Hi   !

Do you by any chance have an add-on installed called 'Tab Groups 2.1.4'  ?

If so : would you please disable it and see if that will make a difference  ?

aah, crap. I do. It's been such a staple of my browser experience since it was implemented as a feature in FF, that I forgot I even had it.

...and it's going away in 57...

[foul language omitted for being foul]

Well,   just remove it   (or disable it)   and as you didn't even remember having it : you won't miss it and it should solve your problem  !

Here's the thing, though, I didn't remember having it because as soon as it went away in v45, I immediately installed the plugin; I didn't remember that I have it because I've had it for so long, and use it so heavily, I hardly recall a time I didn't have it.

I support multiple application components in my job and having dedicated groups based on topic (Active Tickets, Puppet Development, Application Restart Procedures) is invaluable. So invaluable, I don't even want to risk disabling the plugin.

I will be holding out on v56 until I can find an alternative.

dev_dull said

I will be holding out on v56 until I can find an alternative.

Heehee,   trying to wrap my brain around you not remembering having it because you use it so heavily that you hardly recall a time you didn't have it ........ And you know what  ? For some weird reason, it makes sense to me.

I understand why you don't want to disable it, quess you'll just have to put up with the not quite visible tabs.

What you could do though - as a matter of fact, I hope you will : Report this to the developer of the add-on (it's not a plugin). There have been others with the same problem (all on Mac), and we advised them to report this to the developer. Chances are that he'll fix this some time soon  ! Will you do it  ?

I can and probably will inform the add-on maintainer, but they announced back in January that there will be no further updates, so I am not optimistic.

Thanks for your help! I appreciate it.

dev_dull said

Thanks for your help! I appreciate it.

My pleasure ......

You know, another thing you could do : give feedback on how you feel about having to do without this add-on here :

https://qsurvey.mozilla.com/s3/FirefoxInput/

And this is the link to the add-on we are talking about :

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tab-groups-panorama/

When you scroll down to the reviews, you'll see that you're not the only one who doesn't want to lose it.

Good luck  !

See also:

• https://wiki.mozilla.org/Security/Contextual_Identity_Project/Containers

cor-el said

See also:

• https://wiki.mozilla.org/Security/Contextual_Identity_Project/Containers

Thanks, cor-el. I downloaded and tested the Nightly build to verify: Unfortunately, this feature is very different functionality from what I'm looking for.

Could this be an alternative  ?

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tab-groups-helper/

See : 'About this add-on' - looks promising ........

That looks like it could be a great alternative, but unfortunately, it appears to be incompatible with 57 (testing with the nightly build). I'll ping the author and see if there's any plan to update it.

If there is WebExtension API support for the function used by an extension then the developer probably would update the extension and possibly asked devs for advice (e.g. file a bug) if this is too complicated.

• https://developer.mozilla.org/Add-ons/WebExtensions/API/

Don't do this!! I removed Tab Groups as suggested, and lost years of work because all my carefully collected tabs have now gone, not just the groupings. An entire book's worth of research erased.

If you give advice, warn people of the consequences!

I have just followed the advice above about Tab Groups Helper, and it has restored my groups and all the associated tabs. Of course, I now cannot see any tabs because the URL bar obscures them, but that is nothing compared to losing all my references.

Oh what a relief it is!

One more thing: If you have Tab Groups Helper activated, any combination of alt+1-9 will crash you out of whatever you are doing, even if it is a password. To stop this, go to Add Ons, select Preferences for Tab Groups Helper, and untick the relevant keyboard shortcut.

It frightened the poop out of me when it happened. Nearly locked me out of my own site

For anyone else looking to hang onto extensions that will no longer work with Firefox 57, the temporary solution is to switch to the "Extended Support Release" of Firefox (so, v52). See link below.

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/organizations/all/

This version will continue to get updates and hopefully cover the gap while developers create add-ons that can replace/update existing add-ons for v57.