Looking for a way to import speed dials to FVD speed dials

burnout426

burnout426 Volunteer

Add a few dials in FVD speed dial and choose to export your dials and settings in FVD's settings. Look at the result that's generated (that you can copy and paste into a file and save). You'll see that it's JSON.

In Opera, goto the URL opera://about and take note of the "profile" path. Then, open up the "Bookmarks" file in a text editor and you'll see that it's also JSON, but a differerent schema.

What you'd have to do is write a program or script to go through the speeddial section in Opera's "Bookmarks" file and generate JSON entries of those bookmarks that FVD Speed Dial can import. Then, you'd import it. If you wanted to carry over thumbnails too, you'd also have to have your program/script look at the IDs in the "Bookmarks" file and extract the encoded data for the images out of the "Bookmarks Extra" file and preset it in a way that FVD can import (if it even supports that). For example, your script might have to take the base64 data out of "Bookmarks Extra" and make data URLs out of them.

I imagine there's no program or script that currently does that.

So...

Another way to do it is to just export your bookmarks in Opera, import them into Chrome, open all the bookmarks in the speed dial folder at once and add each page to FVD.

In Opera, goto the URL opera://bookmarks. Use the drop-down at the bottom left to export your bookmarks as an html file.

In Chrome, goto the URL chrome://bookmarks. Use the kebab menu (3 vertical dots) at the top right to import the html file.

Still on the bookmarks page, right-click on the "speed dial" folder in "Imported" and choose "open all bookmarks".

Then, switch to each tab and right-click the page and add it to the FVD Speed Dial "Default" page.

Then, if you want, on the FVD Speed Dial page, edit the thumbnail of each.

When you're done, you can delete the "Imported" folder on the Chrome bookmarks page if you want.

graywoulf

graywoulf @burnout426

@burnout426

Thank you very much for that information! I hope that it will speed up the process of setting up Chrome. I am having to use Chrome to view many of the demonstration videos I encounter on a lot of websites like Amazon. So many of them will not play in Opera. But I still prefer Opera to let you know.

graywoulf

burnout426

burnout426 Volunteer

In Opera, turn on the opera://flags/#chromium-ua-compatibility flag so the site thinks you're using Chrome.

graywoulf

graywoulf @burnout426

@burnout426,

Well I had no idea that was there. Thanks again for coming to my rescue!

Would you happen to know of a way to export/import Opera speed dials into FVD speed dials? I am trying to set that up in Opera and Chrome as well.

graywoulf

burnout426

burnout426 Volunteer @graywoulf

@graywoulf said in Looking for a way to import speed dials to FVD speed dials:

Would you happen to know of a way to export/import Opera speed dials into FVD speed dials? I am trying to set that up in Opera and Chrome as well.

The pictures/thumbnails? No.

graywoulf

graywoulf @burnout426

@burnout426,

Thanks anyway. I guess it is going to take a while to create the FVD speed dials one at at time by copy and paste. But, time I have as I am retired.
Thanks again for all of your help and Happy Holidays!

graywoulf

burnout426

burnout426 Volunteer @graywoulf

@graywoulf said in Looking for a way to import speed dials to FVD speed dials:

I guess it is going to take a while to create the FVD speed dials one at at time by copy and paste.

Using the method I mentioned earlier with the bookmark export and import method will avoid the copy and paste part. You'll just have to choose the thumbnail you want for each if the default isn't what you want.

How man speed dial entries do you have in Opera?

graywoulf

graywoulf @burnout426

How many speed dials do I presently have? I am going to be modest and say that I have over 100 speed dials. I know, you just said OMG or something like that. But I have many of them that I need to send to trash as they were being used as temporary bookmarks.

That is one of my main reasons for setting up the FVD speed dials. With the FVD setup, I can create groups and place the temporary dials in a temporary group and so forth and so on.

My only complaint with using FVD in Opera is that I can't seem to find a way to make the FVD speed dials the default speed dials. I always start in Opera then activate the FVD dials.

And your last statement about the bookmark import/export method are you saying that there is a way in do that with speed dials or just the bookmarks?

