Tip #594

Trigger Command Chains from a toolbar button with a custom icon.

Command Chains can be triggered with Quick Commands, Keyboard Shortcuts, Mouse Gestures, toolbar buttons, and from menus. Command Chain toolbar buttons all look the same, though. If you have multiple chains on the browser’s toolbars, you should give them custom icons to make them easier to recognize.

To give a Command Chain button a custom icon:

  1. Go to Settings > Themes > Editor > Icons.
  2. Select the icon you want to update.
  3. Drag the file to the preview box.
    Alternatively, click on the box and locate the file.

To add a Command Chain to a toolbar:

  1. Go to the Vivaldi menu > View > Customize Toolbar.
    Alternatively, right-click on one of the buttons already on the toolbar and select “Customize Toolbar”.
  2. From the drop-down menu, select “Command Chains”.
  3. Drag the chain’s button to the toolbar of your choice.

Tip #593

Create custom widgets for the Dashboard with the help of Webpage Widgets.

There are different widgets you can add to the Dashboard in your Vivaldi browser – Feeds, Tasks, Bookmarks, etc. The Webpage Widget offers you the most flexibility, allowing you to add any webpage to the Dashboard (preferably one that looks good in a small web view).

To add a Webpage Widget:

  1. Go to the Dashboard.
  2. Click on “Add Widget” at the bottom of the Dashboard.
  3. Select “Webpage”.
  4. Enter the link of the website you want to view from the widget.
  5. Click “Done”.

In the image below, you can see two webpage widgets on the bottom row. The widget on the left is a web page with a game and the one on the right shows the widget setup process.

Vivaldi browser's Dashboard with 2 web widgets on the bottom row. One showing a game and the other the set up process.

Tip #590

Open bookmarks from the Bookmark Panel with a single click.

Having to do a double click instead of a single click doesn’t seem like a big deal, but you’d be surprised how even the most minuscule differences can affect your workflow.

To enable bookmark opening with a single click:

  1. Go to Settings > Bookmarks.
  2. Tick the box for “Open Bookmark Panel Items with Single Click”.

And how about combining it with the “Open Bookmarks in New Tab” setting, which you’ll find right above “Open Bookmark Panel Items with Single Click”?

Bookmark Settings in Vivaldi.
Arrow is pointing at the "Open Bookmark Panel Item with Single Click" setting.

Tip #589

Choose the maximum number of widget columns for your Dashboard.

The same way you can decide how many Speed Dial columns you have on the Start Page when the browser window is large enough to fit a lot of them (see Tip #89), you can choose how many columns of widgets you have on the Dashboard.

To update the limit:

Option 1

  1. Click on “Show Start Page Settings” in the top right corner of the Start Page.
  2. In the Dashboard section, choose a number between 1-4 for “Maximum Columns”.

Option 2

  1. Go to Settings > Start Page > Dashboard.
  2. Choose a number between 1-4 for “Maximum Columns”.
Bottom right corner of Vivaldi browser's window showing Start Page settings. Drop-down menu with numbers from 1 to 4 is open for Dashboard's maximum column's setting.

Tip #587

Ctrl/⌘ + double-click on a tab to select all tabs from the same domain.

You can hold down the Ctrl/⌘ button and select tabs individually, or use Shift + click to select several tabs in a row. But there’s something very satisfying about having tabs scattered all over the Tab Bar and watch all the ones from the same domain get selected and highlighted with one simple move.

You can even use these shortcuts together to get a mixed selection of tabs faster.

Tip #585

Skip scrolling and jump to the latest emails with a click of a button.

Vivaldi Mail‘s “Jump to Latest” button makes it easy to hop back to the most recent email with a single click.

The button is only visible when the newest emails are out of view. Whether the button is at the top or bottom of the list depends on whether you sort your mail in ascending or descending order.

Vivaldi Mail open on the list of emails. 
An arrow is pointing at the "Jump to Latest" button.

Tip #584

Fill your Dashboard with useful widgets.

Latest emails, tasks, newest feed articles, most visited sites, favorite bookmarks, and more can be pulled into the all-in-one control center – the Dashboard.

To add a new widget:

  1. Go to the Dashboard.
  2. Click on “+ Add a Widget” at the bottom of the window.
  3. Click on the widget you want to add.

