Desktop Tips

Tip #271

May 8, 2023

Especially useful with Vivaldi Calendar’s Minimal View, but handy in all views, event property icons for links, location, reminders and recurrence let you know at a glance what type of additional information the event includes.

To enable the icons:

1. Go to Settings > Calendar > Calendar Display.
2. Enable “Show Event Property Icons”.

Tip #267

May 2, 2023

You can hide the browser’s toolbars by enabling Full Screen view, but that maximizes the window and you’re not able to view the OS’ Task Bar or other open apps. As an alternative, you can just hide all toolbars and have the browser window as big or small as you want.

To quickly toggle Vivaldi’s user interface off and on, use the Keyboard Shortcut Ctrl+F11 / ⌘ F10.

Alternatively, use the following options:

• Go to the Vivaldi menu > Window > Hide UI.
• Type “Toggle UI” in Quick Commands.
• Create a Mouse Gesture for the action.

Tip #266

April 28, 2023

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.

Tip #265

April 27, 2023

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.

Tip #264

April 26, 2023

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:

• Use a Keyboard Shortcut Ctrl / ⌘ + F.
• Go to the Vivaldi menu > Edit > Find in Page.
• Open Quick Commands and type “Find in page“.
• Use a Mouse Gesture (create one in Settings first).

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

April 25, 2023

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.

Tip #262

April 24, 2023

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

April 21, 2023

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

April 20, 2023

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 #258

April 18, 2023

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.

Tip #257

April 17, 2023

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 #254

April 12, 2023

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.