Thanks again for your help.

graywoulf

burnout426

burnout426 Volunteer @graywoulf

@graywoulf said in Looking for a way to import speed dials to FVD speed dials:

I have over 100 speed dials.

Okay. That's quite a big then to deal with.

But I have many of them that I need to send to trash as they were being used as temporary bookmarks.

That is one of my main reasons for setting up the FVD speed dials. With the FVD setup, I can create groups and place the temporary dials in a temporary group and so forth and so on.

Opera doesn't support that. But, you can create speed dial folders. You can name the folder "Temp" if you want. Just drag one onto another and it'll create a folder with them in it. You can then right-click the folder and edit the title. Or, In opera://bookmarks, you can create a new folder manually in "Speed Dial" and name it.

Also in opera://bookmarks, you can drag speed dial items or speed dial folders out of "Speed dial" into another bookmark category.

My only complaint with using FVD in Opera is that I can't seem to find a way to make the FVD speed dials the default speed dials.

Opera tries to block you from doing that, but there's a way. I post here later on how to do that.

And your last statement about the bookmark import/export method are you saying that there is a way in do that with speed dials or just the bookmarks?

Both speed dials and bookmarks. Speed dials are bookmarks actually. Opera's startpage is just a page that shows the "Speed Dial" bookmarks folder in a fancy way.

burnout426

burnout426 Volunteer

To make FVD Speed Dial your start page:

Install FVD Speed Dial from https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/speed-dial-fvd-new-tab-pa/llaficoajjainaijghjlofdfmbjpebpa.

Install the New Tab Start Page extension.

Then, in the New Tab Start Page extension's settings, set the custom URL to chrome-extension://llaficoajjainaijghjlofdfmbjpebpa/newtab.html (the FVD speed dial extension's page).

Restart Opera after you're done setting things up. You might also want to goto the URL opera://settings/onStartup and disable "display the start page first", so Opera doesn't open its start page automatically on startup. Also, if you use the "open specific set of pages on startup" option instead of "retain tabs from previous session", you can set the startup page to chrome-extension://llaficoajjainaijghjlofdfmbjpebpa/newtab.html.

Then, when you click the + button on the tab bar or use ctrl + t to open a new tab, it'll be FVD Speed Dial instead. And, you'll still be able to hit the start page button on the address bar to get Opera's start page if you want.

graywoulf

graywoulf

Thank you for the instructions and links. Happy New Year!

graywoulf

1breton

1breton

I tried this solution, but it's just as if it was installed thanks to the extension, except that you can install it without any problem without this extension. Me I just want to be able to set "FVD Speed Dial" as the default opening on Opera's home page because now you have to open a new tab to access FVD which I find really annoying, why do other browsers still allow us this choice and not Opera????

quicksite

quicksite @burnout426

@burnout426 said in Looking for a way to import speed dials to FVD speed dials:

Then, in the New Tab Start Page extension's settings, set the custom URL to chrome-extension://llaficoajjainaijghjlofdfmbjpebpa/newtab.html (the FVD speed dial extension's page).

Hello, I want to use a different Chrome speed dial extension: "Speed Dial 2" -- Chrome store page link:
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/speed-dial-2-new-tab/jpfpebmajhhopeonhlcgidhclcccjcik?hl=en-US

So, would it work to swap the Speeddial2 extension for the FVD extension? I am not clear whether to use /newtab.html

Is this correct:

In the New Tab Start Page extension's settings, set the custom URL to chrome-extension://jpfpebmajhhopeonhlcgidhclcccjcik/newtab.html

quicksite

quicksite @quicksite

@quicksite said in Looking for a way to import speed dials to FVD speed dials:

chrome-extension://jpfpebmajhhopeonhlcgidhclcccjcik/newtab.html

Holy F -- I just tried it, and it works.

Man, @burnout426 , you are a lifesaver!

burnout426

burnout426 Volunteer @quicksite

@quicksite Yes. For future reference, you'd look at the extension's manifest.json file to see what page is listed in chrome_url_overrides.