Some widgets, like Date and Tip of the Day, can be added to the Dashboard once, but most can be added multiple times. This allows you to display different content in each widget, such as different email accounts, calendars, bookmark folders, etc.

Tip #582

Divide your feeds into folders in the Vivaldi Feed Reader to group them by topic.

Staying on top of your favorite content in the Vivaldi Feed Reader is easier when you have the feeds you follow neatly organized into folders.

To add a new Feeds folder:

  1. Open the Feeds Panel.
  2. Near the top, click on the  New Folder button. Alternatively, right-click on an existing feed or feed folder and select “New Folder” from the context menu.
  3. Give the new folder a name.
  4. Click “Add Folder”.
  5. Drag-and-drop feeds into the folder.
Feeds Panel open in the Vivaldi browser, showing neatly organized folders with feeds.

Tip #581

Make your choice between spacious and compact user interface layouts.

Do you prefer to give the buttons on the toolbars plenty of breathing room, or do you want them packed together nice and snug next to each other? As with most things in Vivaldi, you’re in control and can decide what works best for you.

To change the UI density:

  1. Go to Settings > Appearance > Window Appearance > User Interface Density.
  2. Choose between:
    • Regular i.e. the more spacious layout, and
    • Compact layout.

Tip #580

Fade the user interface colors of the browser windows you have open in the background.

When you’re viewing multiple browser or app windows side by side, it can be difficult to see, which one you’ve focused on. Fading Vivaldi window’s colors when it’s not in focus helps to make it more obvious.

To enable background window color fading:

  1. Go to Settings > Appearance > Window Appearance.
  2. Enable “Fade Colors in Background Windows”.
Two Vivaldi browser windows. The one in the back has a faded color scheme compared to the one in the foreground.

Tip #578

Click and drag to easily resize or minimize Vivaldi Mail’s Quick Reply.

Is your quick reply email getting longer than expected or do you temporarily want to hide it altogether?

To resize the Quick Reply field:

  1. Place the mouse cursor on the top edge of the Quick Reply section.
  2. Click and drag upwards to expand the area and downwards to make it smaller. Drag all the way down towards the bottom edge of the window to minimize it altogether.
Corner of the Vivaldi browser window showing the Quick Reply area in Vivaldi Mail. A mouse cursor is placed at the line that allows to resize Quick Reply.

Tip #577

Give your Speed Dial folders a personalized look by adding custom thumbnails.

In addition to individual Speed Dial bookmarks, you can add thumbnails to Speed Dial folders (see Tip #69).

To add a custom thumbnail image to a bookmark folder:

Option 1

  1. Open the Start Page.
  2. Right-click on a folder and select “Select Custom Thumbnail”.
  3. Locate the image file you want to use.
  4. Click “Open”.

Option 2

  1. Open the Bookmarks Panel or Bookmarks Manager.
  2. Select the bookmarks folder.
  3. In the information section (name, nickname, description), hover over the folder icon.
  4. Click on “Select Custom Thumbnail”.
  5. Locate the image file you want to use.
  6. Click “Open”.

The recommended image size is 440×360px and most image formats, including animated GIFs, are supported.

Vivaldi Browser window open on a Start Page. Bookmark folder's context menu is open to show the "Select Custom Thumbnail" option.

Tip #574

Select the default search engine for image search.

Reverse image search is a great way to find similar images to the one you’re currently viewing. Just right-click on the picture and select “Search for image” (sometimes the option can be in the “Image” subfolder).

The results will be provided by your default image search engine, so pick the one you want to see results from.

To review your settings:

  1. Go to Settings > Search > Image Search Engine.
  2. Select, whether you want to get results from Bing, Google, or a search engine you’ve added yourself.
Vivaldi Search Settings with an arrow pointing at Image Search Engine setting.

Tip #573

To sync or not to sync? You decide what browsing data is synchronized across all your devices.

Bookmarks, Tabs, Passwords, Notes, History, etc. – you can easily access all of it and more in Vivaldi on all your devices when you use the Sync feature. But, whether you sync all data or just some of it, is up to you.

To sync selected data:

  1. Go to Settings > Sync.
  2. Log in to your account and enter the encryption password.
  3. Go to “Sync Selected Data”
  4. Toggle on and off the data types you want to Sync.
  5. Click “Apply Changes”.
  6. Do the same on all devices.