Transitioning from Pale Moon to Firefox

[Muse]

For some reason, video (e.g. Youtube) is jerky on my computers using Pale Moon, which has been my default browser for several years. I notice that Edge's video is smooth. But I figure I'd prefer Firefox (as long as the video is smooth). I have another reason to abandon Pale Moon -- I want to install an addon that isn't supported by Pale Moon, Honey.

My question is, can I get (at least some of) my data from Pale Moon into Firefox? I tried to install Firefox on this Windows 10 64bit machine a couple days ago and ran it's data import function that's integrated into the installer (I chose to import data, it didn't specify from where but I figured it had to be from my default browser, which is Pale Moon) and I got a spinning cursor that lasted over 12 hours and I shut off the process.

I'd at least like Firefox to know my passwords so I don't have to look them up and enter them. Can I copy/paste some stuff from Pale Moon into Firefox? What do you think?

 

[coffeemonster]

I'd recommend you ask on the firefox reddit and maybe the palemoon forum as well.

I recently switched from palemoon as a primary browser too. But I didn't like FF 57 enough so I gave waterfox another try and really like it.

 

[Puffnstuff]

I'd at least like Firefox to know my passwords so I don't have to look them up and enter them. Can I copy/paste some stuff from Pale Moon into Firefox? What do you think?

I have no personal experience with pale moon but I did find the Mozilla help page on transferring from another browser to FF.
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/import-bookmarks-data-another-browser

 

[lxskllr]

Does Pale Moon have firefox sync? If so, you could sync settings that way.

 

[babcom]

You can use this addon which I use to transfer your passwords:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/password-exporter/
It doesn't work with firefox 57 and above so you could install firefox 56 first then upgrade to 57 and remove the addon once you have transferred your passwords.

 

[Muse]

You can use this addon which I use to transfer your passwords:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/password-exporter/
It doesn't work with firefox 57 and above so you could install firefox 56 first then upgrade to 57 and remove the addon once you have transferred your passwords.

It'll grab them from Pale Moon?

 

[Ketchup]

I use MozBackup whick supports Firefox and Thunderbird all the way back to version 2. So unless Pale Moon really changed the format of the save files you might want to give it a shot.

 

[babcom]

In Pale Moon, use Password Exporter to save your passwords as an .xml file. Then in Firefox 56 use Password Exporter to browse to your .xml file, then import them in to Firefox. Version 1.2.1.1 is the last official version that works with Pale Moon. The latest version 1.3.4 will not work with Firefox 57 or above. Of course, if you're already using Firefox 57, it may be too much of a risk trying to downgrade Firefox from 57 to 56 as this might corrupt your profile.
When I say official, you could hack the install.rdf and change the min version number for Pale Moon to get later versions of Password Exporter to work, but you won't need to do that as all you want to do is to copy your passwords from Pale Moon to Firefox. You can remove the Password Exporter addon from Pale Moon and Firefox after you've exported your passwords.

Actually, forget about Password Exporter! Use the FEBE addon. This'll back up everything: you can choose to selectively backup your passwords, bookmarks, prefs, addons, themes,cookies, etc or your entire profile. Grab the Pale Moon compatible version of FEBE from the Pale Moon addons website and the Firefox compatible version from the Mozilla addons website.

Consider using the Basilisk browser instead of Firefox: https://www.basilisk-browser.org/
This is created by the Pale Moon folks. It is a fork of Firefox 53-55 and has the advantage that you can install in Basilisk addons (XUL/XPCOM) that are compatible with Firefox 56 and below and also addons (web-ext) compatible with Firefox 57 and above.

Same caveat as before, FEBE only works with Firefox 56 or lower. It does work with the latest version of Basilisk. FEBE saves bookmarks as both a .json and a .html file. The .json format is incompatible between Basilisk and Firefox so it's probable that the .json format is incompatible between Pale Moon and Basilisk :
see https://forum.palemoon.org/viewtopic.php?f=61&t=17899&p=131262&hilit=bookmarks#p131262
You should be able to export/import the bookmarks successfully using FEBE as I'm assuming that is why FEBE saves the bookmarks as .html format as well as the .json format. I've never tested this: when I moved to Basilisk from Pale Moon, I used the Export Bookmarks to HTML.../Import Bookmarks from HTML... option in each browser's Bookmarks menu item so did not use FEBE to export/import my bookmarks.

