Beta testing for version 5

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Version of Tab Organizer: 4.3
Version of Google Chrome: Version 22.0.1229.94 m
Version of operating system: Windows 7 64 bit

Please describe the problem you are having, or the feature you want added:

When you mouse-over a tab entry, the Web page icon is replaced by the "Favorite 
this tab" icon. This is unhelpful if you are using the icon to decide what tab 
to select.

Suggestion: Place it over by the close button.

Original issue reported on code.google.com by gordonro...@gmail.com on 15 Oct 2012 at 10:37

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Ah, yes, the infamous "favorites" system... I'm actually getting rid of it in 
version 5. So this won't be an issue anymore. Don't worry, existing favorites 
will be moved into a "favorites" group or similar.

Original comment by pcxunlimited@gmail.com on 16 Oct 2012 at 9:34

• Changed title: Get rid of favorites system.
• Changed state: Assigned
• Added labels: Type-Confirmed
• Removed labels: Type-Unconfirmed

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Why can't you just change the Favorite star button to create Chrome bookmarks 
in a single "Tab-Organizer Favorites" folder similar to the way those 
"read-it-later" extensions do?  It wouldn't be quite the same effect as being 
able to save and restore a tab with it's current state and cookies retained, 
similar to the Reopen Closed Tab (Ctrl+Shift+T) function because it would just 
be saving the URL like a bookmark without state information.

As a work-around, I supposed I can move all the tabs I want to bookmark to a 
single window and then use Chrome's Bookmark All Tabs function, but that's a 
lot of steps, and it seems like the extension could perform those steps for me.

That's my input.  Honestly, this is the ONLY feature that I have found to be 
irritating and felt that it should have been included.  The fact that you have 
a Favorites list and use the same star icons like Chrome uses in the URL bar 
for creating bookmarks.  Also, I had to do a lot of searching to find out 
ANYTHING about your Favorites feature!  The FAQ only mentions it as a special 
search term, is:favorited.  Finally I found a review that mentioned the 
Favorites are listed in the Tab-Manager options screen, but there is absolutely 
nothing you can do with the list at this point!

I hope my input might help refine your good idea into a more workable feature 
for your fine extension.  (c:

Original comment by BSwasH...@gmail.com on 18 Mar 2013 at 9:34

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Yeah, I thought about the bookmark solution. Unfortunately, Chrome imposes some 
extremely strict limits on how much extensions can use the bookmark system. 
There's a quota, so if you try to create more bookmarks than the quota allows, 
Chrome will block it. And the quota is *extremely* low.

Instead, my plan is to make all tabs virtual, so they're saved in Tab 
Organizer. That way there's no limits to what I can do with it, which 
ultimately results in more features and less bugs for users. An additional 
benefit of this system is that because the tabs are stored in Tab Organizer, 
you can close them in Chrome, but the information will still be in Tab 
Organizer. So this lets you "save a tab for later" in a very easy way, without 
actually using the bookmark system. This helps a lot with that common use case.

Also, I can easily add in a feature where you can select tabs in Tab Organizer 
and then use the dropdown menu to bookmark them.

The reason why the Favorites system isn't mentioned much is because I threw it 
in quickly to solve a problem I had at the time, but ended up not using it very 
much. Making tabs virtual solves the problem I was trying to solve with the 
Favorites system, but does it in a *much* better way.

Original comment by pcxunlimited@gmail.com on 19 Mar 2013 at 12:11

[GoogleCodeExporter]

P.S. Unrelated to this issue, but I'm going to reply to your review. I'm aware 
that the Favorites system is flawed, and the reason for that is because Tab 
Organizer has not been updated since April 9, 2012. There are many things I 
wish I could fix with Tab Organizer, but I haven't had enough motivation to do 
so.

Ultimately, the solution will be Tab Organizer version 5, which I'm currently 
working on, but will take a while to finish. I might be able to go in and 
quickly hack up a solution just to make the Favorites system usable in the 
meantime, but it won't really fix the problem.

