting Font Finder.
• Disconnect — [ Install ]
• Textarea Cache — [ Install ]
• Unhide Passwords — [ Install ]
• Context Search — [ Install ]
• Multicolumn Bookmarks - Note: this extension has been removed by the author and is known not to work with SM 2.29 and later
• CoLT 2.6.4 (short for "Copy Link Text") — [ Install ]
• Menu Icons Plus 3.0 — [ Install ] - works but because menu items in Firefox don't always overlap with those in SM not all of them will get an icon
• Menu Mod 2.2 — [ Install ] - almost: option to display menus as one letter doesn't work; an error in console shows up - test if this addon doesn't break anything else
• Konquefox 1.8.2 — [ Install ]
• Image Toolbar 0.6.15 — [ Install ]
• FireTitle 0.5.5-1 — [ Install ]
• Domain Details 2.7 — [ Install ]
• Remove It Permanently 1.0.6.10 — [ Install ] - status bar icon doesn't show up and can mess up items positioned to either side, but all other features seem to work
• Resurrect Pages 2.0.6 — [ Install ]
• New tab toolbar button 1.1 — [ Install ]
• Close Button 0.4.1 — [ Install ] - almost: when close button is set to close tab then it will not close window when there are no more tabs, regardless of settings
• Tiny Menu 2.0.4 — [ Install ] - tip: it appears you can't move the "tiny menu" to other toolbars but you can move items from other toolbars to the the "tiny menu" toolbar therefore ending up with one sleek toolbar that saves space - this works even better than in Fx 29 (where location bar seems to be unmovable)
• Tab Focus 1.0.8 — [ Install ]
• Flashblock 1.5.17 — [ Install ]
• Toolbar Buttons 1.0 - this extension supports SeaMonkey natively since version 1.0.1 - no need to convert!
• SaveLink 3.2 — [ Install ]
• Notepad (QuickFox) 2.8.4 — [ Install ] - seems to work, however not all features have been tested
• EHTip 2.4.4 — [ Install ]
• Shumway — [ Install ]
• Undo Closed Tabs Button 3.9.1 — [ Install ]
• DragNDrop Toolbars 0.0.0.9 — [ Install ]
• ErrorZilla Plus 1.2.3 — [ Install ]
• FoxVox 1.7.9.1 — [ Install ]
• Organize Status Bar (Revived) 0.1.0 — [ Install ]
• SpeechUtil 0.3 — [ Install ]
• Text to Voice 1.10 — [ Install ]
• Tab Clicking Options 0.6.9 — [ Install ] - works but there is also a version updated to work with SeaMonkey here. Undo close tab action seems to be missing.
• fireform 0.7.5 — [ Install ]
• Cookie Monster 1.2.0 — [ Install ]
• RemoveTabs 0.5.0.3 — [ Install ]
• FxKeyboard 2.4.2 — [ Install ]
• URL Tooltip 1.2.2 — [ Install ]
• Add to Search Bar 2.5 — [ Install ]
• Autofill Forms 1.0.2 — [ Install ]
• BetterPrivacy 1.68 — [ Install ]
• BlockSite Plus 1.1 — [ Install ]
• Fire Commander 0.3.10 — [ Install ]
• Link Alert 1.0.2 — [ Install ]
• Modify Headers 0.7.1.1 — [ Install ]
• Video WithOut Flash 1.4.2 — [ Install ]
• Pearl Crescent Page Saver Basic screenshot tool 2.8.2 — [ Install ]
• Just Disable Stuff 1.1 — [ Install ]
• microGesture 1.0 — [ Install ]
• microGesture Tab Edition 1.0 — [ Install ]
• Norwell History Tools 1.9.1 — [ Install ]
• Double Click Closes Tab 0.27 — [ Install ]
• Capture & Print 0.1.9.2 — [ Install ]
• Stacked Inspector 1.0.20110524 — [ Install ]
• Font Finder 1.1.1 — [ Install ] - this addon apparently supports some ancient versions of SeaMonkey but not the current ones. Convert with default options (despite warning) and it will work fine.
• Search by Image for Google 1.2.0 — [ Install ]
