Tip #531

Go for a minimalistic and cleaner look with transparent background tabs.

Some of the adjustments you can make to your Vivaldi Theme are more subtle than others. One such customization option is removing the faint background from the tabs you have open in the background.

To make background tabs transparent:

  1. Go to Settings > Themes > Editor > Settings.
  2. Enable “Transparent Background Tabs”.
2 Vivaldi Browser's Tab Bars. Top one with Transparent Background Tabs disabled, the bottom one with the setting enabled.

Tip #530

Play around with different layouts for creative ways to arrange your Speed Dials.

When you have a lot of Speed Dials on your Vivaldi browser’s Start Page, you’ll benefit from spreading them out into more columns, so they’ll all fit on the screen. But if you only have a few favorites, you can get more creative with the layout.

To change the number of columns:

  1. Go to Settings > Start Page > Speed Dial or open Quick Settings > Speed Dial Appearance on the Start Page.
  2. From the Maximum Columns drop-down menu, select how many columns of Speed Dials you want. You can have a single column or go in the opposite direction and remove the upper limit altogether.

Theme by abeegeorgina.

Tip #529

Pick the appropriate default search scope in Vivaldi Mail.

Do you prefer to start searching by casting a wide net and hoping the best result shows up that way or do you like to start small and expand if nothing good comes up? By changing the default search folder (All messages vs Current Folder) in Vivaldi Mail, you can tailor the mail client to match your style. If the default isn’t a good match for a particular search you can always adjust the scope in search filters.

To change the default search folder.

  1. Go to Settings > Mail > Mail Settings > Default Search Folder.
  2. Select whether to always search through all messages or only in the folder you currently have open.
Mail Settings with an arrow pointing at the Default Search Folder setting.

Tip #525

Hide unneeded calendars in Vivaldi Calendar temporarily from view.

When you’re trying to get an overview of what’s planned in a certain aspect of your life, hiding irrelevant events and tasks from view in the Vivaldi Calendar helps to focus on what’s important at the moment.

To toggle the visibility of calendars in the main calendar view:

  1. Click on “Calendars” in the top left corner of the page.
  2. Click on the calendar’s name to hide/show its events.

To toggle the visibility of calendars in Calendar settings:

  1. Go to Settings > Calendar > Calendars.
  2. Select a calendar.
  3. (Un)tick the box for “Hide from Calendar View”
  4. Click “Save”.
Vivaldi Calendar with the calendar menu open. A couple of calendars have been hidden, while most are still visible,

Tip #523

Customize menu item anchor letters to make navigating menus with your keyboard more comfortable.

Have you noticed that in menus one letter is often underlined? If not, go on and right-click on the page to see for yourself. The underlined letters indicate which key on your keyboard to press to select that command. Pressing the letters instead of arrow keys makes using menus a lot faster. But first you need to make sure that the assigned letters make sense to you. If not, change them.

To edit menus:

  1. Go to Settings > Appearance > Menu > Menu customization.
  2. Locate the menu item you want to customize.
  3. Right-click on it and select “Rename”.
  4. Add the symbol & in front of the letter you want to act as the anchor.
  5. Press “Enter” to save the change.

Then to navigate menus using anchor letters, first use a shortcut to open the menu, for example, Shift + F10 to open web page’s context menu, and then press the letter (multiple letters, if the command is in a sub menu) to select and execute the command.

Vivaldi browser's menu customization settings. Copy Page Address menu item is given the anchor in front of the letter C.

Tip #522

Undo accidental deleting and marking a message as read actions in Vivaldi Mail.

Did you unintentionally move an email to the Trash folder or did you change your mind about marking a message read? In Vivaldi Mail, you’ll find a menu listing your latest actions, so you can undo the ones you need.

To undo an action:

  1. Click the “Undo the Latest Mail Actions” button on the Mail toolbar.
  2. Select which message you want to restore to its previous state.
Undo menu in Vivaldi Mail.

Tip #519

Make a smooth transition to Vivaldi by importing your favorite Extensions from other Chromium-based browsers.

To make your move from your old browser to Vivaldi smoother, you can import important data such as Bookmarks, Passwords, History, and, the latest addition, Extensions with just a few clicks.

To import Extensions:

  1. Make sure the browser you want to export from is closed.
  2. In Vivaldi, go to the Vivaldi menu > File > Import from Applications or Files.
  3. Select the Chromium-based browser.
  4. Click “Start Import”.
  5. When the import has finished, click “Close”
  6. On the Extensions management page that opens, enable the extensions you want to use in Vivaldi by clicking the toggle button at the bottom right corner of each extension card.
Import dialog open in the Vivaldi browser with an arrow pointing to Extensions.

