Filed under: Cool tools, Internet Tools, TUAW Tips
TUAW Tip: Setting Google Reader as your default RSS handler
I'll admit it, I goofed. The screenshot for my post on using MisFox to set your Internet helper applications shows "Google Reader.app" in the pop-up of choices for the default RSS feed reader; this got several people quite excited. "Ooo! Can we set Google Reader as default? Can we can we huh?" they eagerly asked (I'm paraphrasing). Two teensy problems with my screenshot, though: first, the app listed as Google Reader is now known as Google Reader Notifier; second, MisFox won't actually allow you to set Reader Notifier as your RSS helper app. Argh!Fortunately, the answer is simpler than I thought. Go ahead and download the excellent and free GRN; launch it and put in your Google credentials, and you'll immediately get the Growl notifications and pulldown menu goodness -- however, if you don't want them, go to the Reader Notifier preferences and check "minimal function mode."
Now, in your browser of choice (works for me in Safari 2, Safari 3 beta, and Firefox 2) go to Preferences, go to the RSS/Feeds section, pick the Reader Notifier application (in FF, you'll have to click "Choose Application" and select it)... and there's no step 4. From that point on, clicking the feed link in the browser's URL field will automatically open the feed in Google Reader rather than in your local feedreader.
For the record, of the helper-app preference panes I tested, MisFox and MoreInternet could not set Reader Notifier as the RSS default, but RCDefaultApp did it with no problem at all (not to mention it has plenty of other functionality). Enjoy, and my apologies to everyone who got hot under the collar from the original screenshot.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
jesus torres said 1:01PM on 7-18-2007
...or you could just set it to subscribe you to feeds using the already-available Google option. It'll ask you if you want to set it to Google or Google Reader and will then promptly remember your preference from there on out.
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Ben said 1:37PM on 7-18-2007
The screenshot is from Firefox. Camino has no such option - the default is to just use Safari (seems counterintuitive to me to use a different browser).
This does seem to make Camino behave, i.e. use GReader for RSS feeds. However, this seems to entirely obliviate the need for MisFox. Right?
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Gabriel Radic said 4:54PM on 7-19-2007
Does someone know of a way to do this with Netvibes instead of GR?
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schroeter.david said 11:00AM on 7-19-2007
Couldn't you just choose "Google" from the list already provided by Firefox? It is right there in the screenshot. ALSO I'm pretty sure that you can do this in Safari just as easily (at least the Beta).
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Michael Rose said 10:48AM on 7-19-2007
#2 -- MisFox (and the other similar tools) are still useful for setting other default apps and protocol handlers -- for setting your RSS reader, Safari or RCDefaultApp are better.
Many people who don't use Safari as their primary browser, or Mail.app as their mail client, find it annoying to have to set the default application preferences in an application they don't use.
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deadsunrise said 10:08AM on 7-31-2007
It's easier to add a bookmarklet to the bookmarks bar:
http://godsmoon.blogspot.com/2005/10/google-reader-bookmarklet-version-20.html
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Lo'oris said 2:17PM on 10-07-2007
I also would like to add feeds to google reader using Camino, but I can't figure out how.
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