So a few weeks ago, I ploughed through the annals of Firefox plug-ins available online – fun times! And I found a bunch of tools that are wicked for improving workflow (and a fair few pointless ones too).
So I powered up Firefox to become a productivity ninja. After a while, I found myself using some a lot more than others.
The ones I ended up using fairly regularly were…
Roboform
Roboform is a password manager. It must have saved me hours already – no more retyping passwords or waiting for email resets. Nice.
It used to be Roboform was only available on the PC, but now Mac-lovers can enjoy the benefits too courtesy of the online version.
I’ve also heard lots of people say good things about LastPass, so you could check that out too.
Down Them All
If there are a bunch of download links on a page, and you’re having to do them all one-by-one, DownThemAll will let you, erm, Down Them All. Nicely named.
Similar Web
Similar Web is cool. If you’ve found a site you like, and you’d like to find more sites like it (eg maybe a niche directory or blog), hit Similar Web and it will show you some options. You can find similar sites in a number of other ways, but it’s nice to have it at the click of a button.
Yoono
Arguably the antithesis of a productivity tool, but if you are prone to using a Twitter account or two and Facebook and LinkedIn, it is quite handy having them all in a little toggled sidebar.
Screen Grab
Another ‘does what it says on the tin’ add-on, this one allows you to grab the whole screen or a selection and either copy it or save it without any extra clicks.
Wise Stamp
Wise Stamp allows you to change between different email signatures within Gmail and Yahoo (and others too I presume). Your signature can also include Social Media buttons. Pretty handy.
Scribe Fire
If I’m honest I haven’t actually used Scribe Fire, because I don’t manage my own blog. But it sounds cool – it allows you to blog on-the-fly. No need to log into WordPress and all that jazz, just write and post when the mood grabs you.
Thumbstrips
Thumbstrips can add a little pop-up footer to your browser that gives you a visual history of your browsing, so you can quickly find that page you wanted. It looks quite nice too.
Minimap Sidebar
The Minimap Sidebar is another toggling sidebar, into which you can drag an address of postcode from any website, and it will instantly show you a map.
However, an option to add it to your Gmail Calendar would be nice (anyone want to figure that one out for me?)
Auto Copy
In all honesty, I think you’d have to be a super ninja before you started worrying about this kind of stuff. If you select an area you want to copy, you don’t have to click or Ctrl+C when you use Auto Copy. It does it automatically. Not really used it much to be honest, but might be useful to someone, so I’m throwing it out there.
Multi-Links
I LOOOOVVVVE Multi-links. Got a page of links you’d like to copy? Simply right click and drag using Multi-links. Before you do the click-and-drag (new dance craze anyone?), you can select one of the following options:
Open the links in new windows
Open the links in new tabs
Copy the URLs only to the clipboard
Copy the URLs and Titles (anchor text) to the clipboard
Or Copy the Titles only to the clipboard
Time Saver supremo!
If you’re interested in some more SEO-specific productivity tools, you should check out Tom’s post for a more detailed breakdown of the Firefox SEO Tools.
And if you’re more of a Chrome kind of guy (or girl), you should check out Frazer’s post.
As a final note, if you want to search for more add-ons for firefox, Rock Your Firefox is a good place to start.
Happy hunting – and if you find any gems, be sure to let me know!
Mark Johnstone SEO Consultant
Multi-links is quite possibly the best plugin since sliced bread. Mucho gracias.
Wow, wish I knew about multi-links a year ago, good find! My fave screen grabbing plugin is still Fireshot though.
Nice list mark,
I like few. I am already using few of them. These are really helpful when you have lots of work to do and need the data quickly. There are some alternate is also available I use fireshot to capture the screen.
This is a good list, but the outstanding find on here HAS to be Multi-Links. Very cool.
Love Roboform and that one tool in indispensable to me. Looks like I must check out multi-links too. Don’t know if I would classify it as a productivity too, but Firebug is another awesome plugin I couldn’t live without.
I’m already using some of the tools you’ve mentioned, but I never knew an application like Multi-Links existed until I read your post. I’m definitely checking it out now. Thanks for sharing, Mark!
I really like Firebug and SEOquake. I will check out the Multi-Links tool. Thanks for sharing your list.
Roboform and SEOQUAKE are the most useful tools for me, will definitely try the other ones as well while they seem to be quite “attractive”.
I’ll have to check out Roboform. Hopefully, it’s compatible w/ the latest release of Firefox. I’m still waiting on the Google Toolbar to put out a release that’s compatible. At least Firebug still works!