topic Re: Support page about automatically filling forms - out of date in Discussions

Support page about automatically filling forms - out of date

aaronclawrence — Thu, 28 Jul 2022 02:42:01 GMT

This page

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/automatically-fill-your-address-web-forms

says to "scroll down to the Forms and Autofill section." in settings. There is no such section in my Firefox.

I can't quite tell from Googling but it seems as if this feature was removed or disabled by default so it seems this support page needs some kind of update.

Re: Support page about automatically filling forms - out of date

jscher2000 — Sat, 30 Jul 2022 03:49:29 GMT

That section relates to a geographically restricted Address Autofill feature so possibly it is not available in your locale?

There is a more universal form history feature that is in the History section. More info on that one: https://support.mozilla.org/kb/control-whether-firefox-automatically-fills-forms

Re: Support page about automatically filling forms - out of date

aaronclawrence — Sat, 30 Jul 2022 06:00:35 GMT

Thank you jscher!

Unfortunately your suggested alternative is quite different in that it only remembers specific forms. I was really looking for the ability to enter contact details like name and address in advance for auto entry into matching fields. I got used to this on iOS it’s very helpful.

i think that the page should be updated to say it’s geographical limited. But also that contact form entry should be available everywhere:

thanks

Aaron

Re: Support page about automatically filling forms - out of date

jscher2000 — Sat, 30 Jul 2022 20:16:45 GMT

@aaronclawrence wrote:
i think that the page should be updated to say it’s geographical limited. But also that contact form entry should be available everywhere:

Hi Aaron, when I go to the page, there is a note at the top which indicates:

Note: The address autofill feature is currently available for en-US Firefox releases, for users located in the US.

Maybe that doesn't always appear for everyone or needs to be made more prominent.

What about the rest of the world? I assume that is on the "to do" list but it probably needs to be adapted to different address conventions outside North America.

In past support threads, some users sought to trick Firefox into letting them use the feature by changing some preference values in about:config. I don't know whether that still works, but here's the starting point if you want to try it:

(A) In a new tab, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter/Return. Click the button accepting the risk.

More info on about:config: Configuration Editor for Firefox. Please keep in mind that changes made through this back door aren't fully supported and aren't guaranteed to continue working in the future.

(B) In the search box in the page, type or paste extensions.formautofill.available and pause while the list is filtered

(C) Double-click the preference to display an editing field, and change the value from detect to on then press Enter or click the blue check mark button to save the change.

The next time you reload the Settings page, does that section appear?

If not, you might need to modify something here and then try again:

(D) In the search box in the page, type or paste extensions.formautofill.addresses and pause while the list is filtered

Firefox should list several preferences and you could experiment with this as the next step:

(E) Double-click the extensions.formautofill.addresses.supported preference to display an editing field, and change the value from detect to on then press Enter or click the blue check mark button to save the change.

(F) If the extensions.formautofill.addresses.enabled preference has a value of false, double-click it to toggle the value to true

Beyond that, I'm not sure what would help, but if you search around on the web for threads containing these preference names, you might find tips for your locale.

Re: Support page about automatically filling forms - out of date

CharlesB — Tue, 18 Apr 2023 01:51:26 GMT

All of the above is a bit too sophisticated for me!

All I;m seeking to do is to fill in a form which I;ve received and been asked to complete & return. Normal stuff: name address, etc.

Having received and then opened the form, how do I go about filling in the details?

Re: Support page about automatically filling forms - out of date

jscher2000 — Tue, 18 Apr 2023 03:22:54 GMT

@CharlesB wrote:
All I;m seeking to do is to fill in a form which I;ve received and been asked to complete & return. Normal stuff: name address, etc.

What kind of form is it -- PDF? Microsoft Word? Something else?

The features I mentioned in my earlier reply are for web page forms and don't work in other kinds of documents.