How to Backup Mozilla Firefox Extensions with FEBE
January 18, 2008 – 4:24 pmI love Mozilla Firefox and as many avid fans out there, I have many add-ons/extensions installed inside it that helps me perform various wonderful tasks within the browser. My problem is that I miss my extensions when I use another computer which has Firefox installed, but none of my lovable Firefox extensions.
Thankfully, a kind guy called Chuck Baker created an extension called FEBE (Firefox Environment Backup Extension) that helped me to solved this problem. It lets me (and you too!) to backup Mozilla Firefox extensions and settings so I can restore it anytime and anywhere.
FEBE does not only backup extensions. It backups themes, bookmarks, profiles, cookies, passwords and just about anything inside Firefox. Backups can be performed manually or automatically using a pre-determined schedule. FEBE offers two types of backup – full profile and selective.
A full profile backup will backup everything inside Firefox inside one big .xpi file (extension file) so you can use it to restore full custom settings on another machine. Meanwhile, a selective backup allows you to select what you want to backup, and it will store each backup item in its own personal .xpi file. This way, a user can select extensions to restore one by one when the needs arise.
To get started, open up your Firefox and get FEBE here. Install it and restart Firefox to activate this extension.
How to Backup All Firefox Settings (Full Profile Backup)
1- On the menu bar, click Tools -> FEBE -> FEBE Options.
2- For backup type, select “Full profile” on the “Options” tab.
3- On the “Directory” tab, select where you want to save your backup.
4- Select “Use timestamped directories” to differentiate backups based on date of creation.
5- Click OK to finalize the settings above.
6- Again, on the menu bar, click Tools -> FEBE -> Perform Backup. Wait for the backup process to finish.
You can check out the backup contents inside your previously chosen backup directory. You will find out that only one .xpi file exists because it is a full profile backup (all settings are rolled into one single, portable file).
How to Selectively Backup Firefox Settings (Selective Backup)
1- On the menu bar, click Tools -> FEBE -> FEBE Options.
2- For backup type, select “Selective” on the “Options” tab.
3- Select what you want to backup on the “Backup items” section. For this how-to, I choose to backup my Firefox extensions and themes.
4- On the “Directory” tab, select where you want to save your backup.
5- Select also “Use timestamped directories” to differentiate backups in different sub-folders, based on date it was created.
6- Click OK to finalize the settings above.
7- Again, on the menu bar, click Tools -> FEBE -> Perform Backup. Wait for the backup process to finish.
You can check out the backup contents inside your previously chosen backup directory. You will notice that each backup item will have its own .xpi file.
How to Restore Backups
Restoring backups is easy. On the menu bar, click Tools -> FEBE -> Restore and then select what you want to restore. FEBE will prompt you to select your backup files inside one of your backup folders. As simple as that.
In my opinion, FEBE is another extension that Firefox die-hards can’t afford to miss. Instead of having to install extensions one by one on another machine that you want to use, you can just dump a full FEBE backup file in one shot on it. That’s freakily easy!
FEBE will prove its worth again if you accidentally deleted an extension and want to recover it back as soon as possible. Furthermore, the ability to backup and restore extensions in multiple folders allows you to revert to a previously workable settings if any newly installed extension screws up your Firefox. Try FEBE today!
Tip: Use the “Schedule” options on FEBE settings to automate your backup in daily, weekly or monthly basis.
Tags: febe, firefox addons, firefox extensions, firefox tip, firefox howto
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2 Responses to “How to Backup Mozilla Firefox Extensions with FEBE”
Really nice review! Just want to add that you will probably want to backup your bookmarks and preferences (along with the extensions) at the very least. If you do not backup your preference and bookmarks then you will have to start all over again to setup these things when restoring backup.
By jawwad on Jan 21, 2008
life saver right here!
By Sabeur on Dec 12, 2008