Tip #266

Switch Workspaces with one click with the aid of Command Chains, Toolbar Editor and Custom Icons.

There are some unique ways you can use different Vivaldi features together to make the browser behave the way you want it. For example, with the help of Command Chains, Toolbar Editor and Custom Icons you can take Workspaces to the next level. Here’s how:

Step 1 – Create Command Chains for switching Workspaces.

  1. Go to Settings > Quick Commands > Command Chains.
  2. Create a new chain and give it a name.
  3. Replace the placeholder command with “Switch to Workspace #”. The number corresponds to the order in which you created your Workspaces.

Create a chain for every workspace. In each chain, you can also add other commands that will be executed at the same time. For example, add the command “Switch to theme” to make workspaces visually more different.

Step 2 – Add Command Chain buttons to a toolbar.

  1. Open the Toolbar Editor.
  2. Select the Command Chains section.
  3. Drag the buttons you made for Workspaces to a toolbar of your choice.

Step 3 – Add Custom Icons.

By default all Command Chain buttons looks the same, but you can add Custom Icons to make each button stand out.

  1. Go to Settings > Themes > Editor > Icons.
  2. In the list of icons, find the Command Chains you created.
  3. Select one and replace the default icon with one you’ve created.

For a more in depth description of this feature combination and final results, take a look at our blog post and video here.

One section of Vivaldi Browser's window, showing half of the Address and Panel bars. The latter includes Command Chains with custom icons above other Panel buttons.

Tip #265

Move Mail messages with drag and drop.

With endless emails flooding your mailbox, moving messages to dedicated folders, assigning flags and labels to them, and marking tackled messages as read helps to keep things neat and easy to find later. Working with messages using the right-click context menus or shortcuts are excellent ways to manage your messages, but since Vivaldi 6.0 a quick drag and drop can get things done as well.

To move a message, change its read state or assign a property to it:

  1. Click and hold down the left mouse button on the message you want to move.
  2. Drag the message to the desired view in the Mail Panel.
  3. Release the left mouse button to finish the action.
Mail message being dragged from messages list to a mail folder in the Mail Panel.

Tip #264

Select text on a page before opening Find in Page to prefill the search field.

When there’s too much content on a page to read it all, you can search through the text with Find in Page.

To open Find in Page’s search field:

If you’ve already come across the keyword you want to search for on the page, select the keyword (or phrase) and only then open Find in Page. That way you can get to the results immediately, without needing to type the search term manually.

Tip #263

View all installed Progressive Web Apps on vivaldi://apps.

Progressive Web Apps, or PWAs for short, are websites that are installed as independent applications and are opened from shortcuts to their own window.

To get an overview of all your PWAs, type vivaldi://apps in the Address Field and press Enter.

There, when right-clicking on the app logo, you can open the PWA, adjust settings, create a new shortcut and remove the app.

vivaldi://apps open in Vivaldi browser's tab.

Tip #262

Start the browser with hibernated background tabs to save resources.

When you’ve set Vivaldi to open with the last session, but you tend to have a lot of tabs open, then loading all websites on startup can create a spike in your computer’s resource use. To prevent that, you can load only the active tab and load background tabs in an hibernated state, aka lazy load, and fully load other tabs only when you view them.

To lazy load background tabs during startup:

  1. Go to Settings > General > Startup > Startup with.
  2. Make sure “Lazy Load Restored Tabs” is enabled.

Since pinned tabs tend to be important ones, you can enable always loading them during startup.

Tip #261

Press Ctrl + F1 / ⌘ F1 to view the Keyboard Shortcut Cheat Sheet.

Trying to rely more on Keyboard Shortcuts in Vivaldi, but keep forgetting some of the key combinations? Use the Keyboard Shortcut Cheat Sheet to quickly check the shortcuts without needing to go to browser settings.

To open the cheat sheet, on Windows and Linux, press Ctrl + F1. On macOS use the shortcut ⌘ F1.

PS! The search field in the top right corner helps to find the commands you need faster. 😉

Tip #260

Use spaces and separators to create different sections on the toolbars.

Panels and Web Panels on the sidebar, navigation buttons on the Address Bar, tools on the Status Bar – in Vivaldi there are many buttons to click. To organize buttons into groups you can use Space, Flexible Space and Separator elements between them.

To add dividers:

  1. Right-click on a toolbar you want to customize.
  2. Select Edit > Customize Toolbar from the context menu.
  3. Drag a Space, Flexible Space or Separator element from the editor window to the spot on the toolbar where you want to add it.
  4. Click Done.

To remove an element, while the Toolbar Editor is open, drag the element from the toolbar and drop it on the area between toolbars and the editor.

