Suffering from tab overload? Vivaldi unveils Session Panels

Vivaldi – the browser for users who just can’t get enough settings – has launched version 6.5 of its software on desktop and mobile.

On the desktop, the most notable new feature is the addition of the Sessions Panel. This is aimed at users who simply can’t let go of all those opened tabs. According to Vivaldi: “A Session can contain tabs from a single window, all your windows, and optionally your Workspaces too.”

Or you could tidy up after yourself and not have dozens of tabs open.

The Sessions concept is a neat way to deal with tab overload and start afresh with a clear browser, secure in the knowledge that all those ever-so-important tabs you were looking at earlier are safely stored in the Sessions list

The Sessions Panel in the sidebar of the Vivaldi browser (click to enlarge)

If managing those Sessions proves too much, the browser can also be set to back up snapshots of all open tabs once an hour, with a 30-day history.

Other tweaks include making Synced Tabs available from the Address Field and Windows Panel rather than requiring a click on the cloud icon on the Tab Bar, and Workspace Rules to shunt tabs into the correct Workspace – for example, if you accidentally open a “work” tab in a “travel” Workspace, a rule can be set to shift the tab to where it ought to be.

However, the most eye-catching feature is synchronizing a user’s entire browser history across all devices. Vivaldi would like you to use its browser across multiple devices. While typed history, searches, and addresses typed into the Address Field are synchronized, the lack of browsing history has been a notable omission. Similar functionality has been present in Chrome and Edge browsers for quite a while now.

For Vivaldi, the new feature may also be a useful hook for persuading existing users that they need to set up an account.

Although Vivaldi is playing catch-up with rivals in some respects, its obsession with privacy is still a thing it higlights as all users’ data is end-to-end encrypted: “We cannot read it on our servers,” the company explains, “only you can access your data! We don’t profile or sell your information to advertisers because privacy is our top priority.”

The iOS version of the company’s browser was also updated today, which unsurprisingly supports the updated synchronization functionality. An Android version is due imminently.

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For iOS users, Vivaldo has added the ability to move the Address Bar and Tab Bar to the bottom of the screen or leave them at the top and change the order of the search suggestions. Fans of customization can also change the wallpaper for the Start Page, and the color of the user interface will vary to match the colors of the web page being visited.

Version 6.5 is a useful release, particularly the improvements around synchronization for users with the necessary account. The Session Panel is one solution to the modern problem of tab overload. If your tab habit is anything like ours, though, you’ll soon find yourself needing a Session Panel to deal with all the other Session Panels you end up creating. ®

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