As for freezing tabs... Chrome doesn't currently allow extensions to do that. 
However, you can use Shift+Escape to open Chrome's Task Manager. You can use 
the Task Manager to kill individual tabs. And in Tab Organizer version 5, you 
will be able to unload tabs, meaning that the tab is closed in Chrome, but is 
still available in Tab Organizer. Unfortunately, those are the only two 
solutions I'm aware of.

Original comment by pcxunlimited@gmail.com on 19 Mar 2013 at 12:28

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Thanks for explaining.  I didn't realize the last update was almost a year ago.

I really like your idea for the easy feature addition of bookmarking selected 
tabs.  That would really make me happy until you get the virtual stuff going.  
And let me say that your plans for version 5 sound fantastic, more like what I 
was looking for.

I used Firefox for a long time before getting into Chrome, and some of the 
session restore type extensions for Firefox allow you to freeze tabs or save 
them and restart them later with pretty much all the same state information 
intact, including history.  But I'm seeing more restrictions in Chrome, which 
is good, because it was way too easy to mess up Firefox with such extensions!

Not having enough motivation is something I can identify with, but I want to 
tell you that this is by far one of the most useful extensions I've found for 
Chrome, even being 1 year old.  Also, your replies to comments and 
responsiveness to user requests really impresses me.

I haven't gotten into writing extensions, but I have a lot of programming 
experience and would be happy to help you as much as I can, even if it's only 
to be a cheerleader and beta tester.

Anyhow, keep up the good work.  I'm really excited about version 5 now!  KUDOS!

Original comment by BSwasH...@gmail.com on 21 Mar 2013 at 6:20

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Actually, I really *could* use a beta tester. Version 5 works right now and 
I've been using it for months, but it's not polished enough to release yet. Of 
course, the usual caveats apply: it might crash, it WILL have bugs, it WILL 
have missing features, you MIGHT lose your data, etc.

But I can set it up so that version 5 is separate from version 4, so that if 
you lose any data, it'll only affect version 5. FYI, even though I've been 
using version 5 for months, I haven't had a single instance of data loss, 
because I'm always *extremely* careful with user data. To me, losing user data 
is the most terrible thing a program can do. But I have to give the usual 
caveat, so that there's no surprises or disappointment.

As for actually helping with programming... I hope you know HTML, CSS, and 
JavaScript, because that's what Tab Organizer is written in.

Original comment by pcxunlimited@gmail.com on 22 Mar 2013 at 2:37

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Do you still want to beta test?

Original comment by pcxunlimited@gmail.com on 30 Mar 2013 at 1:23

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Yes, I'd still like to help beta test.  Sorry I've been a little preoccupied 
with a work project, but that should be finished today.

I did spend some time looking around at the project pages and I found the 
instructions to download the current build files and to install the unpackaged 
extension into Chrome, but haven't done so yet.  I will in the next couple of 
days.

After reading just a smidgen of the issues and notes, I decided that it would 
be counterproductive for me to offer suggested features until I see what all 
you've done with the new version, especially because I've already found your 
notes that cover all of the ideas I've had so far!

Let me know if there is any particular area you'd like me to torture test.  I'm 
used to losing documents and such while testing and will take appropriate 
steps.  As I understand, I can have the existing version and the new version 
both installed as long as only one is active at a time, so I will plan on 
switching to the old version if I'm working on more critical stuff.

I'll try to be more responsive.  Will touch base once I have things setup for 
testing here.

Original comment by BSwasH...@gmail.com on 1 Apr 2013 at 7:21

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Two corrections:

Version 5 is not publicly available (not even on this repository), it exists 
only on my harddrive. The reason is because it's a complete rewrite that 
started as a side-project, and I haven't bothered to upload it here yet. So 
I'll have to upload it and give new instructions on how to install it and such.

You can have version 5 and version 4 installed at the same time and *running* 
at the same time: they're completely separate.

Original comment by pcxunlimited@gmail.com on 1 Apr 2013 at 10:37

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Thanks.  I'm glad I read this before installing the wrong test bed.  I'll try 
to wait patiently for new instructions.  (c:

Original comment by BSwasH...@gmail.com on 1 Apr 2013 at 11:37

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Alright, download this file:

http://paaru.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/65013638/rewrite.zip

Then unzip it. Careful, the zip contains the files, not a folder, so make sure 
to unzip it into a new folder.