• Greasemonkey 2.3 — [ Install ] - default script editor is not available - set up external editor in options to make the edit function work. Otherwise it appears to work but has not been thoroughly tested. You can also consider Scriptish, a GM fork, which supports SeaMonkey natively (use "Install Anyway" button if it appears as not available for SeaMonkey). Another alternative: Greasemonkey Port.
• Quick Context Search 1.5.2 — [ Install ]
• Yet Another Context Search 1.3.1 — [ Install ]
• ProfileSwitcher 1.6.2 — [ Install ]
• easyGestures N 4.7 — [ Install ] - partly: most common functions work, however there may be some js errors thrown in the console and some features might not work properly
• pastego 2.0.4 — [ Install ]
• Key config 0.3.1 — [ Install ] - partly: most configurations work but there are a few actions that do not. This extension is made for a very old version of SM and will hence benefit from conversion.
• Memory Restart 1.18 — [ Install ] - generally appears to work, however after the selected memory limit is reached it starts throwing js errors in console, hence this extension may have some hidden issues in SeaMonkey
• Google Translator, Web Translation, ImTranslator 8.3 — [ Install ]
• Drag & DropZones 1.6.1 — [ Install ]
• Cache Status 0.8.5 — [ Install ] - tip: in options enable forcing placement of UI in status bar - then this extension will place itself in SeaMonkey's status bar
• Exit Button Firefox 0.4.2 — [ Install ]
• Exit Button Thunderbird 0.5 — [ Install ] - note: this and Exit Button Firefox will not cooperate together so choose only one
• Custom Tab Width 1.0.1 — [ Install ] - note: this extension will not restore default widths on disabling or uninstallation
• Search Highlight 1.0.1 — [ Install ]
• Search term highlighter 7.2 — [ Install ]
• Progre 1.0.2 — [ Install ] - caveat: this extension will prevent "Paste & Go" context menu item from appearing
• Page Zoom Button 1.4.1 — [ Install ]
• Zoomr 1.1 — [ Install ]
• Bottom Error Console 0.3.4 — [ Install ]
• Navigate Up 2.6 — [ Install ]
• Dir Up 1.0.17 — [ Install ]
• Ghostery - Ghostery 5.4.2 and later officially supports SeaMonkey, no need to convert any more. SM 2.32 or later is required for current Ghostery versions.
• Image Picker 1.9.3 — [ Install ]
• Save Images 1.1.0 — [ Install ] (this appears to be adapted to SM and can be installed without conversion but still the conversion helps with some minor issues)
• Blank Your Monitor + Easy Reading 1.9.11 — [ Install ]
• I don't care about cookies 2.3.5 — [ Install ] - right-click menu entry "Report a cookie warning" does not work
• Video Downloader professional 1.97.36 — [ Install ]
• Inspect Context 1.00 — [ Install ]
• Awesome Screenshot Plus - Capture, Annotate & More 2.4.6 — [ Install ] (requires SM 2.33 or later) - current version 2.4.4 has broken file saving, even in Firefox, please use version 2.4.5 - currently in version history — [ Install 2.4.5 ]
• Wappalyzer 3.0.15 — [ Install ] (requires SM 2.33 or later)
• YouTube mp3 1.0.9 — [ Install ]
• Secure Login 1.0.6 — [ Install ]
• LiveClick 1.0.1 — [ Install ] - almost: when live bookmarks are added to bookmarks toolbar then this extension will not work in most cases. However, it will work fine in the bookmarks menu.
• Noise Control 12 — [ Install ] does not detect Flash, otherwise works fine for html5 audio
• Coprolalia 1.0 — [ Install ]
• Video Resumer 1.1.3 — [ Install ]
• Show Password 1.7 — [ Install ]
• Toggle animated GIFs 1.2.1 — [ Install ]
• Disable DHE 0.1.1 — [ Install ]
• NewScrollbars (aka NoiaScrollbars) 1.2.2 — [ Install ]

