Tip #559

Create a shortcut for toggling dark mode for web pages on and off.

Through Settings > Appearance > Website Appearance, you can choose to display all websites in dark mode all the time. Even if a website hasn’t provided a dark option for their website, you can have Vivaldi create it for them by forcing dark mode to be used. But occasionally even dark mode lovers need to turn on the lights temporarily. That’s where shortcuts come in handy.

To toggle dark mode on and off with shortcuts:

Quick Commands

  1. Open Quick Commands.
  2. Type “Toggle Force a dark mode on all websites’.
  3. Press “Enter”.

For the following you first need to create the shortcut.

Keyboard Shortcuts

  1. Go to Settings > Keyboard > View.
  2. Find “Toggle Force a dark mode on all websites’.
  3. Focus on the input field next to it and press the key combination you want to use as the shortcut.

Mouse Gestures

  1. Go to Settings > Mouse > Gesture Mapping.
  2. Click on “New Gesture: and find “Toggle Force a dark mode on all websites”.
  3. Click “Next”.
  4. While holding down the left mouse buttton, draw the gesture in the red box.
  5. Click “Save Gesture”

Toolbar button

  1. Go to Settings > Quick Commands > Command Chains.
  2. Click on “Add Command Chain”.
  3. Give the chain a name.
  4. For Command 1 select “Toggle Force a dark mode on all websites”.
  5. Go to Vivaldi menu > View > Customize Toolbar.
  6. Select Command Chains from the dropdown menu.
  7. Drag the new chain to a toolbar of your choice.

Context menu

  1. Go to Settings > Appearance > Menu.
  2. Select the menu you want to add the command to. For example Web Page > Page.
  3. From the Commands menu, search for “Toggle Force a dark mode on all websites”.
  4. Drag it to the Content column on the right.

Use the newly created shortcuts whenever you want to switch between light and dark mode.

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 #484

Tinker with Vivaldi’s appearance, all the way down to the menu icon.

On macOS, Vivaldi browser’s main menu is baked into the operating system, but on Windows and Linux you can access the main menu from the Vivaldi logo icon in the top left corner of the browser window.

If you wish, you can replace the Vivaldi logo Vivaldi icon with a more generic, so-called “Hamburger”, ☰ menu icon. To do that:

  1. Go to Settings > Appearance > Menu > Menu Icon Style.
  2. Select “Menu Icon”.
Corner of a Vivaldi browser window highlighting the generic "hamburger" menu icon.

Tip #476

Enable compact layout of menus if you prefer your menu items to be more tight-knit.

Vivaldi 6.7 introduced a new design to the browser’s main and context menus. Among other changes, each menu item is given more space (great for when your screen supports touch interactions). If you prefer the previous design, you can enable it with a quick setting change.

To enable compact menus:

  1. Go to Settings > Appearance > Menu.
  2. Enable “Compact Layout”.
  3. Restart the browser.

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 #315

Add web links to Vivaldi Browser menus.

Did you know that in addition to Bookmarks you can add links to sites you visit frequently to the browser’s menus? And we’re not just talking about the main Vivaldi menu here. You can add a link to all (context) menus Vivaldi has. Nice! 😎

To add a link to a menu:

  1. Go to Settings > Appearance > Menu > Menu customization.
  2. Select the menu you want to add the link to.
  3. From the list of Commands, drag “Open Link” to the Content column.
  4. Give the link a name.
  5. Enter the URL.
  6. Press “Enter” to create the menu item.
Vivaldi's Menu customization settings. A link to Vivaldi's Desktop Snapshot blog is being added as a new menu item.

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 #212

Reorder the menus to have your most used commands at your fingertips.

A browser should adapt to your needs not the other way around. And that’s what Vivaldi does by allowing you to customize its menus according to your preferences. For example, if you use Open Link in Background Tab more than you use Open Link in New Tab, why not switch their places and put the most used option at the top of the list?

To reorder menu commands:

  1. Go to Settings > Appearance > Menu > Menu Customization.
  2. From the dropdown menu, select which menu you want to edit.
  3. In the column on the left, drag and drop the menu items to rearrange their order.

The changes are applied immediately. If you want to scrap your changes and start again, just click on Restore Default Menu.

Vivaldi Settings open on menu customization section.

Tip #172

Make the menu bar in Vivaldi on Android’s main menu work for you.

You can tailor the menu bar in Vivaldi’s main menu to fit your individual workflow.

To customize the menu bar:

  1. Go to Vivaldi menu > Settings > General > Main Menu.
  2. Opt for one of the two presets or select Customize layout to make your own configuration.
  3. Using drag and drop, reorder the options in the list, so the top 5 menu items are the ones you want to see on the menu bar.

Tip #124

Make menus more fun and colorful with emojis.

In addition to adding, removing and reordering menu items in Vivaldi, you can also rename them. Giving you the perfect opportunity to, not only name actions in a way that makes sense to you, but also add a little fun to them with emojis. 😎

To rename a menu item:

  1. Go to Settings > Appearance > Menu > Menu customization.
  2. From the drop-down menu select the menu you want to update.
  3. Right-click on the item or folder you want to edit and select Rename.
  4. While renaming the menu item, use your OS’s emoji keyboard (Win + . / ⌃ ⌘ Space) to find and add an emoji.
  5. Press Enter or focus elsewhere on the page to save the changes.

Tip #77

Display the main application menu horizontally on the top edge of the browser window.

On macOS, Vivaldi’s main menu is always fully visible. On Windows and Linux, by default, the main menu can be accessed by clicking on the little Vivaldi logo in the top left corner of the window. But it can also be displayed in full on the top edge of the browser window.

To display the horizontal menu:

  1. Go to Settings > Appearance > Menu > Menu position.
  2. Select Horizontal.

Alternatively, toggle horizontal menu’s visibility from Vivaldi menu > View > Horizontal Main Menu.

Sections of the browser window displaying the main menu both as a button and horizontally.
Top: Vivaldi button menu. Bottom: Horizontal menu