v4 updated by itself, I'm puzzled too many features are gone

[el]

I use mostly chrome, on both my windows desktops and my macbook.

I tend to keep open A LOT of tabs, so I started using Session Buddy since 2020 to manage my tabs, to find and get back to one of the many tabs, and to save&record what tabs I have open before cleaning&organizing my tabs every once in a while.

This v4 update brought a lot of changes to Session Buddy. I could possibly say it's almost a totally new service. I'm very excited for future updates like managing multiple browsers.

But aside from new designs and potential features, I'm disappointed that many of the useful previous features has disappeared.

- Session Buddy icon showing the number of tabs open is gone, 

- I prefer to not ignore Session Buddy (or any other) tabs since it helps me keep track of where the tabs are on the list, but the new version ignores current Session Buddy tab that I'm using no matter what setting I have.

- Option to always show tab URLs with titles in 2 lines is gone. Lists only showing titles with URLs showing up when pointed looks clean, but when I have to look for urls it's practically impossible. 

New search system might be useful, but it's not rare to have tab lists with several identical titles that can only be distinguished with their URLs.

- Session Buddy tabs that I had open before the update don't work. I keep some of my past saved Session buddy lists open to use, and after my chrome updated Session buddy today to v4 by itself none of them work.

- Tab numbers of each windows only show up when I point at it.

- With the new tab selection feature, clicking on the title selects/deselects them and to go to the tab I have to double-click it. 

It's mostly fine, but now it's impossible for me to copy tab titles because I can't drag on the title or url like I did before. Right-click copy also copies its url now, and option to copy tab titles is gone. 

- Close buttons left to the tabs are gone. Having to right-click every time to close a tab is too inconvenient.

- Naming the session before saving option is gone. 

Also, it's good that I can name Current Session now, but it still saves as "untitled". It might be an error, but if this was intended I don't quite get the purpose of this feature.

- Options for time displays on saved sessions are gone. Now it only shows vague relative time.

These are what I could think of for now, and I'm pretty sure I'll find some more after I use it. If I find more I'll add to this list.

Here are some more features I'd like to suggest:

- My tab list are really long, if I could click on each windows and open/fold the lists it would be really convenient.

- Auto-save session backups limit from 500 to more, or unlimited. I have had to look for some tabs in the past, and on some cases auto saved session was helpful, but sometimes it was deleted. 

[MiNi]

I can confirm that all of your problems also my problems. It would be nice if this is fixed.

[Rd]

You just need to install previous version 3.6.9 crx file from 2023-12-25.

Don't ask me how, just try on a different browser first.

see there is a tutorial

HOW TO INSTALL SESSION BUDDY FROM A CRX FILE:

https://chrome-stats.com/d/edacconmaakjimmfgnblocblbcdcpbko/download

[Rd]

USE  Option 2: Advanced method

Do not install any exe it says there.

[Rd]

The problem is... You can't import backup from v4 into v3.9.6... So you can't downgrade.

[Session Buddy Support]

Thanks for the great feedback! See responses below.

> Session Buddy icon showing the number of tabs open

This option has been restored in v4.0.2. Make sure your Session Buddy version is up-to-date.

See the release notes: https://sessionbuddy.com/release-4-0-2/

> the new version ignores current Session Buddy tab that I'm using no matter what setting I have

This is by design. The current SB tab is always ignored. Other SB tabs can be optionally ignored through settings.

> Option to show tab URLs with titles in 2 lines

This will be brought back in an upcoming release.

> Session Buddy tabs that I had open before the update don't work

SB v3 tabs you mean? Strange that Chrome didn't close them when SB updated, but yea it makes sense that those wouldn't work.

> Tab numbers of each windows only show up when I point at it

This is by design to avoid visual clutter. We may add an option to always show.

> to go to the tab I have to double-click it

You can single-click the url to go straight to the tab.

> impossible to copy tab titles because I can't drag on the title or url like I did before

Not sure what you mean. The url next to the tab title is a true anchor tag with native right-click actions, draggability, etc.

> option to copy tab titles is gone

SB v3 never had this feature.

SB v4, on the other hand, does.

Go to Settings > Other to enable the Title "Extra copy format".

> Close buttons left to the tabs are gone

This option is now available in v4.0.2.

See the release notes: https://sessionbuddy.com/release-4-0-2/

> session saves as "untitled"

It always has. This is by design.

> Options for time displays on saved sessions are gone

Almost nobody used these, so it doesn't really make sense to clutter settings with it.

You can see the full date by hovering.

> open/fold the lists

Great suggestion. It's in the backlog :)

> Auto-save session backups limit from 500 to more

v4.0.2 adds some higher limits to both age-based and count-based History retention constraints.

Hans

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[Session Buddy Support]

> You just need to install previous version

Session Buddy v3 is no longer supported and will stop working even in older versions of Chrome due to Chrome deprecations (namely, WebSQL Database and Manifest v2).