Firefox extensions that DO NOT work after conversion:

• QrCodeR
• Tab Mix Plus
• Lightbeam for Firefox
• QR Code Image Generator
• easy Xdebug (with moveable icon)
• Tree Style Tab
• Ant Video Downloader and Player
• History Submenus 2.10
• History Submenus Ⅱ 2.3.8
• Close Tabs to the Right 0.1.9 - but you may be interested in RemoveTabs
• All-in-One Gestures - it can be forced to work somehow but is buggy and many features don't work. Use Mouse Gestures Suite instead.
• FireGestures
• Open Bookmarks in New Tab
• Compact Menu 3 - Blue - some minimal functionality exists like being able to make the menu smaller, however other things are broken
• TabStash 0.1
• Personal Menu (Personal Firefox Button) 6.2.0
• SearchWP 2.7
• Magnifier 0.6
• Classic Opera 1.5
• Tab Utilities 1.5.28.1
• Informational Tab 0.5.2014100302
• Magnifier 0.6
• Toggle Find Bar 0.2.1
• CipherFox 3.10.0
• TooManyTabs - Saves Your Memory 1.4.5
• Download Manager (S3) 3.05
• The easiest Xdebug 2.0
• Free Memory 0.95
• Extended Statusbar 2.0.3
• Omnibar 0.7.28.20141004
• Toggle Cookies 0.7.4
• Self-Destructing Cookies 0.4.7
• Image Resizer/Scaler 1.6

Thunderbird extensions that work after conversion:

• Smilie Inserter — [ Install ]
• Confirm-Address — [ Install ]
• Check Domain — [ Install ]
• Address Move Button — [ Install ]
• Display Quota — [ Install ]
• mailmindr — [ Install ] ok but error in console
• Keyword Highlight — [ Install ]
• SubSwitch — [ Install ]
• Auto Address Cleaner — [ Install ]
• Disable DragAndDrop (Thunderbird) — [ Install ]
• withAttach — [ Install ] partly - toolbar buttons don't show
• AttachmentExtractor — [ Install ] some errors in console but seems to work fine
• ImportExportTools — [ Install ]
• Signature Switch — [ Install ]
• Change quote and reply format — [ Install ] - there's a tiny glitch at the reply button, see this post for a workaround
• QuoteAndComposeManager — [ Install ]
• Select Inbox 2.5 — [ Install ] - partly: main function of opening Inbox works fine, however options for selecting messages are either buggy or do not work so keep them disabled.
• Thunderbird Message Filter Import/Export Enhanced 1.0.3 — [ Install ]
• Show Address Only 0.1.9 — [ Install ]
• ExQuilla for Microsoft Exchange 38.0.1159 — [ Install ] - this extension is reported to work in SM but there are a few errors in the console so you may expect some minor things to be broken
• EditEmailSubject 2.0.3 — [ Install ]

Thunderbird extensions that do not work after conversion:

• Today's messages
• AutoarchiveReloaded
• Blinking Alert
• PrintingTools
• Remove Duplicate Messages (Alternate) - use version at http://removedupes.mozdev.org/installation.html without any conversion
• Custom Address Sidebar
• Quicktext
• Stationery
• Tag Toolbar
• XNote
• Ruler Bar
• Color Folders
• Folder Pane View Switcher
• Archive This
• Manually sort folders

[rsx11m]

I didn't test it myself, but this definitely looks like a very useful tool!
Stickified (assuming standard disclaimer = use at your own risk).

[therube]

Slick .

[Lemon Juice]

Thanks for making it sticky! Hopefully, it will work well

[DERoss]

I just tried the converter on the Fontinfo 0.3.1 extension from https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/seamon ... /fontinfo/. The converted extension installed in SeaMonkey 2.26 without any problems and seems to be working okay.