Now, in Chrome, go to Menu -> Tools -> Extensions and make sure "Developer 
mode" is checked. Then click "Load unpacked extension..." and navigate to the 
folder that you unzipped it.

Warning: version 5 currently operates in "sidebar mode" like Tree Style Tabs, 
but since Chrome doesn't support sidebars, I fudge it by resizing all Chrome 
windows. If you don't want your Chrome windows automatically resized, tell me 
and I can disable it.

Original comment by pcxunlimited@gmail.com on 1 Apr 2013 at 11:55

[GoogleCodeExporter]

By the way, what I'm most interested in is if anything seems out of place, or 
doesn't behave as you expect. Version 5 is very different from version 4, and I 
worry the change might be too much. So, if tabs behave funny, in any way shape 
or form, I'd like to hear about it.

Also, I'd love a screenshot, so I can see if the "sidebar mode" works correctly 
or not. The screenshot should be taken right after opening the Tab Organizer 
popup, before doing anything else.

Original comment by pcxunlimited@gmail.com on 2 Apr 2013 at 12:07

[GoogleCodeExporter]

I would be interested in beta testing as well, since I really love your work. 
Since I need to finish some work now, I have set myself a reminder to come back 
here tomorrow.  I also have a neat trick I'd like to share of how to create a 
custom Window in Windows 7 like shown here: http://i.imgur.com/NQPvjXF.png

I hope I can still reorganize tabs (drag-and-drop, select multiple tabs,...), 
since I used this feature heavily. 

Until tomorrow!

Original comment by didnotle...@hotmail.de on 2 Apr 2013 at 3:24

[GoogleCodeExporter]

You can't drag-and-drop or select multiple tabs yet, but it's planned! On the 
other hand, version 5 can automatically organize tabs based on time, name, and 
URL. So I've found that I haven't needed to do much manual organization.

Original comment by pcxunlimited@gmail.com on 2 Apr 2013 at 4:34

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Oops, spoke too soon: it *is* possible to select multiple tabs, but the 
implementation is pretty rough. And the only things you can *do* with tabs 
right now is unload them and close them. If there's some feature you want ASAP, 
please tell me so I can prioritize it.

Original comment by pcxunlimited@gmail.com on 2 Apr 2013 at 4:40

[GoogleCodeExporter]

If you haven't already got the stasis stuff done for storing a tab and removing 
it from memory to be restored later, that would be very high on my list.  Still 
got a few more hours of work to do tonight, but hopefully I can start testing 
tomorrow.

Original comment by BSwasH...@gmail.com on 2 Apr 2013 at 6:08

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Oh no, that part is *definitely* done. It was one of the first things I did. 
That's what "unloading" a tab does: closes it in Chrome, but it's still 
available in Tab Organizer.

Original comment by pcxunlimited@gmail.com on 2 Apr 2013 at 6:47

[GoogleCodeExporter]

OK, I got it install on my machine and made the screen cap as requested.

Clipboard01.png - It might have been confused by my task bar being on the right 
side of the screen and Chrome wasn't maximized.

Clipboard02.png - Maximized Chrome and opened pop-up again.  Positions 
properly, but doesn't resize base window out of the way.

Clipboard03.png - Put my task bar back on bottom of screen, Chrome not 
maximized.

Clipboard04.png - Taskbar on bottom, Chrome maximized.

NB:  I have Aero disabled.

Gotta go run errands, but will play more later.

Original comment by BSwasH...@gmail.com on 2 Apr 2013 at 9:22

Attachments:

• Clipboard01.png
• Clipboard02.png
• Clipboard03.png
• Clipboard04.png

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Another wish-list item would be dealing with duplicate tabs.  Should have 
options to:
 * play a sound when a duplicate is opened
 * change Chrome icon when duplicates are open
 * auto-close old duplicates when new tab opens
 * switch to existing tab rather than open duplicate and close old one
 * manual remove duplicates command (if not auto-blocked)

Original comment by BSwasH...@gmail.com on 2 Apr 2013 at 9:28

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Eesh, it's even worse than I thought. I'll try to fix that, thanks.

