How DummyDrop works

1. Scanning a page

Click the DummyDrop icon in the toolbar, or press Alt+Shift+F. DummyDrop scans the tab you are on and lists every form field it finds. The scan covers:

• ordinary forms and loose fields outside any <form>;
• iframes from the same origin (the same site address), and open shadow DOM, however deeply nested;
• forms that appear after the page loads (a modal, a step in a wizard): DummyDrop keeps watching and updates the list when the page changes.

The first time you open it, three short welcome screens explain the basics. After that it goes straight to the field list.

Some pages cannot be scanned, and DummyDrop says why instead of showing an empty list:

• browser pages such as chrome://, edge://, brave:// and about:, and the Chrome Web Store and Microsoft Edge Add-ons store;
• PDF files;
• local files (file://), until you turn on Allow access to file URLs in the extension's details page;
• sites you have blocked in the settings (see Settings);
• iframes served by a different site, which need one extra step from you (see What it cannot do).

2. Detecting field types

For every field DummyDrop combines several signals and scores each one: the input type, name, id, placeholder, aria-label, the label linked to the field, the autocomplete attribute, and the text nearby. It understands English, common Hinglish words (for example naam, pata, shehar, umar) and short forms such as mob, ph, pin, zip, dob, fname, lname and uname.

Each row shows the detected type and a confidence indicator. When DummyDrop is not sure, the row shows a type menu so you can set the type yourself. Your choice is remembered for that field on that site, so you only make it once.

3. Choosing fields

Every row in the list has a checkbox, the field's label, its detected type and its confidence.

• Hover a row and the field on the page is outlined and scrolled into view. Hover a field on the page and its row is highlighted.
• Select all / Select none ticks or clears every row. Fields that look like a real sign-in or banking login start unticked (see Safety rules).
• A data source menu above the buttons lets you override, for this one fill, where values come from: Per settings, Dummy data, My values or Random from mine.
• Fields that already contain something are marked Has value, so you can leave them alone. DummyDrop only notes that a field is not empty; it does not read what is in it.

4. Filling and undoing

• Fill selected fills only the ticked fields. The button shows how many are ticked.
• Fill all fills every field in the list.
• Fill profile appears when you have an active profile and fills the whole form from it (see Your values and profiles).
• Undo last fill puts back the exact previous value of every field changed by the last fill.

After a fill, a message tells you what happened, for example Filled 7 of 9, 2 skipped: the reason, with an Undo button. Every skipped field has a plain-language reason.

DummyDrop fills the way a person would, so frameworks notice:

• it sets the value with the browser's own setter, then fires focus, input, change and blur events, so forms built with React or Vue register the value and a field is never left looking filled but empty inside. DummyDrop is tested against both;
• it supports text, email, password, tel, number, url, date, time, datetime-local, textarea, select, radio, checkbox and, where practical, rich-text (contenteditable) fields;
• a dropdown gets a real option, never its "Select…" placeholder;
• a checkbox is ticked when it is required or is a terms or consent box, left unticked when it is a marketing or newsletter box, and otherwise left alone, with a note saying so;
• it never submits the form. A fill only writes into fields.

Undo is kept in the page's memory only. It works while the page stays open, and is cleared when you reload or close the page.

5. The data it generates

DummyDrop can fill 29 kinds of data. Values come from lists bundled inside the extension and a seeded random generator; nothing is fetched from anywhere.

Every value is valid for its type, every time. In particular:

• Names and usernames: realistic names for the chosen country (Indian by default). A username is built from the name, is 5 to 20 characters of letters, numbers, underscores and dots, and never starts with a digit.
• Email: always a valid address that matches the generated name. The domains come from your settings. The default list is example.com, example.org and test.com; you can add gmail.com and outlook.com.
• Dates: a Date of birth is a past date. Current date is today's date (or the current time, for a time field), taken from your computer. A text field that says how it wants a date, for example a DD/MM/YYYY placeholder or hint, gets the date written that way; date pickers get what they store. A date you save yourself can be typed as 21/07/1994 or 1994-07-21 and is rewritten to match each field.
• Phone and postal code: follow the chosen country. For India, a phone number is exactly 10 digits starting 6 to 9, and a pincode is exactly 6 digits and does not start with 0.
• Password: strong by default (14 characters with upper case, lower case, a digit and a symbol). Length and character types are configurable.
• Cards: only well-known payment-processor test numbers (for example 4111 1111 1111 1111), with a future expiry and a valid CVV length. See Safety rules.
• Indian ID formats: an Aadhaar-style number has 12 digits, starts 2 to 9 and passes the Verhoeff checksum. A PAN-style number follows the AAAAA9999A structure. A GSTIN has 15 characters with a correct checksum. An IFSC is four letters, a zero and six letters or digits. These pass format checks; they are not issued to anyone (see the Terms of Use).

DummyDrop also respects each field's maxlength, minlength, min, max, step, pattern and required. If a pattern is present, the value is built to match it. If no valid value can be made, the field is skipped and the reason is shown, instead of being filled with something wrong.

Within one fill, the name, username, email and phone all belong to the same made-up person, and the city, state and pincode agree where the data allows. Countries available: India, United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia.