Continuing to use SB v3 will likely result in data loss.

For anyone who's still on SB v3, it's important to make a regular backup of the SB v3 data file, ideally including it in scheduled system backups. This will allow the data to be ported to v4 manually later.

The location of the SB v3 data file can be found here: https://sessionbuddy.com/data-location/

A migration tool will be created to facilitate manual migration, converting a v3 database file into a v4 restore file. The link will be published here: https://sessionbuddy.com/restore/

Hans

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[Yellow Brownie]

Me too, I regularly accumulate to over 1000 tabs at a time () and pretty much all these features from before are crucial features.

If I really had to rate which features are crucial and required:

- Search before was simple but worked

     Take for example just signing up to gmail so I could comment here, I search in the current SessionBuddy search and I find 500 instances of gmail spread across all my sessions. I have no idea where the gmail tabs are in my current session and I had to open a new tab for gmail when I knew I probably had maybe 5 or so other gmail tabs open in the current session.

 - Simple deletion, it worked and helped a lot with managing a lot of tabs
     The new deletion system now requires much more work. I don't care about it being 2 clicks, but the fact the mouse needs to move places for each deletion. Previously all I needed to do was to single click the same spot, especially if it was a row of tabs I needed to delete. It was so convenient that if let's say I found a row of 100+ tabs I needed to delete, I would just turn on an auto clicker to delete for me since it was at the same spot every time.

     This is even worse coupled with the previous feature. Let's say I finished a task and now I want to close all my reddit tabs. I search reddit and I see 1000 tabs across all my saved sessions, so I can't group all my reddit tabs together in one window anymore. I try to delete and because I'm manually deleting with moving the mouse around and I make a lot of mistakes. Now I have to manually scroll through my current session to find all the reddit tabs and delete them one by one. With hundreds of tabs I need to close, it requires a major amount of time and a lot of work. Previously if I wanted to do the exact operation, it requires searching > auto click/click the same spot to delete > Done (occasionally it would glitch where SessionBuddy think it deleted but it didn't and the tab would reappear, but the issue was small enough that it was worth it) all of it would take less than 5 minutes, even less if I didn't have other programs open.

In conclusion, without these two crucial features (In my opinion, most of the other features cause minor inconveniences without causing major time/effort increases), it really removes what set SessionBuddy apart from all the other tab managers. 

[otqr]

>>  Options for time displays on saved sessions are gone

>Almost nobody used these, so it doesn't really make sense to clutter settings with it.

>You can see the full date by hovering.

I disagree. Being able to see the time when the Collection(Session) was saved is very important. There is so many pieces of information in Session Buddy right now that is hidden behind hovering.

Time is one of the most important pieces of information related to when a Session was saved. I believe you should be adding more features related to Time. 

For example a Collection(Saved Session) should have a created time and a last modified time. And then there should be options for the left panel that shows all the Collections to be listed according to last modified date (which is the only option right now) or by created date. This would allow users to make edits in saved Collections and not have to worry about them jumping to the top of the list.

This makes more sense now that the name of "Windows" in a Collection has be changed to "Folders". All Folders in operating systems have created dates and last modified dates, and the operating systems allows the user to sort the list by whichever one they prefer.

Session Buddy is a power users tool, so there should be more options for customization because every one has a different style of working.

*posting again since original comment was deleted*

[Peter]

voting for displaying date / time (or at least date) in collections list in left panel instead of "xxx days / months / years ago"

or at least give it as an option in settings to choose current (xxx days ago) or exact (date / time) format.

the reasoning behind this is that for collections more than year ago you see for all of them the text "created 1 year ago", so you have no clue to see differences among them in that list... the only possibility is to click on each of them and then hover the mouse over the collection title on top of the screen to show exact date. but again this way you still have no "side by side" comparison of collection dates...

[el]

+Add

Right-click "open to new tab" is also gone.

Since I have to double-click to open the tab, I also can't command+click to open to new tab.

Now I can't open links in new tabs. The only way is to manually open a new tab and copy&paste the link there.

Way too uncomfortable, especially when I need to open multiple tabs.

2024년 3월 13일 수요일 오후 11시 1분 19초 UTC+9에 el님이 작성:

[R Cache]

You can, however, import a v3.x saved .json backup or export using the v3.6.9 version of the extension.

v3.6.9 was the last version prior to v4.0.0.   There was no v3.9.6.

You can successfully install the v3.6.9 .crx in the latest version of Chrome using Extensions in Developer Mode.  Recommend that you do so in something like a VM or other non-primary machine, and do so disconnected from the internet.

This would be useful for those with a large amount of auto-saved sessions which are now considered "History" by v4.x of the extension.   In a .json backup from v3.x, these sessions are of type "type": "current" or "type": "previous" (not of type "type": "saved" as those were converted "Collects" under v4.x of the extension). You can then convert the auto-saved sessions to saved sessions, perform a backup of just those converted sessions, and then import that new .json into v4.x of the extension.

