Browser extension to search open tabs and browsing history

[ItsNickBarry]

Project description

A project with two parts:

1. Many users of tabbed browsing make use of the feature to the extreme, and may find it difficult to locate a particular tag among the multitudes. A full-text search of all open tabs would be useful. This might include fuzzy matching.

2. Some users, weary of being overwhelmed by their open tabs, close them prematurely. A full-text search of closed tabs would help them to locate lost information. This could be applied to recently-closed tabs, or to a user's entire browsing history, depending on storage restrictions.

Relevant Technology

Javascript, Browser Extensions, Databases (must work with browser local storage), Search (something like Lunr?)

Complexity and required time

Complexity

• [ ] Beginner - This project requires no or little prior knowledge of the technolog(y|ies) specified to contribute to the project
• [x] Intermediate - The user should have some prior knowledge of the technolog(y|ies) to the point where they know how to use it, but not necessarily all the nooks and crannies of the technology
• [ ] Advanced - The project requires the user to have a good understanding of all components of the project to contribute

Required time (ETA)

• [ ] Little work - A couple of days
• [ ] Medium work - A week or two
• [x] Much work - The project will take more than a couple of weeks and serious planning is required

Categories

• [ ] Mobile app
• [ ] IoT
• [ ] Web app
• [x] Frontend/UI
• [ ] AI/ML
• [ ] APIs/Backend
• [ ] Voice Assistant
• [ ] Developer Tooling
• [x] Extension/Plugin/Add-On
• [ ] Design/UX
• [ ] AR/VR
• [ ] Bots
• [ ] Security
• [ ] Blockchain
• [ ] Futuristic Tech/Something Unique

[ItsNickBarry]

Tabs can be searched by title, but not by content, as far as I know.

[jeffslofish]

I would like to work on this.

[jeffslofish]

I am making good progress, but in the meantime I found an extension that pretty much already does what you want and more: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/tab-master-5000/mippmhcfjhliihkkdobllhpdnmmciaim. Just install it and open a new tab and you can search tabs, history, etc. Is there some different functionality you are looking for?

Repo here: https://github.com/jaszhix/tab-master-5000-extension

[ItsNickBarry]

@jeffslofish The search function seems to account for only tab titles and URLs. What I'm suggesting is that it be extended to search the full content of the tabs, and that the results be displayed like those of a search engine - with context, not just a filtered list of tabs.

[jeffslofish]

@ItsNickBarry So I have some good news. I have a prototype that demonstrates the feasibility of searching tab content and displaying search results that link to each tab.

You can find the repo here: https://github.com/jeffslofish/tab-search-chrome-extension. I have included some instructions for how to test it out in development mode right now.

[ItsNickBarry]

I'll take a look. Any chance of a cross-browser version? Is any of your code Chrome-specific?

[ItsNickBarry]

I imagine each browser might handle loading of restored tabs from a previous session differently.

[jeffslofish]

I developed it in Chrome. Let me see what it would take to make it work in Firefox too.

[jeffslofish]

I just made a fix to the manifest file and it is working in Firefox too now.

[ItsNickBarry]

@jeffslofish Looks very good so far.

[Mennaruuk]

I stumbled upon Memex a few days ago. It can basically do what you want! It can scour through “every word of all websites & PDFs you bookmarked, tagged, listed, or annotated.” It can’t directly search open tabs, but you can add all open tabs to a collection, and from there you can search through them. Check it out!

[kema-dev]

You might want to use omni