Duplicate tabs are a bit tricky. Tab Organizer already merges duplicate tabs so 
they show up as a single tab in Tab Organizer, and closing it in TO closes all 
the duplicates.

You can use the search query "is:duplicated" to find duplicate tabs. I do like 
some of your ideas, though, and I can put them in as options.

Original comment by pcxunlimited@gmail.com on 2 Apr 2013 at 10:23

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Ugh, I just took a look at Sidewise 
(https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/sidewise-tree-style-tabs/biiammgklaef
agjclmnlialkmaemifgo) and it seems they have problems with their sidebar 
implementation too. What a pain. Chrome really needs a sidebar API, but they 
dropped it, claiming it "wasn't important enough"... I really hate dealing with 
the Chrome team.

Original comment by pcxunlimited@gmail.com on 3 Apr 2013 at 1:39

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Ah! So that's how they do it... why didn't I think of that... okay, I should be 
able to fix this no problem. It'll be a little hacky, but it'll work.

Original comment by pcxunlimited@gmail.com on 3 Apr 2013 at 1:44

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Also, I've noticed that it keeps leaving multiple residual copies of the Tab 
Organizer window behind my Chrome window.  Maybe it happened when I clicked on 
the 'Extensions' tab in Tab Organizer (representing the Tab Organizer window, 
I'm assuming), but not sure if it left them when I was doing other things as 
well.

My guess is that your Eureka moment and the forthcoming implementation will 
solve this or at least circumvent the circumstances currently occurring.

Original comment by BSwasH...@gmail.com on 3 Apr 2013 at 1:52

[GoogleCodeExporter]

This is interesting...my old Tab Organizer icon has a badge showing 4 tabs open 
but there is only one tab in one window, as you can see by my taskbar.  Also as 
you can see on the old Tab Organizer, it's showing a 'New Tab', which is not 
there.

Probably just fallout from the broken sidebar issue, so I'll check it out again 
and try to recreate it on the next build.  Will keep you posted.

Original comment by BSwasH...@gmail.com on 3 Apr 2013 at 2:14

Attachments:

• Clipboard01.png

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Okay, new version:

http://paaru.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/65013638/rewrite.zip

Unzip it into the same folder as the old version, overwriting everything. Then 
go into Menu -> Tools -> Extensions, find Tab Organizer 5.0 in the list, and 
then click "Reload"

As before, I would like some screenshots to see if it works or not.

P.S. The "multiple copies of the popup" is known and is a completely separate 
issue, but I did fix it in this version.

Original comment by pcxunlimited@gmail.com on 3 Apr 2013 at 2:18

[GoogleCodeExporter]

As said before, version 4 is completely separate. In fact, it runs in a 
separate process. Chrome has been updated a lot in the past year, and some of 
the updates have broken various things in Tab Organizer version 4.

Original comment by pcxunlimited@gmail.com on 3 Apr 2013 at 2:20

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Well, that and you also have no idea what combination of extensions I have 
installed, much less what background programs and services and drivers 
combinations could be at play here.  But, it's not really a big deal, just 
thought I'd pop it up here since it happened.

Do I need to close out Chrome and exit the Chrome background desktop icon 
before replacing the Tab Organizer files?  I'm guessing your answer is no, but 
methinks my computer has something residual hanging around in Windows 
somewhere...ghosts and zombie processes...at least on Unix you can find and 
clean them up!  Just don't ask me to try Windows 8...EVER!

Will report back after trying out the new one, but probably tomorrow.  Bravo on 
kick-starting your failing motivation!  Talk to you in a day or two.  (c:

Original comment by BSwasH...@gmail.com on 3 Apr 2013 at 3:05

[GoogleCodeExporter]

It's... complicated. Chrome runs each extension in a separate process, so 
theoretically you shouldn't have to restart Chrome. But in practice, Chrome 
sometimes screws things up so that multiple extensions go into a single 
process... I'm guessing to save memory. And so sometimes you DO have to restart 
Chrome. It's a *huge* pain when developing extensions.

