There are extensions available for Firefox that allow you to copy URLs and web page titles in various formats. We have written about the Copy as HTML Link extension (Copying Text From a Webpage as an HTML Link in Firefox) and the CoLT extension (Copying Links in Multiple Formats in Firefox).
What about doing the same thing in Internet Explorer? We found an extension for Internet Explorer that allows you to copy the page title and URL of the current web page to the clipboard.
It is a Registry entry from Billsway.com that adds a Copy Title and URL command to the context menu when you right-click on a web page in Internet Explorer. It was written originally or Internet Explorer 4, but works in all subsequent versions. We tested it in Internet Explorer 7 and 8 and the procedures listed in this post work the same for both versions.
Download Title_URL.zip from
http://www.billsway.com/notes_public/IE_Context_Menu/.
Unzip the archive you downloaded. Move the file Title_URL.htm to the Web directory in your Windows installation directory.
NOTE: To find out the path to your Windows installation directory, open a command prompt in your version of Windows by either selecting Run from the Start menu (Windows XP and earlier) or by searching for Run on the Start menu (Windows 7/Vista) and enter the following command at the prompt:
echo %windir%
This prints the value of the environment variable that specifies the path to your Windows installation directory. Most of the time, it will be C:\Windows.
Note: The Web folder path is hard-coded for C:\Windows\Web in the .reg file. If Windows is installed in a different location in your system, open the Title_URL.reg file in Notepad and edit it to update the drive-letter accordingly. Make sure you leave the double slashes in the path name. Save the file and exit Notepad.
Then, right-click Title_URL.reg and choose Merge. This adds a context menu item Copy Title and URL in Internet Explorer.
A confirmation dialog box displays to make sure you really want to add the information in the .reg file to the registry. Click Yes.
A dialog box then displays saying the information has been successfully added to the registry. Click OK.
To copy the title and the URL of the current web page, simply right-click somewhere on the web page, that is not a link, and select Copy Title and URL from the popup menu.
A confirmation dialog box displays showing you what was copied to the clipboard. The title and URL of the web page are copied to the clipboard, in the following format:
Copying Text From a Webpage as an HTML Link in Firefox:
http://helpdeskgeek.com/how-to/copying-text-from-a-webpage-as-an-html-link-in-firefox/
Click OK.
You can bypass the above confirmation dialog box by changing a variable in the Title_URL.htm file you copied to the Web directory in the Windows installation directory. Open the Title_URL.htm file in Notepad and change the following line
var showConfirm=1
to
var showConfirm=0
Save the file and exit Notepad.
If you are going to use this extension a lot, you may want to add it to the Internet Explorer toolbar, or Command Bar. To do this, right-click on the following link and select Save link as (in Firefox) or Save Target as (in Internet Explorer) to save the titleurl_button.reg file.
http://www.winhelponline.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/titleurl_button.reg
NOTE: When you save the titleurl_button.reg file, Windows may add a .txt extension to the file, because it is essentially a text file. Edit the filename and remove the .txt extension.
Merge the titleurl_button.reg file in the same way you merged the Title_URL.reg file earlier in this post.
NOTE: When you try to merge the titleurl_button.reg file, you may encounter a problem opening the file, and see the following Security Warning dialog box. We have scanned this file for viruses and then used it to install the toolbar button, and the file does not seem to be infected or corrupted in any way. Click Run to close it.
Or, you may see an error dialog box like the following. If you encounter this dialog box instead, click OK to close it.
To be able to merge the titleurl_button.reg file, right-click on the file and select Properties from the popup menu.
The Properties dialog box for the titleurl_button.reg file displays. Make sure the General tab is active. Click the Unblock button.
Click OK to close the Properties dialog box.
Once you are able to merge the titleurl_button.reg file, a confirmation dialog box displays, again, to make sure you really want to add the information in the .reg file to the registry. Click Yes.
A dialog box then displays, again, saying the information has been successfully added to the registry. Click OK.
If you do not see the Copy Title and URL button (with a globe icon) on the toolbar, restart Internet Explorer. If you still do not see the button after restarting and clicking the arrow button at the right end of the toolbar, if needed, you need to customize the toolbar in order to display the button.
To customize the toolbar, right-click on the toolbar, or the Command Bar, and select Customize Command Bar | Add or Remove Commands from the popup menu.
The Customize Toolbar dialog box displays. Select the Copy Title and URL item in the Available toolbar buttons list on the left and click the Add button.
The Copy Title and URL item is added the Current toolbar buttons list on right. If you want to put the Copy Title and URL button in a different location on the toolbar, highlight the item and click the Move Up button or Move Down button. To close the Customize Toolbar dialog box, click Close.
You still may not see the button because it is beyond the visible part of the toolbar and you must click the arrow button on the right side of the toolbar to access the button. You can widen the toolbar to display all the buttons.
To widen the toolbar, you must first unlock the toolbars. To do this, right-click on the toolbar, where there are no buttons, and select Lock the Toolbars from the popup menu to remove the check mark next to the option.
A vertical dotted line displays to the left of the toolbar. Put the mouse cursor over the vertical line and drag to the left.
The Copy Title and URL button is now visible. Lock the toolbars again by right-clicking to the left of the toolbar and selecting Lock the Toolbars so there is a check mark to the left of the option.
The Copy Title and URL option is also available on the Tools menu.
To uninstall this extension, you must manually delete the following registry key that was added.
HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Internet Explorer \ MenuExt \ Copy Title and &URL
To remove the button from the toolbar, just access the Customize Toolbar button as described earlier in this post, select the Copy Title and URL item in the Current toolbar buttons list on the right, and click Remove.
This extension does not copy the title and the URL in all the different formats like the CoLT add-on in Firefox we mentioned at the beginning of this post, but it is still a useful feature, if you have to use Internet Explorer as your browser.
by Lori Kaufman
Not so good. we need 'Multi tab handler" like add-on of Fire Fox in IE 7 and IE 8