In this case,, you'd goto chrome-extension://jpfpebmajhhopeonhlcgidhclcccjcik/manifest.json where you will see that it is indeed newtab.html.

quicksite

quicksite @burnout426

@burnout426 Ahh, thank you... So in this case I just lucked out. It need not have been newtab.html ... I'm not a programmer so I'm not well-versed in .json files and manifests, but it certainly makes sense that within the extension itself would be a pointer to that critical piece of code to make the "New Tab Start Page" extension redirect to one's preferred "new tab page".

I'd read a different thread about this workaround a few days ago, and it just wasn't as crystal clear as yours was, so I really appreciate your clarity.

Do you happen to know if Opera devs very specifically do not want people to be able to use alt speed dials (for perhaps some branding reason?), and that is why they don't provide a similar browser setting as Chrome does that more directly allows you to use any number of "new tab" extensions?

One thing disappointing. A few days ago I also posted to these forums, before discovering this "New Tab Start Page" workaround, asking if anyone knew how to get Speeddial 2 to work with Opera... And the moderator moved that thread into a "Feature Requests" forum -- which I sorta get. But at same time, not sure if this mod was playing to perhaps Opera's intention to defeat use of alt speed-dials -- or if he wasn't aware that there actually Was a way to get alt-speed dials to work.

Whether strategic or not, whether intentional or not, these kinds of thwarting of users' reasonable desires to use their preferred workflows and organizing schemes hurts Opera's larger mainstreaming ambitions.

============ Unrelated ===============

Lastly, am interested in a user-friendly architectural question for you. I understand that Chrome is Google's proprietary version of Chromium open source, and that Opera and Brave are other forks of Chromium. And that Opera created their own extension "Install Chrome Extensions", which brought Chrome's rich ext library to Opera. What I don't know is whether Opera's iterations of Chromium are equivalent resource hogs as Chrome is, where every tab is a full iteration of the app (or something close) and sucks up RAM. I'm asking because essentially, in the past I only used Opera as my secondary browser, and Chrome was my workhorse... and I'd use Opera when certain websites (including my healthcare provider's) simply wouldn't work in Chrome.

I also have had big problems exporting Chrome bookmarks etc to then import to Opera, which is the only thing that would enable me to switch. Again , something I've posted about here on these forums but no help troubleshooting. OK what I am really asking is your opinion, would you rec using Opera as my primary browser, all things considered? What prompted this effort to switch is Chrome problems I have not been able to successfully troubleshoot, including constant lapses in connectivity in Google Docs -- perhaps due to a misbehaving extension (I use a lot of them). But on Opera no such issues -- but I have not yet brought in the 15-20 extensions that I've used in Chrome for years which in so many ways have made my computing life easier. And part of my question is "when I bring in all those extensions to Opera", is my effective user experience going to pretty much equal that of Chrome, or are there enough architectural differences in Opera that potentially yield smoother sailing?

These are not easy questions to pose but I figured I'd at least ask! Thanks

1breton

1breton

If I understand correctly this tip is just to allow to open FVD with the button + new tab? So, in the end, this tip is not really a tip, as there is the small icon of the FVD extension which allows you to display the page in the same way as a new tab.

leocg

leocg Moderator Volunteer @quicksite

@quicksite Open new topics to discuss the unrelated issues.

burnout426

burnout426 Volunteer @quicksite

@quicksite said in Looking for a way to import speed dials to FVD speed dials:

Do you happen to know if Opera devs very specifically do not want people to be able to use alt speed dials (for perhaps some branding reason?)

Opera has said they block overriding of the start page to protect you from spammy, malwarish, bad extensions that might get installed and override the start page to something malicious. Opera is known for favoring security over usability.

It might also have to do with all the ad/affiliate stuff on the start page by default.

quicksite

quicksite @leocg

@leocg Do you feel like you serve the usability interests of end users with your ultra-policing of threads? You banished my legit question re speed dial 2 to Siberia, and now you're obstructing my ability to get insight on topics meaningful to me and usability of the product. Who does this serve?