PEP gone in Firefox Quantum & can't reinstall older Firefox

[Ted Lee]

I was using Firefox 53.0b9 with FEBE & PEP when computer suddenly rebooted & found myself staring at the Newest version of Firefox, "Quantum"? I have the FEBE restore files but I never backed up PEP info that I created. PEP isn't compatible with "Quantum". Several times I attempted to reinstall Firefox 53.0b9. 53.0b9.exe does reinstall but when FF is reopened it appears as thou its still "Quantum" and it still will not accept PEP. How can I get all of the info back that I put into PEP? Am I screwed. How will I survive without "PasteEmailPlus"?

[cbaker_admin]

If you can get Fx v53.0b9 to install, you should immediately turn off automatic updates (else Mozilla will relentlessly force install the unwanted Quantum without asking).

If you have a FEBE full profile backup, you should have the PEP data. Open the full backup file (on my machine it is named profileFx56.0.2(FEBE8.9.3.1){Chuck}.fbu. Yours will be named something similar) with a zip program (like 7-zip) and extract the file pasteemailplus.json into your Fx profile.

Unless you have a good reason to be using Fx 53.0b9, you should install v56.0.2 (the latest version that still supports 'legacy' extensions). You can find all the old Fx versions on Mozilla's public FTP site.

[jbacinti]

Any chance PEP will be updated to work with version 57 and up? Sure hope so. It's a perfect extension for this retired guy.

[jbacinti]

Actually I'm interested in Past Email Original rather than PEP. Sorry for the confusion.

[cbaker_admin]

I am in the process of rewriting Paste Email Plus for Quantum. I hope to get to Paste Email (Original) after that.

[TheWayOfYahweh]

Yes, indeed, we are anxiously awaiting Paste Email (Original) also for Firefox Version 57+! This is a must have extension, a necessity. Is there anything we could place into the Chrome/userChrome file that would work in the meantime? Thanks!

[RaymondGTF]

I too am anxiously awaiting an update to deal with FF quantum. FF latest version is heads and shoulders above the terrible earlier version, and I RELY on FEBE to backup and protect my browser settings, passwords and open pages. Chuck keep up the good work and let us know when the FEBE update will be available for Quantum!

[cbaker_admin]

I'm sorry, but FEBE cannot be written for Quantum. The APIs simply do not exist and most likely will never be written. FEBE requires access to a user's browser data that is against WebExtensions philosophy (usernames, passwords, bookmarks, etc.) WebExtensions won't even allow for reading/writing to a user's filesystem, so even if I could read the data, the backups could not be stored anywhere.

FEBE will only work on pre-Quantum Firefox, Pale Moon, and other browsers that still support XUL/XPCOM.

BTW, this thread is actually about porting Paste Email Plus and Paste Email (Original) to Quantum, which can be done and am in the process of completing.

[TheWayOfYahweh]

"...porting Paste Email Plus and Paste Email (Original) to Quantum, which can be done and am in the process of completing."

This right there Chuck is the BEST news!

Thanks tremendously for your awesome work with these extensions!

[marco275]

I am in the process of rewriting Paste Email Plus for Quantum. I hope to get to Paste Email (Original) after that.

Great!! Thnx!

[nickh]

Hello Chuck,
Have you been able to make any progress with this, by any chance?

[cbaker_admin]

I am making progress, but the going is slow. The WebExtensions APIs are very primitive compared to XPCOM and it is much harder to do even relatively simple tasks with them. PEP is mostly done, but I'm still having issues with it working with Gmail. I was almost to the point of just eliminating interaction with Gmail, but I've still got some possible solutions to try before I give up. I've invested perhaps hundreds of hours into the project and it is frustrating at times, but I'm not willing to give it up just yet. I'm finding that some of the APIs that work with Chrome do not work the same way with Quantum (and vise versa) which adds to the frustration. In theory, they should all work the same way but I've discovered otherwise.

Once I get these problems ironed out, it should be a simple matter of porting Paste Email (Original).

[cbaker_admin]

Paste Email Plus for Quantum is completed and available on AMO.

[marco275]

Paste Email Plus for Quantum is completed and available on AMO.

Thank you Chuck!

[cbaker_admin]

Paste Email (Original) for Quantum is now available from AMO.