FAQs for OutWit Hub, Sourcer, Images and Docs for Firefox

General Questions

• What is OutWit Hub? OutWit Hub is an all-in-one application for extracting and organizing data from online sources. It offers a wealth of data recognition features to simplify Web searches and exists both as a Firefox Add-on and as a standalone application for Windows, Mac OS, and Linux.
• What is OutWit Images? OutWit Images is an image browser which allows you to search, catch, download and share images. It not only gives you the images of a page, it also explores the Web sources to find high resolution images when they can be found behind the thumbnails.  OutWit Images is an add-on to Firefox compatible with Windows, Mac OS, and Linux.
• What is OutWit Docs? OutWit Docs is a document finder wich allow you to find text documents, datasheets, pdf files, presentations from multiple online sources. OutWit Docs will automatically explore large series of web pages or search engine results pages and download the files for you. OuWit Docs is an add-on to Firefox compatible with Windows, Mac OS and Linux.
• What is the OutWit Kernel? It is the main library of data recognition and extraction functions at the heart of all OutWit applications.  The Kernel itself doesn’t have a user interface, but original extensions, called outfits, can be developed using the kernel’s features for specific applications.  Outfits usually come packaged with the kernel for easier distribution.
• What exactly is an outfit? An application created with the OutWit technology is composed of the Kernel, which contains all the recognition and extraction modules, and the “outfit” itself.  The outfit is an extension with specific user interface and features. Outfits can be freely developed using the kernel’s features for original applications. Currently, three outfits are available to the public: OutWit Hub, Images and Docs but there are many more to come in the future.
• How much does it cost? the light versions of OutWit Hub, OutWit Docs and OutWit Images are free. The Kernel, the associated recognition and extraction library, is also free. Their upcoming releases will be, as well. Professional versions of these and other specific applications are or will be available for a fee, but we will keep updating, augment and enhance the initial series of free extraction tools.
  
• Do OutWit Hub, Docs or Images require any external software to function properly? You will need to download Firefox 3.6 or 4 in order to get started. OutWit Hub and Images come packaged with the OutWit Kernel as separate Firefox extensions. No additional software or plug-ins are required.
• What version of Firefox do I need to run OutWit Hub, Docs or Images? The standalone version of OutWit Hub –as the name suggests– doesn’t need Firefox to run. As for the add-ons, versions posterior to 1.0 are compatible with Firefox 4 to 16 and versions posterior to 3.0 are compatible with the most recent versions of Firefox. (See top question for more details.) The latest features can only be used with the most recent versions of Firefox and we strongly suggest you upgrade your browser and download the latest versions of OutWit outfits. When we release new versions, Firefox will ask if you want to update your OutWit extensions and, if you accept, the upgrade process will begin automatically.
• Are tutorials available? In the Hub you can find the built-in tutorials in the ‘Help’ menu. You can also refer to the online tutorials. If you do not find the answer there, then drop us a line using the ‘Suggestion’ option found in the ‘Feedback’ menu on your toolbar. We’ll reply as soon as possible.
• What languages do OutWit Hub, OutWit Docs and OutWit Images come in? The current versions’ interface and online help are in English.  Locales for the interface are available in French, Spanish, German and Chinese but they are not yet complete and do not include the online Help. These translations are a work in progress and must be considered to be at alpha test stage. Additional languages will be released in the future.
• Are OutWit Hub, Docs and Images compatible with Internet Explorer, Chrome or Safari? Not yet, but we are definitely working on it. OutWit Hub now exists as a standalone application. Images and Docs will follow.
• From which sites can I download images or data? Information made readily available on the Internet is there for you. However, certain Web sites may limit the use of data or media they display and the content may be protected by copyright laws. Do not use proprietary information against the will of its owner and do not infringe on intellectual property rights. Surf the Web: there are millions of legal sources out there and more than enough public data on all subjects.

Technical Questions

• How do I install OutWit Hub? Follow this link for the tutorial on installing the Hub. You can also install either by selecting ‘Tools’ then ‘Add-ons’ then ‘Get Add-ons.’
• I have installed OutWit Hub, Docs or Images then reloaded Firefox but I don’t see the OutWit icon on my toolbar. What can I do?
  Two possibilities:
  1) The install did work and the icon is simply missing from the toolbar. In this case, select ‘OutWit’ in the ‘Tools’ menu, then select OutWit Hub (or the appropriate outfit) in the sub-menu. If you want to add the icon to your toolbar, right-click on the toolbar and select ‘Customize’ then drag and drop the OutWit icon onto it.

    2) This install failed. In this case, the most probable reason is that, even though you just downloaded the program, you do not have the latest version. The one you downloaded (probably from a third party) doesn’t work with the current version of Firefox. Download the latest version from outwit.com. Of course, every now and then, it may also be a real compatibility problem. So if the above doesn’t work or doesn’t apply, please create a support ticket on outwit.com and we’ll do our best to help.
  

