Read It Later Installation Instructions

These are setup and installation instructions for Read It Later.  If you came here looking for information about Read It Later in general, check out Read It Later’s project page.

Installation

To install Read It Later, make sure you are in Firefox 3 and then simply click the ‘install’ button at the top of the Read It Later project page and follow the on screen instructions.

Upgrading From a Previous Version

If your list disappears after upgrading from a previous version, have no fear, it has not been lost.  You simply need to tell Read It Later where to find it.

1. From the Firefox menu at the top of the window, select ‘Tools’ -> ‘Add-ons’

2. Click on ‘Read It Later’ from the list of installed Add-ons

3. Click the ‘Options’ button

4. Select the ‘General’ tab.

5. Under ‘Reading Options’, change the ‘Read It Later Folder’ to the folder with your old Reading List.  Note there may be more than one ‘Read It Later’ folder.  If that’s the case, open Firefox’s bookmark manager to find which one is correct.

How to Sync Your List with Other Computers

Read It Later can be synced between any number of computers.  In this example I’ll show you how to sync two computers together, which could be a home computer and a work computer.

Setup the First Computer

1. Open Firefox on the first computer.

2. From the Firefox menu at the top of the window, select ‘Tools’ -> ‘Add-ons’

3. Click on ‘Read It Later’ from the list of installed Add-ons

4. Click the ‘Options’ button

5. Select the RSS Feed / Sync Setup Tab

6. Check the box in Step 1 to turn on your RSS feed.  Updates to your reading list will be saved there.

7. Check the box in Step 2 to turn sync on.

8. In Step 3, select ‘I am syncing up for the first time’.

9. Make a note of the Feed Id and Sync Password provided in Step 4 and take it with you to the next computer.

10. Hit Okay

Setting Up the Second Computer

1. Follow steps 1 -> 7 from above.

8. In step 3, select ‘I already have the feed id and sync password for a list I want to sync to’

9. Enter in the Feed Id and Sync Password you received from the first computer.

10. Click ‘Save Details’.

Your computers are now setup for syncing!  Now, to sync your list, simply click ‘Sync’ at the top of your Reading List.

Syncing Using Foxmarks

With Foxmarks, you can use it to sync your reading list, but you need to double check a few settings.  First, if using Foxmarks, don’t use Read It Later’s built in syncing.  The RSS feed is fine, but just don’t turn sync on.

Second, you need to make sure that both computers are targeting the same Read It Later folder.  After syncing from Foxmarks, you might find 2 Read It Later folders.  If you go into Tools -> Add ons -> Read It Later - Options you’ll be able to select which folder to use as your Read It Later folder.

Read Your List Offline

Read It Later can download the pages from your Reading List so you can view them even without an internet connection.

1. Open your reading list by clicking the reading list button.

2. Click ‘Read Offline’

3. Click ‘Prepare for Offline Viewing.’

4. Depending on the size of your reading list, this may take several minutes to complete.

5. After Read It Later has prepared your list, switch Firefox to Work Offline by clicking File -> Work Offline from the Firefox menu.

6. Now open any page in your reading list to view it!

Remove Items From Your List or Mark them as Read

Here are a few ways you can remove an item from your list in Firefox:

1. Open the page and then click the red checkmark in the location bar

2. Open your reading list, locate the item you want to remove and uncheck the red checkmark (it will turn empty).  Close your list

On readitlaterlist.com:

1. Find the item in your list and uncheck it (same as #2 above)

To delete a specific item (not save it on your read list):

1. On readitlaterlist.com mark it as read, then go to your read list and click the delete button.

If your Reading List button isn’t showing on the toolbar

First make sure your navigation bar is showing.  If you right click on your toolbars, make sure ‘Navigation Toolbar’ is checked.  If it is unchecked, select it.  You can then move the reading list icon off of the navigation bar by right clicking it, selecting customize, then dragging the button to the desired position.

If your navigation bar is showing, right click on the toolbar and select ‘customize…’ it will pop open a new window with several icons.  Scroll through and find the ‘Reading List’ button and drag that onto your toolbar where you’d like it.