Original comment by pcxunlimited@gmail.com on 3 Apr 2013 at 3:09

[GoogleCodeExporter]

And it seems even more so when you're using the Chrome background desktop icon.

OK, I unloaded Chrome and closed all my other programs, in preparation for 
rebooting in a few minutes.  Then I unzipped and replaced the files and started 
Chrome and it did a bunch of stuff adjusting Chrome's window size and position 
and wound up with the window appropriately narrower and out of the way of the 
Tab Organizer window.

Just occurred to me, I should have done a screen capture when I first started 
up before I opened the Tab Organizer side-window.  Basically just the same 
except for just showing the desktop where the Tab Organizer window went.  Let 
me know if you want to see those screenshots as well in future.

Also, just a stray thought...it'd be awesome if it would minimize the Tab 
Organizer window when you minimize the Chrome window, and then restore it (if 
it's still open) when you restore the Chrome window.

It's starting to remind me of Microsoft Office's help window and how it resizes 
the application window and puts it's own modal window in the space.  Not that 
it relates to this much, but I'm sure glad you aren't putting in a help agent 
character like the infamous Paperclip!  Sorry, guess I'm rambling.

Catch up with you later, buddy!

Original comment by BSwasH...@gmail.com on 3 Apr 2013 at 3:25

Attachments:

• Clipboard01.png

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Awesome, glad it's working! I don't really need a screenshot of before opening 
the popup, but thanks for offering.

As nice as it would be to keep the popup synced with the Chrome window, I just 
can't. Chrome fires events at extensions when stuff happens, like a tab 
opening/closing. But there's no event fired when a window is 
minimized/unminimized. So I have no way of knowing when that happens.

Original comment by pcxunlimited@gmail.com on 3 Apr 2013 at 5:23

[GoogleCodeExporter]

New version:

http://paaru.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/65013638/rewrite.zip

Warning: I changed the way user data is stored. I did my best to migrate the 
old data, but it's not perfect. This means that despite my best efforts, there 
is the possibility that all user data (tabs, groups, and settings) will be 
lost. I really hate dealing with IndexedDB...

Anyways, new feature: groups. You can activate it by going to Menu -> Group 
tabs by... -> Group. Now you can right click on a tab to move it into/out of 
groups.

Original comment by pcxunlimited@gmail.com on 4 Apr 2013 at 4:24

• Changed title: Beta testing for version 5 (previously: get rid of favorites system)

[GoogleCodeExporter]

New version:

http://paaru.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/65013638/rewrite.zip

It has to migrate user data *again*. But this should be the last time, since I 
got rid of IndexedDB.

Please tell me if the user data got migrated successfully. If it didn't, you 
will have lost your tab/group/settings information.

This version is mostly minor tweaks and major internal cleanup. No new features 
yet, sorry.

Original comment by pcxunlimited@gmail.com on 6 Apr 2013 at 12:13

• Changed title: Beta testing for version 5

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Please forgive me for not replying back like promised. My family urgently needs 
me for a job they can't finish without my help.

I had some feedback prepared but being a perfectionist I wanted to add more 
info. Unfortunately my PC crashed again because of my tab addiction (4GB of RAM 
are not enough for hundreds of open tabs across days and days. :) )

So in a nutshell I lost my prepared feedback, but I still have a screenshot.
From what I can remember I had somewhat similar problems like Bruce. 

In addition I had the problem that every time I clicked your extension icon a 
completely new window opened (without closing or refreshing the old window)
And only the newest tab or latest refreshed tab showed any changes when opening 
or closing tabs.

In my attatchment you can see multiple Tab Organizer open (They were of course 
over each other; I spread them out for you to see them) As you can see they all 
show different tab states and showing tabs I closed a long time ago. I even had 
the problem of showing old tabs after completely closing all tabs and Chrome 
and then starting Chrome again--> It still showed old tabs. When I hit F5 the 
tab situation is correctly updated though. 

I haven't had time to look at your new version or your conversation though.
And I tested your extension in Google Chrome Canary. 

I will stop by and help beta-test and give feedback if I have more time.
All the best. 