Question: Do you plan to maintain and update the converter as Firefox, Thunderbird, and SeaMonkey evolve?

[Anonymosity]

Disconnect, MR Tech Toolkit (I use the beta version - 6.0.4.9000), BetterPrivacy, Flashblock 1.5.17, Modify Headers, Kill Bright Backgrounds all work with SeaMonkey with a little tweaking done to chrome.manifest and install.rdf. Converted "URL 'n Extension Block" and "Force Content-Type" seem to work after conversion.
"Manually Sort Folders" does not work properly in SeaMonkey. The move up and move down buttons do not appear in the folders window.

[patrickjdempsey]

Very cool! You should probably note somewhere that any extensions which modify the appearance of Firefox like Tab Mix Plus are pretty well much guaranteed to not work. TMP doesn't even play nice with non-default themes, so other applications are just not going to happen. This is pretty exciting stuff!

[Lemon Juice]

Question: Do you plan to maintain and update the converter as Firefox, Thunderbird, and SeaMonkey evolve?

At the moment I can say that I do as long as I use SeaMonkey - and so far all the other browsers are trying hard to be not likeable by me . However, I don't plan on spending too much time maintaining it since I don't expect any rapid changes in FF/TB/SM that will require much maintenance of this tool apart from some occasional fixes and small improvements. But it's a one-man project so you know - if I get wiped off this earth somehow then this tool will stop living - but yes, I plan to keep to tool going

"Manually Sort Folders" does not work properly in SeaMonkey. The move up and move down buttons do not appear in the folders window.

This would require manual code change since this extension references TB-specific folder display property that has no equivalent in SM. In this case the automatic tool has to give up.

Very cool! You should probably note somewhere that any extensions which modify the appearance of Firefox like Tab Mix Plus are pretty well much guaranteed to not work. TMP doesn't even play nice with non-default themes, so other applications are just not going to happen.

You are right but I find it hard to describe it universally which extensions are not guaranteed to work and I don't want to discourage people from playing with it - for example, "Color Transform" also modifies the appearance of Firefox, but in a different way, and works well in SM. You and I know this is a different case but not everyone will. However, I've added a link to this thread so people can learn more by reading these comments

This is pretty exciting stuff!

Yeah, however there's a growing number of FF extensions made with an addon SDK and I can't port them to SeaMonkey and I've read they cannot be - still, I haven't investigated this any deeper. I'm not happy of FF using some proprietary technologies since I would like those extensions to be SM-portable as well!

[patrickjdempsey]

The Addons SDK was apparently necessary because Firefox Mobile does not use XUL, therefore XUL overlays don't work. By creating the SDK Mozilla could make claims about Firefox Mobile having the same great extension system as Firefox, which is something of a hollow claim.

[Lemon Juice]

The Addons SDK was apparently necessary because Firefox Mobile does not use XUL, therefore XUL overlays don't work. By creating the SDK Mozilla could make claims about Firefox Mobile having the same great extension system as Firefox, which is something of a hollow claim.

Okay, but to me SDK means software development kit - a collection of tools used to develop software - not to use it. Whether I use an SDK or not it should still run on the supported platform. Is the SDK part of FF? If it is then it is not an SDK but a runtime environment...

As you can see, I haven't yet investigated the subject so I don't yet understand what this FF SDK really is and why add-ons created with it will not run in SM and TB.

[patrickjdempsey]

It's a little confusing:

Jetpacks/Addons SDK is a runtime environment and a set of APIs that runs extensions which are very unlike Firefox extensions as they do not use XUL. Mozilla labels these as "Restartless" on AMO and they will only run on Firefox and Firefox Mobile which both have the SDK built-in.

