Vivaldi browser tips and tricks are worth knowing, because this Chromium-based browser is quietly one of the most capable around, and most people have barely scratched the surface of what it can do. Whether you’re on desktop or Android, there’s a good chance several of these features will change how you use it daily.
Vivaldi browser tips and tricks for Android users
Start with the Android app, because something happened there that still hasn’t landed in Chrome itself. Vivaldi Blog confirmed that Vivaldi 8.2 brings full extension support on Android, letting you shape your mobile browser exactly the way you want it. That means you can install uBlock Origin Lite for ad and tracker blocking, Decentraleyes to evade tracking through centralised content delivery networks, and SponsorBlock to skip sponsored segments in YouTube videos.
Installing them is straightforward: tap the puzzle piece icon in the address bar and you’ll get a menu to open the Chrome Web Store. One thing worth knowing before you go hunting for extensions: according to Vivaldi’s Android release notes, you need to keep ‘Desktop site’ enabled on the Chrome Web Store’s website to install extensions on Vivaldi for Android. Skip that step and you’ll hit a wall.
Desktop features that most Vivaldi users ignore
Workspaces are probably the most underused thing in Vivaldi. They let you separate tabs by project, think folders, but for your browser. You might have one for work, one for long reads, one for everything you’re pretending you’ll get around to later. Click the Workspaces button in the tab bar, select New Workspace, give it a name, then right-click any open tab and choose Move to move it across.
Follower Tabs are another one. Right-click any link on a page, select Open Link in, then Open Link as Tiled Follower Tab, and Vivaldi splits the screen: original page on one side, the link you clicked on the other. Useful if you’re deep in a long read and keep getting pulled down rabbit holes by references. You stay on the original page; the link opens alongside it.
Quick Commands work like Spotlight Search on a Mac. Press F2 (or Ctrl-E, Command-E on Mac) and a popover opens where you can search for settings, run calculations, toggle the status bar, or use commands like “Copy all links” to grab the URLs of every open tab at once. It’s the kind of thing you use once and then can’t do without.
Command Chains go a step further, letting you automate sequences of actions. Head to the Vivaldi button, then Settings, then Quick Commands. Under “Command Chains” you’ll find examples, and a + button to build your own. A simple one worth setting up: Toggle Fullscreen and Reader View, which strips a page back to just the text for distraction-free reading. Once created, you run a Command Chain through Quick Commands, press F2, search for it by name, done.
The right-click menu can be edited too, which sounds minor but adds up. Go to Settings, then Appearance, scroll to Menu Customisation, and select Page from the dropdown. You can delete commands you never use (Back/Forward buttons in context menus, for instance) and add ones you actually want, such as Find in Page. There’s a Restore Default Menu button if you make a mess of it.
A few more worth switching on: caret browsing (Shift-F7) puts a blinking cursor on any webpage so you can navigate, select text and copy links using only the keyboard. Mouse gestures let you do the same thing from the other direction, go to Settings, then Mouse, and map cursor movements to browser commands. And if you’re on a laptop, Settings, then Performance has Energy Saver and Memory Saver options. Energy Saver kicks in when battery hits 20%; Memory Saver unloads inactive tabs to free up RAM.
Finally: Periodic Reload. Right-click any tab, select Periodic Reload, and set an interval from one minute up to 90. If you’re watching a live feed or a news page, it’ll refresh automatically. Small thing. Saves a lot of pointless clicking. You can download Vivaldi for desktop and Android from the official site.
