Firefox Extensions to Recover Form Data - Text Area Recovery

Recovering Lost Form Data in Firefox

It's a frustrating experience to meticulously compose information within a web form, only to lose it due to an unexpected interruption.

This can happen because of a dropped internet connection, a browser crash, or even a simple user error like accidentally clicking the "cancel" button instead of "submit."

The Problem of Lost Form Input

Re-typing lengthy text can be incredibly time-consuming and disheartening.

Fortunately, there are methods available to potentially retrieve this lost data, particularly if you are a Firefox user.

Tools for Data Recovery

While these tools aren't foolproof and won't cover every possible scenario, they can often successfully recover form data.

Consider them a valuable resource for mitigating the impact of data loss in most common situations.

How These Tools Help

• They attempt to salvage information entered into text areas and form fields.
• The recovery process focuses on data lost due to browser issues or connectivity problems.
• These solutions provide a means to avoid the complete re-entry of previously typed content.

Although a complete recovery isn't always guaranteed, utilizing these tools significantly increases the chances of regaining your lost information.

This can save considerable time and effort, especially when dealing with extensive forms.

Lazarus

Lazarus, previously accessible but now unavailable (as noted in a review by Saikat), stands out as a widely-used solution for automatically preserving text input. It functions with notable efficiency, consistently saving text and remaining unobtrusive until needed.

The developers themselves describe its capabilities as follows:

Lazarus operates seamlessly with standard web forms, rich text editors, and even dynamically updated comment sections. It safeguards your work against various potential issues, including server errors, browser malfunctions, or connection interruptions that could otherwise lead to data loss – even that carefully crafted blog comment you spent considerable time perfecting.

Key Features Include:

• Text Recovery - This feature retrieves text from a single, active input field. A preview of the saved text is conveniently displayed upon hovering the mouse over the field.

• Form Recovery - This option restores an entire completed form, repopulating all previously entered fields.

The settings menu provides several customization options, including the ability to:

• Store passwords for form recovery.
• Automatically delete saved forms after a specified duration.
• Implement password protection for restoring forms.

The tool retains saved text even after a Firefox browser restart.

Important Consideration: The application saves data specifically after a "submit" action. Therefore, it won't be effective if a "cancel" button is pressed instead of "submit".

Textarea Cache: A Convenient Text Saving Utility

Textarea Cache functions as a comparable utility, yet offers distinct features that have made it a preferred choice. Its operation is straightforward; while it doesn't retain entire forms, it proves useful for preserving the contents of text areas.

A key advantage of this tool is that it operates independently of any specific form. The utility can be accessed through a status bar icon at any moment, allowing users to review a complete record of their typed input and its origin.

Key Features of the History Log

• Timestamp of the entry;
• The title of the webpage where the text was entered;
• Upon selection, the precise text that was submitted.

The following image illustrates the history log:

Configuration options within the tool enable users to:

• Display the status bar icon whenever text is stored in the cache;
• Prevent text saving during private browsing sessions;
• Manage a list of domains from which text should not be saved.

The settings panel is shown below:

Will the tool retain saved text even after a Firefox browser restart? Yes, it will.

Text Saver: A Firefox Extension for Manual Text Storage

Text Saver, currently in an experimental phase and not yet reviewed by Mozilla, presents a unique approach to text preservation. While perhaps not the most intuitive of the options available, it can prove valuable in specific scenarios.

A key distinction of this extension lies in its deliberate design: it does not automatically save text. Saving is initiated solely by the user's explicit request.

The process for saving text involves the following steps:

• Input text into a text area.
• Right-click within the text area and select the "Add this text to Text Saver" option.
• Assign a descriptive name to the saved text extract for easy identification.

The following image illustrates the process:

When the saved text is needed again, access the tool's sidebar through the icon located in the status bar. The stored text will be readily available there.

The following image shows the tool sidebar:

Important Note: This addon isn't limited to text areas alone. It can accommodate virtually any text you wish to preserve.

Furthermore, a drag-and-drop feature allows for direct transfer of text segments to the tool's sidebar.

From within the sidebar, users have the ability to:

• Remove unwanted text entries.
• Modify existing notes.
• Conduct searches across their saved notes.

Does the extension retain saved text across Firefox sessions? Yes, it does.

Are you currently utilizing any text-recovery tools within Firefox? We encourage you to share your experiences and recommendations in the comments section below!