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Apple/Mac updates deleted Translator Ap.

Hello all,
Hoping someone can help me get a clear answer as searching the web hasn't helped much. A recent update of Mac/Apple (notebook) eliminated all the extensions in Safari, including Translate or Translator, don't recall which, with the click of a button would convert an entire page into your choice of language - mine English. Wonderful app. Now it's gone. I downloaded another ap, but it is a very poor replacement. The update also won't support the Pinterest Pin at all, per Pinterest info page. I hate Chrome. What apps are recommended for Safari for translation OR, what browser do Mac-a-philes find work well and what translator app is recommended in that browser? I'm leaving for Italy in two weeks, and it would be nice to have a translator app before I go. Thanks al for your help!

Posted by
222 posts

I searched the phrase, 'update of Mac/Apple notebook eliminated all the extensions in Safari including Translate', and found this link to the Apple Discussions Forum at the top of the list. A quick look at some of the answers seemed to show the same problems you are encountering or having to switch to Chrome.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/250645042

Posted by
1259 posts

I hope someone will have better news for you specifically for the MacOS. (My MacMini is old enough not to be able to run the new Catalina OS.)

I think most travelers are using iPhone apps. There are fifty or more free translation apps (English-Italian-English) and that many more for <$I0. Cool and convenient but you must read the user reviews carefully and visit the developers’ sites before you spend your money.

Just me, of course, I’d only consider hauling a MacBook on a trip to Europe if someone was paying me to travel.

Just me, of course, I’m taking a multi-language phrase book on the BOE21 trip next year because I like that sort of thing.

Posted by
1259 posts

Don: << A quick look at some of the answers seemed to show the same problems you are encountering or having to switch to Chrome. >>

I’m not an apologist for Apple but, fortunately for me, Macintosh is the only computer I’ve been using for forty years. If you look deeply into the decision to eliminate Google extensions in this update, you will see it’s a security issue, not a question of making life miserable for Mac users. My IT department forced us to turn Auto-update OFF on all of our Macs and would not let us update until they had totally researched the new OS which could take as long as six months.

Posted by
3985 posts

On the Mac, the new OS release, macOS 10.15 Catalina, is to be avoided right now. Catalina is refusing to run a lot of older Mac software including Microsoft Office 2011 and some older printer & scanner software. Hopefully updates will be released soon to fix these bugs.

IOS 13, the latest operating system on the iPhone has so many bugs that Apple has released updates quickly that have created even more problems. The latest update is 13.1.2 and it is STILL recommended not to update your iPhone.

Search google to read about the problems of both Catalina and 13.1.2

When new updates are released, I wait at least a couple of weeks and then read reviews of these updates because in those reviews, you will learn about any problems with these updates.

Posted by
759 posts

Some Google extensions are being lost because of security issues. It is not a flaw or bug but an action to prevent them. Long known event in the developer community. Google or developers using google extensions have apparently chosen not to update those extensions - Apple has long ago released information to developers about updating; and their developers database has a very specific page on how developers using Google Extensions can update their computer code. (The developer must update the computer code, not users).

Not running Office 2011 is NOT a bug. Office 2011 is an old 32 bit program. Apple has been warning developers and Users for Years that support for old 32 bit programs was headed towards an end and would halt with Catalina which is 64 bit based. Again, this is NOT new information.

Most developers have updated their programs to 64 bit. Programs lost are basically orphan programs that their developers are no longer interested in, not updating, and are allowing to die.

Microsoft Office has been fully updated to run on the 64 bit platform. It is called Office 2019.

These events are not new. You buy a book on acid free paper it is readable for hundreds of years. Store a book on a computer and nope- it will be lost. Computer data needs constant updating or it will be lost.

During the Vietnam War millions of pages of documents were captured/collected. They fill thousands of boxes. Historians of the war have wanted to use them for research for the past 20+ years but can’t. At a great expense all the documents were initially indexed upon receipt. That index is the only way into those thousands and thousands of boxes. That index exists only in computer code, it was never put to paper. There is no known computer, in operating condition, that can now run that index. The index is unreadable.

Computers and programs generally have a 5 -7 yr lifespan. Yes you can freeze a computer and run it for 20 yrs until it physically breaks. But good luck getting a computer to run and be able to use/read that data in 20 yrs. The same thing with print/scanner drivers. Companies are simply going to stop supporting (updating) computer code/drivers for those devices. In converting their printer drivers over to 64 bit HP, Canon etc are not going to spend money updating drivers for a 10 yr old printer, thus that printer will never run with newer computers/Operating systems. They become abandoned in terms of not operating under newer operating systems.

Posted by
11053 posts

Use the Apple Support App to get help. I have spent hours on it with helpful Apple techs. Today the new update caused havoc on my phone. Apple tech went inside phone to fix it.

Posted by
104 posts

Thank you all, UG none of your answers sound very encouraging, but I haven't tried the suggestions for links and apple help yet. I won't take my computer with me, but just wanted to access Italian websites to research fun things to do/see before I go. I've done most of my research, but really this is so annoying. My phone has a good translator for individual words and phrases, but I wanted a translator that would take in a whole page at one fell swoop - and my phone is old and little, so hard to view the internet.
I didn't download Catalina after reading about some glitches with downloading, but whatever I updated just before that messed it up good.

I will follow everyone's suggestions and see what happens.
Does anyone use another browser, say Foxfire or Opera with translators and Pinterest buttons? haha I may have to switch.

Thanks all, keep the suggestions coming!

Posted by
759 posts

OP - sorry if I added to the downer aspects.....
I understand your pain. I went through the loss of a small database (book collector) program and a printer I loved that weren’t updated by their developers when Apple moved from the PowerPC chip to Intel about 20 yrs ago.

Everyone has gotten so used to computers (phones etc) just working. Modern user interfaces are fantastic but there is still computer code behind those interfaces and that code never rests. Everyone wants more powerful and at the same time simplistic devices, with data security and sadly that comes at the cost of programs and equipment going obsolete much quicker then most are happy with nor financially prepared for. Pencil and paper can sit in a drawer for years and still function. Computer Word programs, not so much.....

Posted by
1 posts

People only use safari on their iPhone I guess, even tho having a mac most people find it easy to use chrome.