Original comment by didnotle...@hotmail.de on 9 Apr 2013 at 1:33

Attachments:

• [tab organizer.JPG](https://storage.googleapis.com/google-code-attachments/tab-organizer/issue-163/comment-33/tab organizer.JPG)

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Yeah, all those problems should be fixed in the new version, which is right 
above your post.

Original comment by pcxunlimited@gmail.com on 9 Apr 2013 at 6:17

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Ok, great! Your warning about user data worries me a bit. If I simply uninstall 
your old version and install your newest version, do I have to worry about it 
messing up my CHROME data (bookmarks, recently closed tabs, history, settings, 
cookies,...) or is only TAB ORGANIZER data affected?

Original comment by didnotle...@hotmail.de on 9 Apr 2013 at 6:36

[GoogleCodeExporter]

No, it won't affect Chrome data at all, only Tab Organizer data.

Also, in order for the Tab Organizer data to be migrated, you shouldn't 
uninstall it, but rather follow the directions here:

https://code.google.com/p/tab-organizer/issues/detail?id=163#c25

Original comment by pcxunlimited@gmail.com on 9 Apr 2013 at 7:25

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Yes, sorry! I obviously didn't read your update. I now have reread the whole 
thread though.

What I did was I simply uninstalled it from Chrome and installed your new 
version by following your original instructions for the first download:
(https://code.google.com/p/tab-organizer/issues/detail?id=163#c11)
(I didn't have any valuable settings or data in Tab Organizer on THIS PC which 
I could loose.)

Now for some feedback:
Is there a way to turn off this behaviour: When I have my Chrome window 
anything other than maximized, it automatically maximizes it (((to the 
maximized state with the Tab Organizer window to the left)))

But I like how - when closing the Tab Organizer window - the main window 
automatically becomes (truly) maximized (reclaiming the Tab Organizer window 
space.).

I haven't had much time yet to study your new extension in detail though. 

Also consider leaving two separate Tab Organizer versions (4 and 5) in the 
Chrome Store.

Looking forward to follow your great work! :) I hope Bruce can still help 
Beta-test since I will still be busy for some days.

Original comment by didnotle...@hotmail.de on 9 Apr 2013 at 8:41

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Are you asking about the ability to turn off the sidebar mode? If so, then yes, 
there will be an option for that.

Unfortunately, you can't have separate versions in the Chrome Store. I will be 
adding in some options that make version 5 more similar to version 4, for the 
people who prefer the way version 4 works.

Original comment by pcxunlimited@gmail.com on 9 Apr 2013 at 9:20

[GoogleCodeExporter]

It is definitely important to have options to turn off the sidebar mode.

I have to correct my previous sentence because somehow parts of it got lost:

"Is there a way to turn off this behaviour:
When I have my Chrome window anything other than maximized, clicking the 
TabOrganizer icon  automatically maximizes the Chrome window(((to the maximized 
state with the Tab Organizer window to the left))).
Here is a short video showing the situation: http://youtu.be/0htXg2mOzFU"

Original comment by didnotle...@hotmail.de on 10 Apr 2013 at 11:08

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Another thing: Sometimes clicking the TabOrganizer extension icon doesn't open 
the Tab Organizer window! It just resized the Chrome window to the maximized 
position with the space left for the Tab Organizer window. [UPDATE: My mistake! 
The TabOrganizer window was just minimized. Is it possible to 
'deminimize'/restore the Tab Organizer window when clicking the extension icon?

Original comment by didnotle...@hotmail.de on 10 Apr 2013 at 11:10

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Another thought:
Maybe add an option to disable the automatic reordering of tabs in TO when you 
click any already open tab. Maybe it could be set under "sort by: manual". And 
if you then manually drag-and-drop tabs in Tab Organizer you could have an 
option to "only move the tab in Tab Organizer" or to "move the actual Chrome 
tab to this position as well". 
In the past I always used to use Tab Organizer to reorder tabs (one or multiple 
selected) (and of course to find tabs, search for tabs, search for duplicates, 
close tabs and other features)

Update: And another thing: Add an option to "when closing a tab in Tab 
Organizer, close the actual Chrome tab as well". 

