Tip #443

When presented with a choice screen on your mobile don’t forget to pick Vivaldi as your default browser.

As of this week, Europeans will be presented with an option that can help make the web a better place. The Browser Choice Screen will be shown when you update your iOS or Android device or when you set up a brand new one.

Vivaldi’s Co-Founder and CEO Jon von Tetzchner, has been pushing for regulation of Big Tech and better user rights for decades. Finally seeing the impact of speaking up and fighting back is a big win. The browser and search engine choice screens are a massive step in the direction of fair competition and granting users freedom to choose.

We are committed to your privacy and security. We believe that your online data belongs to you, not to advertisers or third-party trackers. Reclaim control of your online experience and make a clear statement.

When you see the browser choice screen, choose Vivaldi—the browser that puts you first. If Vivaldi isn’t on the list, go to your phone’s app settings to set it as the default manually.

Text "A small click for you, a massive step for a better web" with an image of a choice screen on mobile highlighting Vivaldi below it.

Tip #442

Enable automatic updates to always use the latest version of Vivaldi.

To make use of brand new and improved features, fixed bugs, and important security updates, make sure to keep your Vivaldi up to date. The easiest way to achieve this is by enabling automatic downloading and installing of updates. That way, the update is downloaded in the background and all you need to do is restart the browser when it’s most convenient for you for the update to be applied.

To enable automatic updates:

  1. Go to Settings > General > Updates.
  2. Click on “Show Update Settings”.
  3. Enable “Automatically Download and Install Updates”.
Vivaldi Settings with automatic update setting highlighted.

Tip #441

Back up your Reading List locally by exporting it to a file.

You can export your Reading List as a CSV file from Vivaldi to back up, transfer, or share the articles and pages you’ve saved. The file includes the page link, title, read status, and last interaction time of each saved page.

To export your Reading List:

  1. Go to the Vivaldi menu > File > Export > Export Reading List.
  2. Choose the destination folder.
  3. Click “Save”.
Menu path for exporting the Reading list from the Vivaldi Browser.

Tip #440

Resize the editor on Vivaldi Social to view what you plan to post all at once.

Some time ago we increased the character limit for posts on Vivaldi Social from the standard 500 to 1337 characters. Reviewing your longer writing can be tricky in a small editor box, though. That’s why on Vivaldi Social, you can increase the height of the editor, to make more of the text visible.

To change the height of the editor:

  1. Place the mouse cursor at the bottom right corner of the text field (just above the character limit).
  2. Click and drag the mouse up or down.

Tip #439

Choose whether to focus on the Address Bar or the Speed Dial in a new tab in Vivaldi on Android.

When you open a new tab, do you usually start typing a website link or a search term in the Address Field, or do you open one of your favorite Speed Dial bookmarks? Vivaldi on Android allows you to choose your preferred option and, depending on your choice, either opens the keyboard, so you can start typing immediately, or keeps it closed so you can view the Speed Dials.

To review your choice:

  1. Go to Settings > Tabs > Focus Address Bar on New Tab.
  2. Toggle the setting off, if you prefer to see the Speed Dials or leave it enabled, for the keyboard to pop up.
Settings in Vivaldi on Android, highlighting "Focus Address Bar on New Tab:.

Tip #438

Filter feature requests on the Vivaldi Forum using tags.

Feedback from our users plays a big part in prioritizing which features we’re going to work on next. For this, we have a special Feature Request categories on the Vivaldi Forum, where everyone can post and upvote the features they’d like to see in Vivaldi. To make browsing the requests easier, you can use the forum’s search feature (see Tip #246) or check out the tags to filter out interesting topics.

To view feature requests by tags:

  1. Open the relevant feature requests category:
  2. In the “Filter feature requests” section, click on the topic you’re interested in.

When you find a feature request you like, don’t forget to upvote 👍 the first post.

Mobile Feature Requests page on the Vivaldi Forum, with tags highlighted.

Tip #437

Force dark mode on websites that don’t provide a dark theme themselves.

Dark themes have been in for a while, but websites are still catching up with the trend. If you don’t want to wait, you can use Vivaldi’s settings to display even those sites in darker colors.

