google notebook add-on / add-off / add-on

I’m not sure how many of you know about Google’s Notebook application. If not, it’s just what it sounds like, an application for taking multiple notes. Think of it like Twitter for Google Documents.

I’ve been a regular user of Google Notebook for recording the weekly topics for the MODSonair program I do every Sunday. During the week, I sift through the daily news articles and find topics that may or may not be good to talk about. I throw those topics into the Notebook application and review them at the end of the week when I put together a more comprehensive topics list.

A year or more ago, Google developed a FireFox add-on (aka extension) that made it extremely simple to select text from a page and insert that selection into your Notebook along with a URL back to the source page. Making notes could not be easier:

1. Find a topic worth discussing.
2. Select the title and perhaps some of the text or even an image.
3. Right click the selection and choose to “Note This”.

That what the whole process of taking notes. In the end, all the notes were available on a single page where I could sort through them, remember what it was about via the text I selected and noted and click the URL to go back to that noted page before adding it officially to the topics list.

I believe it was earlier this year that Google decided to discontinue support of their add-on. It was still functional, but I wasn’t to expect any future improvements.

About a month ago, Google took the add-on download off of their website. Until then, you could visit your Notebook page and grab it from a link at the top of the page. It’s possible that this was only available to existing Notebook users, but still the file was available for download. Not any longer.

Yesterday, Mozilla released FireFox 3.5 which put the near final nail in the Google Notebook add-on coffin. The add-on no longer worked.

I spent about half an hour searching the net for a replacement. I almost found one until I realized their FireFox add-ons also didn’t work in the new FireFox. So, I popped open the source code for the add-on and decided to make it work. A few minutes later, the add-on is installed and running like new. (read on for a link if you want the add-on).

This is going to probably kill the Google Notebook application. I can’t see why anyone would use it if it didn’t have a quick-add tool. The Google toolbar doesn’t support similar functionality, so why use the Notebook application when the Documents application does pretty much the same thing. Perhaps Google Wave is going to be the replacement?

Anyway, for those of you who miss the add-on as much as I did or if you just want to try it out, I have made it available for you. Use the link below to download and install the FireFox add-on good for the 3.5.* version of FireFox. I’m not ready to give it up yet myself.

Update: Good for 3.9.*

Google Notebook Add-on 1.0.0.25

Posted in: General »  by: foyleman

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