6. Safety rules

• Card fields: a one-time warning appears before DummyDrop fills any card field for the first time. It explains that only test card numbers are used, and that they are meant for sandbox and staging checkouts and will not work for real payments. Cancel fills nothing.
• Sign-in and banking fields: fields that look like a real banking login or password-manager flow start unticked and are filled only if you tick them yourself.
• Only ticked fields are ever touched.
• Highlights are drawn inside a closed Shadow DOM, so they cannot be affected by, or disturb, the page's own styles.
• No console logging and no pop-up dialogs from the browser: messages appear inside DummyDrop.

7. Your values and profiles

For every field type you choose a source, in the settings:

• Dummy data: generated for you (the default).
• My values: the values you saved for that type.
• Random from my values: a random pick from your saved list.

You can add several values per type. Each is checked against the same rules as generated data, with a clear message explaining how to fix it, for example if a phone number has 9 digits. The source can be overridden for a single fill from the data source menu in the popup.

Your own fields. If a form asks for something DummyDrop has no type for, such as an Employee ID or a Policy number, add a field of your own in the settings. Give it a name, the keywords that identify it, and your values. Any field whose label or name contains one of the keywords is then filled with your values and ticked by default, and you can also pick your field from the type menu of any row (that choice is remembered for the site, like any other). Your values are used as you typed them, in the order you saved them or at random, and are checked against the field's own limits; with no values saved, the field is skipped and says why. Your own fields are included in import and export.

Profiles are named identities such as "Test User 1" or "Client Demo". You can create, duplicate, rename and delete them. One profile is active at a time; Fill profile fills the whole form from it, and fields left empty in the profile get dummy data. The fill-all shortcut (Alt+Shift+G) does the same without opening anything, and briefly shows the number of fields filled on the toolbar icon.

Import and export: back up or move your settings, saved values, profiles, site rules and remembered type choices as a JSON file. Imports are validated, a bad file shows a clear error, and nothing is overwritten until you confirm (merge or replace). Exported files are plain text: keep them private if they hold passwords you saved.

8. Keeping it open

By default DummyDrop opens as a popup. Like every extension popup, the browser closes it when you click somewhere else. If you want it to stay, tick Keep DummyDrop open in the settings (or press the pin button at the top of the popup) and choose Where it opens:

• Side panel: a panel docked beside the page. It stays open while you click, scroll and switch tabs, follows the tab you are on, and never covers the form.
• Floating window: a small DummyDrop icon appears on the page. Click it to open a window with the full interface. Drag the icon or the window's top bar anywhere; with the bar focused, the arrow keys move it too (Shift for bigger steps). It stays on screen, remembers where you left it, and can be folded back into the icon. While your pointer is on a field row, the window fades so you can see the real field behind it (you can turn this off).

The toolbar icon and Alt+Shift+F then open whichever you chose. Press the pin again, or untick the setting, to go back to the popup.

Why a click is still needed. The browser gives an extension access to a page only after you click its icon (or press its shortcut) on that page. In the side panel or floating window, a tab you have not clicked on shows Click the DummyDrop icon on this page. Access carries over when you move around inside the same site and is dropped when the tab goes to a different site.

Always-on sites (optional). For sites you use a lot, press the shield button at the top of DummyDrop to let it work there without clicking the icon each time. The browser asks you once, for that site only. Manage the list in the settings under Always-on sites. Nothing is granted when you install.

9. Keyboard shortcuts

Change them on the browser's shortcuts page (chrome://extensions/shortcuts, edge://extensions/shortcuts or brave://extensions/shortcuts). The settings page has a Shortcuts section with the same hint. Inside DummyDrop everything works from the keyboard: Tab moves through the controls in a logical order, Enter or Space toggles a row, and focus is always visible.

10. Settings

Open the settings with the gear icon in DummyDrop, or from the extension's details page. Changes apply instantly, including to an open popup. The sections are:

• General: country, theme (light, dark or system), and the keep-open options.
• Email domains: which domains generated emails use.
• Passwords: length and character types.
• Data sources: dummy data, your values or random from yours, per field type, plus your saved values.
• Your own fields: field types you define, with keywords and values.
• Profiles: create and manage named identities.
• Site rules: a block list (DummyDrop is off on those sites) or an allow list (DummyDrop works only on those sites).
• Always-on sites: sites where DummyDrop may work without an icon click.
• Shortcuts: the keyboard shortcuts and how to change them.
• Import & export: back up and restore as JSON.
• Reset: deletes all saved values, profiles, site rules, remembered type choices and the saved window position, and restores the defaults. It asks for confirmation first.

11. What it cannot do

• Iframes from other sites (an embedded payment form, for example) cannot be reached with the access a click gives. DummyDrop shows a notice with an Allow access button; the browser then asks you, for that one site.
• Closed shadow DOM, canvas-drawn widgets and PDF forms cannot be read by any extension.
• A page that submits a form from inside its own change handler by calling form.submit() cannot be stopped by an extension. DummyDrop blocks ordinary submit events while it fills, but that call is out of reach.
• Matching a country list or a state list to the generated address is best effort. If a dropdown cannot take the generated country or state, DummyDrop picks a valid option instead, and a postal code in a different format may remain.
• A value that is valid in format can still be refused by a website's own server-side rules. See Support if that happens.
• The floating window cannot appear on pages the browser does not let extensions run on, and it sits below the browser's own interface and below full-screen video.