• How can I revert to the previous version of OutWit Hub? If you have upgraded to version 3 by mistake or have a problem with a feature and wish to revert to version 2.1, simply type outwit:downgrade in the Hub’s address bar. (Please tell us if you believe you have discovered a problem in this version.)
• What’s the Catch? Not to worry: the ‘catch’ is just your collection basket. To learn more about using the catch, please refer to our list of tutorials.
• I don’t see the Catch panel. Where did it go? The catch is resizable, and it can be displayed or not according to the work environment you want. If you do not see the Catch it is probably hidden. To check this, go to the ‘View’ menu and be sure that ‘Show Catch’ is selected. If it is too small, bring your cursor to the horizontal splitter which will become a two-way-arrow that allows you to resize the Catch to your liking.
• The ‘Next in Series’ and/or ‘Browse’ buttons are disabled. How come? When opening a Web page, OutWit analyzes the source code and tries to understand as many things as possible about the page. The first thing it does is to find navigation links (next, previous…) and when it does the ‘Next in Series’ arrow or ‘Browse’ double arrows become active. If they are inactive, it is because OutWit did not find any additional pages
• How can I export an HTML table to an Excel spreadsheet with OutWit Hub? OutWit Hub analyzes the source code of the Web page and extracts the data contained in the HTML tables. You can view the tables by selecting ‘Tables’ in the view panel. Select the rows you want to export and then right-click and select ‘Export Selection as…’ or use the shortcuts: ctrl/cmd-E. For a more detailed explanation, please refer to the built-in tutorials.
• What is the ‘Save Incoming Files’ checkbox? When checked, if an item moved to the Catch contains a link to a file (images, documents…) this file will be saved onto your hard disk.
• Can I save the Catch for later use? When you quit OutWit Hub, Docs or Images, your catch is automatically saved and the next time you run either outfit it will load the Catch from your previous session. You can also save and load Catch files by selecting the corresponding options in the ‘File’ menu.
• How do I save the files I “caught”?In the Hub, you can automatically save the items by checking the ‘Save Incoming Files’ box in the bottom of the Catch panel. Another possibility is to select all and then click ‘Save Selected Files in’ from the ‘File’ menu. For Images, there are many options including selecting auto save, right-clicking, or by using the various saving options in the ‘File’ menu.
• I loaded a page but I don’t see anything when opening the views. How can I load them?First, try reloading the page by clicking the refresh button. If this doesn’t work, check to be sure that you have not entered any selection criteria and that you haven’t checked any of the filter controls, i.e. hide local, documents, background etc. You can ‘Reset all Views’ in the ‘Tools’ menu or by pressing crtl/cmd-R.
• Can I perform searches from the address bar? Yes, the query will be forwarded to your preferred search engine. When typing names have a look at the right side of the bar to see what happens.
• When I open the spreadsheet I exported to Excel, I receive an error warning saying “the document you are trying to open is different from the one specified by the file extension.” What should I do? Don’t worry, click ok and the table will open normally. To avoid this warning you can save the file as an .xml file but then you will not be able to double-click on the icon to open the file. You will have to open Excel and then open the file from there.
• How many pictures can I download in one click? Search engines contain countless images on popular topics so you can download hundreds of pictures. By default, the maximum number of images that can be downloaded in OutWit Images is 1,500 pictures per browse. Make sure there is enough space on your hard disk before grabbing all possible photos of your favorite celebrities, sportscars, vacation destinations…..
• How can I change the location where downloaded files are stored when using the ‘Save Incoming Files’ checkbox? Click on any row then go to the ‘File’ menu and select ‘Save Selected Files in.’ The following downloads will be saved in the same folder.  For OutWit Images open the ‘Options’ Panel and then change the destination folder.
• How do I unistall OutWit Hub, Docs or Images? You would uninstall either as you would any other software.  Please note, that Images and the Hub each come packaged with the kernel so you will have to uninstall both the kernel and Images or the Hub.
• I’m using Iceweasel and I get an error message on startup, is OutWit compatible with Iceweasel? Iceweasel has a little bug with XPCOM, some needed xulrunner libraries are not loaded by default. Here’s how to fix that :First of all, quit all Iceweasel instances.You need to delete some files of your profile directory to make Iceweasel to refresh data (don’t be afraid, these files are automatically regenerated by Iceweasel):

  $ cd ~/.mozilla/firefox/xxx.default/
  $ rm xpti.dat compreg.dat extensions.ini extensions.rdf extensions.cache

  (“xxx.default” is a random string, see in the directory to find your one).

  Then, add “/usr/lib/xulrunner-1.9.1” to $LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variable. Different possibilities:

  • Run iceweasel with

    $ LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/lib/xulrunner-1.9.1:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH iceweasel

  • Add this in your ~/.profile or ~/.bash_profile

    LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/lib/xulrunner-1.9.1:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH

  (If you are using Iceweasel 3.6, you need to put “xulrunner-1.9.2” instead of “xulrunner-1.9.1”)

  Start Iceweasel, and OutWit should now works.

by jcc

Tags: Add new tag, Outwit Hub, OutWit Images

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 9th, 2008 at 1:50 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.