Automatically Fill Web Forms in Firefox
I haven’t used the Google Toolbar in a few years, but there’s one thing I really miss about it: auto filling forms. With just one click it would automatically fill out a Web form with my name, address, phone number, e-mail address, and/or other information.
See, I do a fair amount of online shopping, and I also sign up for lots of online forums. It’s a hassle having to complete all those registration fields by hand each and every time.
Enter Autofill Forms, a Firefox add-on that accomplishes much the same thing as Google Toolbar and then some.
After installation, venture into your Firefox add-ons, find Autofill Forms, and then click Options. Now complete as many of the personal-info fields as you want.
Autofill Froms offers:
- Different profiles with different auto-fill rules.
- Assign different profiles to different websites.
- Customize the auto-filling rules with JavaScript.
- Works with input fields, textareas, selections, and checkboxes.
- You can bind the auto-fill to keyboard shortcuts.
The next time you encounter an online form, click the Autofill Forms button (which gets added to your toolbar) or use its keyboard shortcut. Presto! The tool completes the form for you, popping up only when there’s a question or unknown field.
As an added bonus, Autofill Forms lets you set up profiles, which is great if you want to use different sets of information for different sites.
How does Autofill Forms work?
Here is a little secret how it works: every form and its fields have an unique ID called name. During filling process Autofill Forms seeks for this ID and match it with pre-saved values of currently active profile.
Every time you save new profile, form is saved for particular website. In our case, there is the rule – use this profile for url facebook.com. You can easily edit or remove any rule. It can be done through Tools -> Addons (Ctrl+Shift+A) -> Autofillforms -> Options or by clicking on small arrow in plug-in icon (such yellow pencil) in Navigation toolbar. For example when you remove use-this-profile-only-on-facebook rule, you can use saved profile to fill forms with same field names across entire internet.
How can you use Autofill Forms to fill forms?
It is really simple, just follow these 3 steps:
- Fill out form
- Mouse right click into some form field and choose Add complete form as profile
- Reopen website and using shortcut Alt+J fulfill form within a second (or click on plug-in icon)
Personally, I’m satisfied with Autofill Forms. It’s a bit complex for an add-on, especially when you delve into some of the more advanced features, but it gets the job done.