Bootstrapped extensions are also labelled "Restartless" but they do not use the SDK. Instead, the author has to explicitly do all of the work of loading and unloading the extension, variables, and drawing the XUL through DOM manipulation. Bootstrapped extensions can run on SeaMonkey, with the same caveats as a normal XUL overlay extension. Although because of the complexity of the code, it may be more difficult to identify breaking-points in a Bootstrapped extension.

To add to the confusion, people sometimes call Bootstrapped extensions Jetpacks or SDK... probably because of the "Restartless" label on AMO. This thread has a few examples of attempts to get the old Jetpack Prototype extension to run in SeaMonkey, as well as Philip getting a (I believe) Bootstrapped extension to run: viewtopic.php?p=8404515#p8404515

[Scarlettrunner20]

This tool makes it very simple to modify Fx extensions to hopefully work in SeaMonkey. Thanks!

I had very little hope that the one extension I really need to work in SeaMonkey (so that I could use SM as my default browser) would work. But I thought I would try it. It was originally developed for Mozilla Suite many years ago but then the author moved it later to Fx around Fx 1.0. It has gone through some changes over the years and is now known as Tree Style Tabs. It installed just fine using this convenient addons converter. But when I restarted SeaMonkey the tabs( that were restored by Session Manager which works with Tree Style Tabs on Fx) were still on top instead of down the left side. Plus, the navigation bar was missing (although View/show-hide said it was showing). I had to use Customize to get it back and the navigation buttons were missing also and had to be retrieved from Customize.

Disconnect DOES work (which is great as currently Ghostery is again not updating on SM). It is located on the left side of the back button on the navigation bar. It doesn't have the icon that I see on Fx down on my Extended Status bar. It is just a tiny squiggle and a tiny down arrow. I thought it was not going to work on SM until I stumbled on the squiggle and tiny arrow by accident.

Textarea cache DOES work! I had to restart SeaMonkey twice before it worked correctly.

Unhide passwords DOES work!

Context Search does NOT work. It should work. It places a blank space where search engines besides Google should appear.

Multicolumn bookmarks does NOT work.

These are the Fx extensions I have tried so far.

[Lemon Juice]

It's a little confusing:

Thanks for explaining, it's a little more clear. So in effect the addon SDK is built into Fx and is indeed a runtime environment and has not been made to work in SM. I wonder why it can't work in SM - is it too difficult to adapt or is it just that there are no volunteer programmers who would be willing to do it?

It has gone through some changes over the years and is now known as Tree Style Tabs.

It's really interesting that you were able to get Tree Style Tabs to work somehow in SM because it doesn't work for me - apart from making the tabs higher and the icons distorted nothing else is happening, no buttons to customize and quite a few errors in console

Context Search does NOT work. It should work. It places a blank space where search engines besides Google should appear.

SM appears to use a different function for getting selected text - try it again, I've updated the converter to cover such cases so Context Search should work fine now!

[Lemon Juice]

Multicolumn bookmarks does NOT work.

Ha, this was a case where too many modifications spoiled everything! The Mozilla page about differences in extensions between SM, Fx and TB seems to be wrong about bookmarksMenuPopup - it turns out it doesn't need to be changed at all. I removed it from the converter so Multicolumn Bookmarks should work fine now!

[smsmith]

I was able to covert the Change Quote and Reply Header and Quote and Compose Manager extensions. The only problem I have noticed was that the Change Quote and Reply Header extension did something weird to the reply button, which I was able to get rid of with a little CSS tweak. This button appears to have several different states that vary depending on the type of mail you are going to respond to (it a popupmenu button or something or other). I only really need the reply button to be a _reply_ button, so losing this extra function doesn't bother me.

Original extensions are available here:
https://freeshell.de/~kaosmos/index-en.html

And my little code block:

Code: Select all

#button-reply menupopup,
#button-reply .toolbarbutton-menubutton-dropmarker {
  visibility: collapse !important;
}

And thanks for a wonderful tool! Last thing I was missing to make mailnews bearable for me!