Tip #259

Fit more tabs on the Tab Bar in Vivaldi on Android by only displaying the site favicon.

Smaller screens fit less tabs on the Tab Bar. To squeeze in a few more than usual, you can hide the tab titles and only display the website’s logo aka the favicon.

To display only the favicon for each tab:

  1. Go to the Vivaldi menu > Settings > Tabs.
  2. Toggle on “Show Tab as Favicon”.

You can win even more space, if you disable “Show X Button For Background Tabs”. That way only the active tab has the Close button visible.

Vivaldi on Android with tabs displayed as favicons and close buttons hidden for background tabs.

Tip #258

Divide open tabs into Workspaces to keep your workflow organized and uninterrupted.

Tab Stacks are a great way to group tabs by domain or topic, but Workspaces take it to another level. With Workspaces you’ll only see the tabs in the current Workspace, allowing you to focus on one thing at the time.

To create a new workspace:

  1. Click the Workspaces button on the left side of the Tab Bar (top of the list on vertical Tab Bars).
  2. Click on New Workspace.
  3. Enter a name and select an icon for the new workspace.
  4. Click Create or press Enter.

From the Workspaces menu (or using Shortcuts) you can quickly switch between the Workspaces you’ve created.

Vivaldi browser with Workspaces menu open and highlighted. Listing the main window, 4 workspaces and a button to create a new Workspace.

Tip #257

Disable the internal PDF viewer, if you prefer to use different PDF software.

It’s convenient to open PDF files from web pages in a browser tab to take a quick look. If you want to use more advanced features to edit and manage PDFs you can also use your computer’s default PDF software.

To prefer dedicated PDF software when opening PDF files:

  1. Go to Settings > Web Pages > Plugins.
  2. Uncheck the box for Enable Internal PDF Viewer.

When the setting is disabled and you’re trying to view a PDF file, a dialog to save or open it will be displayed first.

Tip #256

Click ♥ Follow to keep track of new posts from your favorite bloggers on Vivaldi.net.

There are many active bloggers in the Vivaldi Community, who write on all topics imaginable. To see the latest posts from your favorite bloggers make sure to follow them. There are several ways to do that. But first make sure that you’re logged in to your Vivaldi account.

  • Visit their blog and click ♥ Follow on the black menu bar at the top of the page.
  • When you come across one of their posts on blogs.vivaldi.net, click ♥ Follow on the post preview (see image below).
  • On the WordPress Dashboard > Reader click ♥ Follow on the post preview.

You can also see the posts from followed blogs in a few places:

Blogs.vivaldi.net page open in Vivaldi browser with Follow button below one of the posts magnified.

Tip #255

Click on the Vivaldi logo in the corner to access the browser’s main menu.

Are you new to Vivaldi and looking for where you can access the browser’s menu with some of the most useful features. In Vivaldi the menu can be opened when you click or tap on the Vivaldi logo, except for Vivaldi on macOS, where the full menu is always on display.

On desktop the Vivaldi logo is in the top left corner and on Android it’s on the right side of the Address Bar, either at the top or bottom of the screen, depending on your settings.

You can learn more about the menus on desktop and Android on Vivaldi Help.

Vivaldi on desktop and Vivaldi on Android both with the main menu open and highlighted.

Tip #254

Light up your surroundings in Vivaldi Theme colors with Philips Hue.

Do you use Philips Hue lights at home? Did you know that you can connect them to Vivaldi and have the lights change colors together with Vivaldi Themes?

To connect Philips Hue with Vivaldi:

  1. First, make sure your Hue lights are connected to the same network as the browser.
  2. Then, go to Settings > Themes > Philips Hue Theme Integration and tick the box for Enable Hue.
  3. Once enabled, click on Find bridge and click the button on your Bridge to confirm the connection.

The lights will be in the theme’s accent color. The color show will be more noticeable, if you have Accent Color from Active Page or Theme Scheduling with frequent switches enabled.

Don’t have Philips Hue lights, but do use Razer Chroma devices? Check Tip #183, to see how to link Razer Chroma and Vivaldi.

Tip #253

Subscribe to the iOS newsletter to be notified when Vivaldi for iOS is released.

It’s happening!!! 🎉 There will be an iOS version of Vivaldi. 🥳

The team is working hard on developing Vivaldi for iOS, but there are unfortunately too many factors in play to know when the first version will be released.

That’s why we’ve set up a newsletter subscription you can sign up to. As soon as the first public version sees daylight you’ll be notified via email, so you can take Vivaldi for a spin on your iOS device.

iOS subscription page on vivalid.com open in Vivaldi Browser.