Tip #518

Move the active tab to a different Workspace using Command Chains.

You can find Keyboard Shortcuts for numerous actions in your Vivaldi browser and with Command Chains you can make many more. For example, you can create a chain for moving the active tab to a different Workspace and bind it to a Keyboard Shortcut and Mouse Gesture of your choice. You can also type the chain’s name in Quick Commands and even add a custom button on one of the toolbars to execute the chain on click.

To create a command chain for moving the active tab to a different workspace:

  1. Go to Settings > Quick Commands > Command Chains.
  2. Click on “Add Command Chain”.
  3. Give the new chain a name.
  4. Enter the following commands.
    Use the “Add Command” button in the top right corner of the first command to add the next one.
    • Focus Address Field
    • Delay (100)
    • Copy
    • Delay (1000)
    • Close Tab
    • Switch to Workspace #
    • New Tab
    • Delay (100)
    • Paste and Go
  5. Go to Settings > Keyboard > Workspaces and/or Settings > Mouse > New Gesture and find the chain you created.
  6. Give the new chain a shortcut.
  7. Go to a page you want to move and use the shortcut to test your new Command Chain.
  8. Create the chain for each Workspace you have.

Tip #517

Press Ctrl + Shift + Enter to open the typed link or search in a new window.

In Tip #196, we showed you how to open a link or a search you entered in the Address Field in a new tab. But using a slightly different Keyboard Shortcut, you can also open it in a new browser window.

To open a new window from the Address Field:

  1. Enter a website URL or a search term in the Address Field.
  2. Press Ctrl + Shift + Enter / ⌘ ⇧ Enter on your keyboard.

Tip #515

Make the past fade away in the Vivaldi Calendar by dimming the events that have already passed.

If you’re using Vivaldi Calendar to manage your events and tasks you may have noticed that past events and completed tasks have their colors a bit faded. This lets you easily see what’s done and what’s still ahead.

Past event fading is enabled by default, but you can review and update the setting to match your preference in Settings > Calendar > Calendar Display.

Week view in Vivaldi Calendar with events from Monday to Wednesday faded and the rest in sharp color.

Tip #514

Switch to an existing tab that already has the link open, instead of opening it in a new tab.

It’s easy to end up with more open tabs than you can keep track of. That’s why, when you type a link in the Address Field, Vivaldi will point out that you already have the same URL open in another tab, allowing you to switch to that tab instead of opening a duplicate tab.

To switch to an open tab:

  1. Enter the link in the Address Field.
  2. Instead of just pressing “Enter”, use an arrow key to select the “Switch to this tab” suggestion in the Address Field Drop-Down Menu and then press Enter. Alternatively, click on the suggestion.
Vivaldi browser with the Address Field in focus. A link has been entered that is already open in another tab and there's an entry in the drop-down menu suggesting switching to that tab.

Tip #513

Skip Vivaldi Mail’s composer window and send a quick reply message right below the open email.

Vivaldi Mail’s Quick Reply is perfect for those fast, short replies, and feels like using an instant messenger. By removing the need to switch screens to open the composer window, this feature allows you to respond to emails more quickly.

To send a quick reply:

  1. Open the email message you want to reply to.
  2. Focus on the text field at the bottom of the message pane.
  3. Type your message.
  4. Click “Send”.
Vivaldi Mail with a message being typed in the Quick Reply field.

Tip #512

View tabs’ real-time memory usage from their thumbnail previews.

When you feel like the browser is getting a little sluggish, it’s likely that one or more of the tabs is using a lot of resources. In that case, it might be a good idea to close or at least hibernate the tab(s). To find the resource hogs, simply hover over a tab on the Tab Bar to view their memory usage.

If you don’t see Tab Thumbnails on hover, go to Settings > Tabs > Tab Display > Tab Options and make sure “Show Popup Thumbnails” has been enabled.

Active tab's tab thumbnail showing its current memory use.

Tip #509

Open Web Panels in new tabs from the panel’s context menu.

Web Panels are great for taking a quick glance at a website, but occasionally the mobile-sized view may not be enough. In that case, you can open the current page you have open in the Web Panel in a tab instead.

To open a Web Panel in a tab:

  1. Right-click on the Web Panel’s icon on the sidebar.
  2. From the menu, select “Open In” and where you want to open the tab:
    • New Tab,
    • Background Tab,
    • Current Tab,
    • New Window,
    • New Private Window.
Vivaldi browser window with Web Panel's context window open.