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youtube on firefox wont show timeline preview if you float over time bar, also cant COPY URL AT CURRENT TIME

  • 4 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 5 views
  • Last reply by wadebuck

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while on youtube.com i cant COPY URL AT CURRENT TIME and also cant float over the time bar and see preview of video, its a blank preview window.

this works in other browsers, so its a firefox issue.

while on youtube.com i cant COPY URL AT CURRENT TIME and also cant float over the time bar and see preview of video, its a blank preview window. this works in other browsers, so its a firefox issue.

All Replies (4)

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Hi wadebuck, I'll describe what I see, since it's different from what you see, then suggest some things to look at.

while on youtube.com i cant COPY URL AT CURRENT TIME

The only way I know to get that is to click Share, then turn on the "Start at" checkbox. Then I can copy the URL. Is this the method that isn't working for you, or a different method?

and also cant float over the time bar and see preview of video, its a blank preview window.

Do you mean like this:

- - - -

If a site is generally known to work in Firefox, these are standard suggestions to try when it stops working normally:

Double-check content blockers: Firefox's Content Blocking/Tracking Protection feature, and extensions that counter ads and tracking, may break websites that embed third party content (meaning, from a secondary server).

(A) Do you see a shield icon toward the left end of the address bar, near the lock icon? More info on managing the Tracking Protection feature in this article: Enhanced Tracking Protection in Firefox for desktop (before Firefox 70: Content Blocking).

(B) Extensions such as Adblock Plus, Blur, Disconnect, DuckDuckGo Privacy Essentials, Ghostery, NoScript, Privacy Badger, uBlock Origin or uMatrix should provide toolbar buttons to manage blocked content in a page. There may or may not be a number on the icon indicating the number of blocked items; you may need to click the button to see what's going on and test whether you need to make an exception for this site.

Cache and Cookies: When you have a problem with one particular site, a good "first thing to try" is clearing your Firefox cache and deleting your saved cookies for the site.

(1) Clear Firefox's Cache

See: How to clear the Firefox cache

If you have a large hard drive, this might take a few minutes.

(2) Remove the site's cookies (save any pending work first). While viewing a page on the site, click the lock icon at the left end of the address bar. After a moment, a "Clear Cookies and Site Data" button should appear at the bottom. Go ahead and click that.

In the dialog that opens, you will see one or more matches to the current address so you can remove the site's cookies individually without affecting other sites.

Then try reloading the page. Does that help?

Testing in Firefox's Safe Mode: In its Safe Mode, Firefox temporarily deactivates extensions, hardware acceleration, and some other advanced features to help you assess whether these are causing the problem.

If Firefox is not running: Hold down the Shift key when starting Firefox. (On Mac, hold down the option/alt key instead of the Shift key.)

If Firefox is running: You can restart Firefox in Safe Mode using either:

  • "3-bar" menu button > "?" Help > Restart with Add-ons Disabled
  • (menu bar) Help menu > Restart with Add-ons Disabled

and OK the restart.

Both scenarios: A small dialog should appear. Click "Start in Safe Mode" (not Refresh).

Any improvement?

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Shield had no numbers..nothign blocked.

I checked some other youtube videos and some would allow me to RIGHT CLICK on video and COPY AT CURRENT TIME....but the live stream from earlier today wouldnt.

i restarted in SAFE mode and then I could RIGHT CLICK and COPY AT CURRENT TIME on same video.

but still cant preview on the timeline, which in your reply shows you can can. but maybe its just this one livestream since its only a few hours old? i found another video and CAN preview.

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I have to admit I am not patient enough to watch live streams because I normally watch everything at 1.25x. So I'm not familiar with their specific limitations (other than learning from other threads that some encodings and resolutions take a long time to post).

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oh the livestream was over..but only by a few hours...i too always watch at 1.25x or 1.5x but i think as you note...encodings and such take a while and so maybe previews wont exist till tomorrow.

i refreshed and reloaded with ad-ons enabled and now i can COPY AT CURRENT TIME but still wont show previews.

thanks for your help.