Vivaldi update brings Session Panel, full History sync and more

[harlan4096]

Vivaldi Technologies has just released a new major version of the Vivaldi web browser for desktop and notebook operating systems. The latest major update of 2023 is packed with new features that improve usability across the board.

Existing installations should receive the update automatically, starting at 9:00 CET on December 14th, 2023. Users interested in getting the update as early as possible may run a manual check for updates to get it. This is done by selecting Vivaldi Menu > Help > Check for updates.

Vivaldi 6.5

One of Vivaldi's new feature is the Sessions Panel. It allows users to load and save open tabs or workspaces. Sessions may contain tabs from a single window, all windows and even Vivaldi Workspaces.

One of the ideas behind the feature is to improve manageability in the browser. You could open Vivaldi, research Christmas presents, then save the session to go back to it later.

You may then close the window to free up memory and do some other work using Vivaldi. When you want to go back, you select the Sessions icon in Vivaldi's left sidebar and double-click on the session that you want to restore.

 A simple process. You may also map keyboard shortcuts to main sessions related actions to speed up things further. Open tabs that do get saved as sessions are not closed automatically though.

Vivaldi Sync improvements

Vivaldi engineers have improved synchronization significantly in the new release. First, by enabling full browsing history syncing across all devices that Vivaldi runs on.

Vivaldi synced some data only, including the typed history and searches. This was useful, but it did not sync all sites that you visited on a specific device. Now, Vivaldi is syncing the entire browsing history to make sure that you have access to it on all your devices.

Another synchronization related feature adds access to synced tabs from all devices from the address field directly. Synced open tabs may now be returned when you type in the browser's address field.

Vivaldi gives you full control over the priority of address bar results. The change was introduced in Vivaldi 6.4. It allows users to change the priority of items that Vivaldi returns when they type in the address field.

 You can, for instance, move bookmarks all the way to the top to give them the highest priority. Or, you could push your browsing history or synced tabs to the top instead, or reduce the priority of search suggestions.

Workspaces automation

Workspaces is a useful feature of Vivaldi to separate different tasks from each other. Like Sessions, Workspaces allow users to focus on specific tasks at hand. You could create a workspace dedicated to Christmas Shopping, another for entertainment, and a third for school or work.

Vivaldi 6.5 introduces automation to Workspaces. This feature is designed to help avoid opening tabs in a Workspace in which they don't belong.

These rules match URLs to certain workspaces. You could match URLs of shopping sites to the shopping Workspace, or ghacks.net to your favorite workspace.

New rules can be set up under Settings > Tabs > Workspaces in Vivaldi.

Notes improvement

Vivaldi's note taking feature allows you to add notes to the browser. This can be text that you type manually, or text that you select on websites.

The feature was limited to creating new notes. The latest version of Vivaldi adds an option to add text to existing notes. This can be useful if you want multiple pieces of content that you found on one or multiple sites to a single note.

Closing Words

Vivaldi 6.5 improves the desktop web browser significantly. It enables full browsing history syncing, a much requested feature, the ability to automate the use of Workspaces, and improves sync and notes as well.

It is always surprising how customizable Vivaldi is when you visit the browser's Settings. There is so much to explore and tinker with to make this browser a customized powerhouse.

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