Note: if your .json backup save from v3.x is sufficiently large in size, you may have to manually edit the .json to removed already saved sessions which were successfully converted to "Collections" when the extension was upgraded to 4.0.0.   Sessions Buddy has always had an issue with large .json imports with v3.x of the extension.

[capaz]

Right-click "open to new tab" is also gone.

When you right-click on a tab, do none of the Open... options accomplish what you want?  Also, when you hover mouse over a tab, the URL appears to the right.  You can right-click  on the URL and select Open Link in New tab.

Since I have to double-click to open the tab, I also can't command+click to open to new tab.

Not sure about that first part, given what I noted above.  Re: the second part, perhaps:

• Modified clicks (with ctrl/cmd and/or shift) on tab and link URLs now conform to standard Chrome behavior...

...in the Release Notes – v4.0.3 addresses your concern?

Way too uncomfortable, especially when I need to open multiple tabs.

As for easily opening multiple tabs, have you noticed that you can (multi-)select tabs (click for single; ctrl/cmd-click to toggle selection; and click & shift-click for a range), and once they're selected, you can use right-click and use the Open... options to open all the selected tabs at once?

Apologies if I've misunderstood anything.

HTH

[Session Buddy Support]

> Right-click "open to new tab" is also gone

It's not gone. Right-click, then click "Open in this window".

You can also single-click the URL to open (or jump to).

Hans

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[FH]

Even better, use v3.6.3 which is the last version to have "Save current session" in the context menu, a feature that was inexplicably removed. This removal made this extension useless to me.

[FH]

So many useless changes crippling basic functionality. How can you possibly say nobody used the full dates? Relative dates are beyond useless. Also, why are tab counts no longer shown in the left column along with the session's name? Why is the 'X' icon to delete a tab displayed over the site's favicon instead of next to it as before? Why are sessions no longer called sessions in a "Session Buddy" extension? Why are tabs called links when they are, in fact, tabs? Why can we still not save a session from the context menu like we used to in v3.6.3? Speaking of which, I'm glad I still have that version, it's the last one that was usable for me.

P.S. Really not a fan of the new logo. Change just for the sake of change?

[Session Buddy Support]

I have no problem with folks using an old version of Session Buddy, but please be aware that no support will be provided for it and, unless you are on a very old version of Chrome, it will stop working even on past versions of Chrome due to Chrome deprecations.

If you're running SB v3.6.3, you are probably safe as this means you must be on an old enough version of Chrome or other browser, but you won't be able to upgrade the browser without losing SB data so make sure to Backup your sessions regularly (click the SB gear menu, then Backup).

Hans

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[evilded]

I came here to make almost the same post beat for beat. I had refrained from doing so since the update half-expecting to be just some leftovers 'soon to be updated', minor things left behind because of the huge update but just left to wrap up later back into the fold.

And here a am trying to clean up a few major sessions having to do way more clicks and having more aciddents... I like multi-select for all kinds of things but the simple and quick X 1 click remove next to tabs is the biggest quality of life thing im baffled it was even removed and the one thing im feeling close to pain of missing. Doing a major cleanup its even more apparent how much better the X was

- For any number of things we have to select we have to do 1 click for each either way. Now theres 2 extra clicks for every batch

- After selecting a lot of tabs 1 single misclick i miss the entire selection.

- Before after making a lot of clicks/removals 1 single misclick was a single mistep that just needed to do 1 click undo

I also used session buddys tab itself amongst the saved tabs in sessions A LOT for reference and continuing.

[Session Buddy Support]

For many "major cleanup" scenarios you're arguably clicking a lot more if you don't take advantage of range-selection. It makes a lot more sense once you're used to it.

But the good news for you is you don't have to get used to it... just "Enable single-click close and delete" in Settings > Other and carry on single clicking.

Cheers,

Hans

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[Mohammad Noor]

>" If you're running SB v3.6.3, you are probably safe"

I am currently using the latest version of v4 on my main browser and then I have a portable version of chrome setup on version 123(it will never automatically update) running SB v3.6.9 
Do you reckon I should be safe? 
And if not then is there any other way to continue using v3 after May 28th? I'd greatly some help figuring this out Hans, and thank you once again for everything. 

[Ayman]

> > Tab numbers of each windows only show up when I point at it

> This is by design to avoid visual clutter. We may add an option to always show.

Well it's bad design, because the moment I noticed it, I came here to express my annoyance, only to find others had also done so.

[Session Buddy Support]

> Do you reckon I should be safe?

Nope, because the only reason v3.6.9 is currently functioning on Chrome 123 is because it includes the WebSQL deprecation token that expires May 28.

> thank you once again for everything

You're welcome. Now go touch grass and enjoy your weekend... but maybe bump your 1-star review up a notch or two first ;)

Hans

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