I think it would add huge value if you had these options.

Original comment by didnotle...@hotmail.de on 10 Apr 2013 at 11:18

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Last - but very important - feedback for now:

Regarding suspended tabs:
I am always worried about suspended tabs/sessions being lost in extensions 
either because 
A) Chrome crashes or 
B) because I can't export them to an html-file or 
C) the extension or Chrome gets a complete revamp or my installation becomes 
corrupt and looses all my suspended tabs and I don't have any backup of the 
suspended tabs.

Questions/Feedback in detail:

A) If Chrome crashes, are my suspended tabs in Tab Organizer reliably saved and 
are they still there if I reopen Chrome? 
A little background story of me: I have a tab addiction and gather hundreds of 
different tabs of different research areas over days and days and sometimes 
over a week. (I know, I am crazy). But every now and then I max out my 8 - not 
4 like previously mentioned - GB of RAM installed in my PC and Chrome crashes. 
Over the last months Chrome has really improved in that it reliably reopens all 
previously open tabs (including typed text in simple text fields)

B) In many extensions there is no way to export sessions/suspended 
tabs/bookmarks to an html-file. -->My question: In TabOrganizer, will there be 
a way to export suspended tabs as an html-file? Periodic and manual backups 
would be crucial.

C) Another little background story: In the past I used to use the "Session 
Buddy " extension for Chrome 
(https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/session-buddy/edacconmaakjimmfgnblocb
lbcdcpbko/details?hl=en-US). I had dozens and dozens or even hundreds of 
sessions saved. There was no way to export the sessions to an html-file. I 
stopped using it in the hope that it would gain an export feature. After having 
the extension disabled for a year I was shocked to find out that the extension 
got a big revamp and all my sessions were gone....the worst swear words crossed 
my mind...
-->Same question like in B): Will Tab Organizer make periodic backups of 
suspended tabs as an html file just in case my Tab Organizer installation ever 
becomes corrupt?

I hope I didn't drown you in feedback. :)

Original comment by didnotle...@hotmail.de on 10 Apr 2013 at 11:38

[GoogleCodeExporter]

I looked at the video, and that's intentional. It wouldn't be hard to disable 
it, and I know it's a pain if you want to manually resize windows, but I think 
it makes sense for the sidebar mode. I might put in an option to disable it, 
though.

---

"Is it possible to 'deminimize'/restore the Tab Organizer window when clicking 
the extension icon?"

Ah, thanks, I just fixed it so that the TO popup unminimizes when clicking on 
the icon. That fix will be in the next update which should be soon.

---

"Maybe add an option to disable the automatic reordering of tabs in TO when you 
click any already open tab."

Ah, right, I should put that in. In the next update, you will be able to go to 
Menu -> Sort tabs by ... -> Created.

It's really really easy to put in different tab sorting algorithms, so if you 
have any suggestions, feel free to tell me.

---

"In the past I always used to use Tab Organizer to reorder tabs (one or 
multiple selected) (and of course to find tabs, search for tabs, search for 
duplicates, close tabs and other features)"

The suggestion of tying Tab Organizer tabs to Chrome tabs (thus allowing you to 
move them around in Chrome) is actually REALLY REALLY hard. There's two 
problems:

1) I need to somehow associate the TO tabs with the Chrome tabs. What I mean is 
that, let's say you have Chrome set to reload your previous tabs when opening 
Chrome. Now you close Chrome and reopen it. TO somehow needs to know that these 
reloaded tabs are the same tabs that existed in the previous session. This is 
really hard to do in a robust manner.

2) Handling unloaded tabs is extremely hard as well. Ideally it would remember 
what window the tab was in, so when you reload the tab, it shows up in the 
right window. But that gives a whole bunch more problems...

In any case, I'm aware of this, and am thinking quite hard on a way to solve 
it, but it's a very difficult problem to solve. Version 4 didn't have to worry 
about this because version 4 didn't have virtual tabs.

---

"Add an option to "when closing a tab in Tab Organizer, close the actual Chrome 
tab as well""

It already does this by default.