To enable dark mode:

  1. Go to Settings > Appearance > Website Appearance.
  2. Select “Dark”.
  3. Tick the box for “Force dark theme on all websites”.

Tip #436

Let your theme’s background image shine through the Tab Bar and Panels.

You’ll mainly see the background image on your Start Page, but by tweaking some settings you can make it visible on the Tab Bar and behind Panels as well.

To adjust your theme’s transparency settings:

  1. Go to Settings > Themes > Editor.
  2. Select the them you want to edit.
  3. Go to the Settings section.
  4. Adjust the Panel transparency level, and toggle on Tab Bar and background tab transparency as you wish.
    In addition, you can apply a blur effect to the background image.

Tip #435

Click and hold on a button on the Vivaldi user interface to open its context menu.

Right-clicking on elements on the browser user interface and web pages is a common way to open the context menu with numerous options. On Vivaldi’s Address Bar, the Panels sidebar, and the Mail toolbar, you can open the menus in another way as well. With the left mouse button, just click on a button and hold the mouse button down until the menu opens. Easy-peasy!

Tip #434

Search for your own posts on Vivaldi Social by preceding the search term with “from:me”.

As an active poster on Vivaldi Social, you might find it hard to locate your old posts as scrolling through all the posts you’ve made and boosted will take a long time. If you remember a word or a phrase you used in the post, you can use Vivaldi Social’s search feature to find that specific post.

To search your own posts:

  1. In the search field type “from:me”.
  2. Follow it with a space and the word or phrase you want to search for.
  3. Press “Enter” to see the results.

You can explore the full list of search operators in Tip #368.

Vivaldi Social with the search field and it's dropdown menu highlighted.

Tip #433

Identify Web Pages that are malicious or legitimate by checking the base domain in the Address Field.

Fraudsters are an unfortunate part of the internet, constantly coming up with more and more ways to scam people. To help you spot malicious actors and prevent scams and phishing attacks, Vivaldi highlights the core part of the URL while the rest of the URL will be visible and lowlighted.

For example, if someone is trying to make you think that you’re on Google’s web page, they may use a link similar to this – www.google.fakesite.com. With base domain highlighting in addresses, the real domain will be highlighted and displayed as www.google.fakesite.com. This way you can recognize which company controls the domain and not fall for the scam.

You do have the option to disable base domain highlighting in Settings > Address Bar > Security Features, but we strongly advise you against doing so.

Vivaldi browser window with Address Field highlighted.

Tip #432

Use the Keyboard Shortcut Shift + K to mark messages in Vivaldi Mail unread.

When, on second thought, you’re not finished with an email and want to take another look at a later time, you can mark it as unread again. One of the easiest ways to do it, especially if you used a Keyboard Shortcut to mark the message read in the first place, is by pressing Shift + K on your keyboard.

But of course, there are other ways you can do it as well. Here are all the ways you can mark a message unread in Vivaldi Mail:

  • Click on the Mark message as unread Mark Unread button in the message toolbar above the message.
  • Right-click on the message in the message list and select Mark Unread.
  • Use the Keyboard Shortcut Shift+K. To mark the whole message thread unread, press Shift + M.
  • Type “Mark Messages as Unread” in Quick Commands.
  • Create a Mouse Gesture for the action.

Tip #431

Look up recent translations in the Translate Panel.

Whenever you translate selected text from a web page or something you’ve entered in the Translate Panel, the original text and the translation are saved in the Translate Panel.

To view Translate History:

  1. Open the Translate Panel.
  2. At the bottom of the panel, click on “Show Translate History”.
  3. Double-click on the entry you’d like to view.
Translate History open in the panel with a corner of the Start Page visible on the right side.

Tip #430

Set your preferred editor, Block or Classic, as the default editor for your Vivaldi blog.

Some time ago WordPress, the blogging platform used on vivaldi.net, introduced a new editor for blogs, called the Gutenberg editor. The new editor makes use of various blocks with numerous customization settings to build a post or a page. But since many still prefer the old version, aka the Classic editor, bloggers on vivaldi.net have the option to pick the one they prefer.

To set a default editor for your Vivaldi blog:

  1. Go to Dashboard > Settings > Writing > Default editor for all users.
  2. Select either “Classic editor” or “Block editor”.
  3. Click on “Save Changes”.