There's also an addon called CLEO which works with FEBE to backup all your addons into one .xpi file. I don't use CLEO as FEBE installs an option in the browser's Tools menu dropdown called "Quick Backup", go to Tools>FEBE>Quick Backup, which allows you to backup all the addons as one .xpi file.

Pale Moon Sync:
https://www.palemoon.org/sync/
"What is Pale Moon Sync not for?": "It's not for synchonizing data between Pale Moon and other browsers". And there is a thread on the Pale Moon Forum stating that Pale Moon and Firefox use different versions of the sync protocol and they are incompatible.

If your Honey addon is the one about finding coupon codes online, then yes it works fine in Basilisk.

Any questions, just ask.

 

[Muse]

If your Honey addon is the one about finding coupon codes online, then yes it works fine in Basilisk.

Any questions, just ask.

Yes, that's the addon to find coupon codes online. What is Basilisk?

 

[coffeemonster]

https://www.basilisk-browser.org/
Basilisk is a browser from the pale moon developer based on FF 55. The palemoon founder has said he thinks FF55 is a better version to fork from than waterfox's FF56. Its not supposed to replace palemoon so much as be an alternative with the same philosophy. It is still in a beta.
In my experience it doesn't perform as well as waterfox but I am keeping an eye on it for improvements.

 

[Muse]

I found this page and I'm trying this method. I installed FEBE in Pale Moon and exported usernames and passwords. The poster there said they exported only that but I added cookies and extensions. Configured FEBE to backup when starting Pale Moon. So, I restarted it and it hung on backing up the Honey extension, which was disabled because it wasn't supported in Pale Moon. So, I aborted the backup and removed Honey and restarted Pale Moon again and it completed the backup in a few seconds if that. Looks like I can maybe import things separately because they are each in separate files in the backup folder I created. Haven't fired up Firefox yet and tried importing. The username and passwords file is usernames-passwords{default-1340322108201}.json

Here's the post that I riffed off:

- - - -
Question owner
although I don't have a "key3.db" file, here's how I solved my problem. 1. FEBE only 'usernames & passwords" into an apt-named document folder

from my PaleMoon browser.

2. FEBE only "usernames & passwords" into an apt-named document folder

from my FireFox browser.

3. copied the results from the PaleMoon documents folder to the FireFox

documents folder.

4. performed a FEBE restore of the "usernames & passwords" from my

FireFox browser.

5. Resulting in a transfer of the info from PaleMoon to FireFox

- - - -

 

[Muse]

This is weird. FEBE (Firefox Environment Backup Extension) was installable and installed in Pale Moon but I can't even find it for Firefox. I have Firefox Quantum installed on this Windows 10 64bit laptop. So, I exported my usernames and passwords from Pale Moon but don't see a way to get them into Firefox.

 

[lxskllr]

This is weird. FEBE (Firefox Environment Backup Extension) was installable and installed in Pale Moon but I can't even find it for Firefox. I have Firefox Quantum installed on this Windows 10 64bit laptop. So, I exported my usernames and passwords from Pale Moon but don't see a way to get them into Firefox.

You'll probably have to install <=V56 firefox, add the extension, import your settings, then in-place upgrade to V58. Many older extensions don't work on the new firefox.

 

[sbaros]

FEBE only works with Firefox 56 or lower. .

ALERT: AS OF THIS WEEK, Firefox seems to have disabled addons for its older versions as well. Up to now, I used to boot from bootable Linux DVDs with early Firefox versions,install FEBE immediately and then restore one of my favourite profiles/configurations. Yesterday, while attempting this, I realised that ever old Firefox versions refuse to install either FEBE, or any other classic add-ons like Chatzilla. The reason seems to be that all Firefox versions refer to a specific Mozilla URL that blacklists any add-on they wish, and they probably imposed recently a total ban on anything that used to function until now on older versions. I tried to bypass all the "XPI" limitations through "about:config", but this didn't work either.
So, it looks as if the only remaining solution for the problems described herein is to employ Firefox clones that have broken entirely off the original product and ignore any blacklistings Mozilla has imposed.

 

[Muse]

I find myself in recent months using Firefox AND Pale Moon, even firing up Edge once in a while if I'm not getting things done. Chrome is opening on startup, WTF. Don't get that one, I may just have to remove it (it's an annoyance, I never use it but suppose I should keep it around just in case).