---

"I am always worried about suspended tabs/sessions being lost in extensions 
either because"

This is a valid concern, but I'm always very careful with user data. I myself 
use TO all the time, and I have over 1,000 tabs, so I have a very strong 
personal motive to make the data as robust as I possibly can.

---

"If Chrome crashes, are my suspended tabs in Tab Organizer reliably saved and 
are they still there if I reopen Chrome?"

Short answer: Yes.

Long answer: Chrome is retarded and doesn't tell me why a tab is being closed. 
So for instance, TO can't tell whether the tab was closed because you closed it 
in Chrome manually, or because Chrome was exited.

To work around this, when a tab is closed, I wait 10 seconds before saving it 
to disk. This means that if a tab is closed and Chrome exits within 10 seconds, 
the tab will still be there when you reopen Chrome.

This also applies when you close a tab manually and then exit Chrome within 10 
seconds, which means you have to close it a second time after reopening Chrome. 
But I think that's a much better option than losing tabs.

---

"In TabOrganizer, will there be a way to export suspended tabs as an html-file? 
Periodic and manual backups would be crucial."

Yes, it is planned, but I can't automatically make backups, due to restrictions 
in Chrome. So you'll have to go into the options page, click the Export button, 
then save it yourself.

---

"I hope I didn't drown you in feedback. :)"

Not at all, the whole point of this is to get as much feedback as I can.

Original comment by pcxunlimited@gmail.com on 10 Apr 2013 at 2:28

[GoogleCodeExporter]

New version:

http://paaru.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/65013638/rewrite.zip

The following changes were made:

* Added in an option to display Tab Organizer in a popup rather than a sidebar.

* Tab Organizer popup now unminimizes when clicking on the button.

* New tab sorting algorithm: Menu -> Sort tabs by ... -> Created.

* The ability to export/import all Tab Organizer data as a JSON file.

By the way, even though Chrome puts some pretty heavy restrictions on what I 
can do with the filesystem, I *may* be able to put in some kind of "auto save 
your data every hour" thing.

Original comment by pcxunlimited@gmail.com on 12 Apr 2013 at 1:31

[GoogleCodeExporter]

New version:

http://paaru.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/65013638/rewrite.zip

The following changes were made:

* Popup size and position can now be changed in the options page.

* Sidebar size and position can now be changed in the options page.

Original comment by pcxunlimited@gmail.com on 14 Apr 2013 at 5:20

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Original comment by pcxunlimited@gmail.com on 14 Apr 2013 at 6:11

• Added labels: Type-HelpNeeded
• Removed labels: Type-Confirmed

[GoogleCodeExporter]

New version:

http://paaru.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/65013638/rewrite.zip

Lots of cleanup, not too many new features, but:

* I finally wrote the search parser, so all the special syntax in the search 
box works now.

* Can now load the popup as a popup, sidebar, bubble, and tab. This has been 
fixed so it should work correctly in all situations.

* A couple new options in the options page.

Original comment by pcxunlimited@gmail.com on 1 May 2013 at 5:16

[GoogleCodeExporter]

New version:

http://paaru.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/65013638/rewrite.zip

Yet another rewrite. I'll get it right eventually...!

I don't even remember all the differences between this version and the last 
version, but this version does have:

* Colors!

Original comment by pcxunlimited@gmail.com on 6 Dec 2013 at 5:17

[GoogleCodeExporter]

New version:

http://paaru.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/65013638/rewrite.zip

This one is mostly just small tweaks and bug fixes. Don't worry, I have it 
planned to implement tab drag-and-drop within a window and to other windows, 
but it's tricky to implement (in the UI).

Any feedback on this version would be appreciated.

Original comment by pcxunlimited@gmail.com on 12 Dec 2013 at 12:13

[GoogleCodeExporter]

No new version yet, just a status update.

I'm currently working on "drag tabs to rearrange them in Chrome". This is 
incredibly hard to do, which is part of the reason it's taking so long (the 
other reason is that I'm lazy and reading manga and playing Animal Crossing).

If you want the gory technical details, I'll gladly give them, but I doubt 
you're interested in that.

Original comment by pcxunlimited@gmail.com on 27 Feb 2014 at 1:42