A new version of the Vivaldi web browser is out with an assortment of amiable improvements.
Vivaldi 6.9 intros support for renaming tabs and tab stacks, supports drag-and-drop downloads, and offers an improved overview of tabs synced across devices.
“This update is all about refining what makes Vivaldi special: giving you powerful tools to personalize your browser, stay organized, and navigate the web your way”, Jon von Tetzchner, CEO of Vivaldi Technologies, says of the release.
Support for renaming tabs and Tab Stacks will prove handy for anyone with a sprawling set of tabs open. Not all tabs titles are that descriptive. I have three ‘Edit Pos…’ tabs open right now, and keep forgetting which draft is which – editing their labels to make sense to me is nice!
Like many features this browser offers, renaming tabs hasn’t been added because the team think it’s an “essential for everyone, in all circumstances” thing. Not Vivaldi’s USP. It covers the basics, and is happy to scratch those edge-case ‘wouldn’t it be neat if…’ itches as well.
Being able to drag completed downloads out of Vivaldi’s Downloads Panel (individually, or several at once) and drop them on to… whatever, wherever, sounds a time saver. Alas, opening my Downloads folder the second I start a download is a habit too ingrained to unlearn!
Beyond those ‘new features’, Vivaldi Mail (the optional built-in e-mail client) and calendar snag up a slew of fixes, most focused on boosting stability, reliability, and performance. Minor UI issues also addressed – nowt headline-worthy, but welcome.
Other things of note in Vivaldi 6.9 (are you gonna ‘nice’, or shall I?):
- Speed dial now uses 7 columns by default, up from 6
- Ability to import browser data to Vivaldi from Vivaldi
- Quick Commands gains toggle to ‘force dark theme on all websites’
- ‘Wiggle’ effect used on toolbar buttons in Edit mode
- Chromium upgraded to 128.0.6613.117
- First official release for Windows on ARM
A couple of Linux-specific tweaks to call out:
- Exporting passwords on Linux no longer causes a crash
- Onboarding now prompts users to pin the app to dock/panel
For more details on this update check through the change list shared on the Vivaldi blog.
Install Vivaldi Web Browser on Ubuntu
Vivaldi for Desktop is free, but not open-source software, available for Windows (including ARM), macOS, and Linux (including ARM). You can download the latest version of Vivaldi for Linux from the official Vivaldi website.
Ubuntu users will want to download the Vivaldi DEB installer and, once the download completes, install by double-clicking on the DEB package to install thorough Ubuntu Software (22.04) or App Center (24.04).
When installing the Vivaldi DEB, the official Vivaldi APT repo is added to your system. This allows you to get future updates to the browser right alongside other software updates, which is handy,
Prefer Flatpak? You can get Vivaldi on Flathub. The Flatpak build is unverified at present but don’t fret to much as it is built, maintained, and updated by a Vivaldi employee (the hope is, at some point, the Vivaldi Flatpak will become an official offering).
Vivaldi is unlike any other web browser in that it unapologetically caters to those who like their web browsers served with all-the-frills. It does mean Vivaldi is not the right browser for everyone, but for those it is, it’s hard to imagine browsing the web in anything else.