In this article, we’ll explain what are the causes, and what to do when encountering a “Decryption Failed: Risk of Data Loss” dialog.

Vivaldi may show a dialog on startup when it fails to decrypt an encrypted user profile. Your user profile contains your Settings, History, Bookmarks, Cookies, and more. To protect the data in your profile, Vivaldi encrypts it to prevent attackers from gaining access to your profile.

When the dialog appears, it means that the decryption secret key has gone missing or that it has been changed. Your decryption secret key is stored safely in a subsystem managed by your operating system (the key store). Vivaldi uses Keychain on Mac OS, OSCrypt on Windows, and either GNOME Secrets or KWallet on Linux. These subsystems are unique to your user account on your device; your user account password unlocks these encrypted subsystems when you log in to your computer.

You need to use the same decryption secret key on the same operating system user account on the same operating system to unlock your secure storage and successfully decrypt your Vivaldi profile.

You cannot use the same Vivaldi profile on multiple user accounts on the same computer or on different computers. Please use Vivaldi Sync to keep your data in sync between multiple instances of Vivaldi on different computers or between user accounts on the same computer.

For Linux users with multiple desktop environments, please configure all your desktop environments to use the same key store. The key store to use is derived from the standard XDG_SESSION_DESKTOP environmental variable. To override the automatic selection, you can use the launch argument --password-store=gnome-libsecret. Other supported values include kwallet5 and kwallet6. You can also disable the encryption system with basic (strongly discouraged!).

If you encounter this warning dialog, you may know what changes you have made and know how to undo them to restore your profile. Closing the dialog will exit Vivaldi and give you an opportunity to fix the problem. E.g., you might be able to export a secret key from one computer and migrate it to another. This is beyond the scope of this article.

You can also choose to continue with data loss. Selecting this option will log you out of most websites, your Vivaldi Mail and Calendar accounts, Vivaldi Sync, and more. It will also delete your saved passwords. Some protected settings may also revert to their default values. After resetting your profile, it will be encrypted using a new secret key stored in the user account on the current computer.

Your secret key may be irrecoverably lost if you reset or override your computer’s user account password.

Please note that this dialog may appear due to a common miss configuration problem: Your key store will be locked when you lock your screen or the computer hibernates; and then subsequently fails to unlock after unlocking the screen or resuming the session. This problem can happen on any operating system but is a common problem on more obscure Linux distributions or desktop environments.

Other web browsers either do not encrypt your profile or silently delete the same data without warning!

The built-in Developer Tools are particularly helpful when building and debugging web pages.

Accessing Developer Tools:

• Open a web page or a web app and select Tools > Developer Tools from the Vivaldi menu.
• Open a web page or a web app and right-click on any page element and select Inspect Element from the context menu.
• Use the F12 / ⌥⌘I shortcut to quickly open the Developer Tools.

Repositioning Developer Tools:

• After you have opened Developer Tools, click the vertical ellipsis button ⋮ and choose a docking option.

Protecting user privacy is a top priority for us. For the most up to date information, please refer to our Privacy page on vivaldi.com/privacy.

If you have any questions or concerns, please get in touch using the contact form below.

Access mobile version of web pages from the sidebar of the Vivaldi browser.

Your account on Vivaldi.net gives you access to:

• Vivaldi Webmail;
• Vivaldi Forum;
• Vivaldi Social;
• Vivaldi’s free (and ad-free) blogging platform;
• Vivaldi Themes;
• Vivaldi’s Sync functionality.

Before you delete the account, you might want to export some of the account data.

To delete your Vivaldi account:

1. Log in on Vivaldi.net and go to your profile (top right corner);
2. Click on ‘Delete account’ in the lower half of the profile page (next to ‘Change password’ and ‘Export data’);
3. If you’re certain that you want to delete the account, click on ‘Yes, delete my account’;
   

   

4. An email is sent to your account’s recovery email address, so head on to that mailbox and open the link sent in the email;
5. Confirm your decision by entering your account’s password.
   

   

Important

Please note that after the password has been entered and submitted, there’s no option to restore the account and its data. Also, it won’t be possible to register with the same username again.

If you are deleting your account in order to sign up with a different username, you may need to wait a few minutes before signing up again, as it may take some time to delete the data from all our databases.

If you are happy with the username but wish to have a different recovery email address, don’t delete the account. Instead, go to your profile on Vivaldi.net and update the recovery email there.

If you no longer have access to the recovery email or have trouble deleting the account, please send us a message below and we’ll do our best to help you.

The History tool in Vivaldi is somewhat different than in a typical browser – instead, Vivaldi’s History is a detailed overview backed by statistics and presented in a fresh, visual way. It was built to give users a powerful and useful tool to explore their browsing patterns and to make finding previously visited sites easier than ever.

Accessing History

To open the History page:

• Click on History on the top menu of the Start Page (vivaldi://startpage);
• Go to  Vivaldi menu > Tools > History;
• Enter vivaldi://history in the Address Field;
• Type “History” in Quick Commands:
• Middle-click on the History Panel button;
• Use the Keyboard Shortcut Ctrl H / ⌘ Y;
• Create a Mouse Gesture for opening the History manager

Searching visited pages

To search specific History entries, enter the page’s title or URL in one of the following places:

• History Manager’s search field in the top left corner of the page.
• History Panel‘s search field at the top of the panel.
• In the Address Field, type “@history” followed by a space and your search keyword to see results only from History.

Using History in Vivaldi

History offers a number of different views and ways to filter your browsing history data in Vivaldi. Get an overview and a few examples with the video below:

Delete browsing history

Clearing browsing data can be done from the History page by clicking the Clear Browsing Data button in the top-right of the History page.

Alternatively, open the Delete Browsing Data window:

• From Vivaldi menu > Tools > Delete Browsing Data;
• By clicking the Clear Browsing Data button in the top-right corner of the History Panel;
• By typing “Delete Browsing Data” in Quick Commands;
• Using the Keyboard Shortcut Ctrl Shift Del / ⇧ ⌘ ⌫;
• Creating a Mouse Gesture for the action.

Select:

• The time range
  • Past Hour
  • Past Day
  • Past Week
  • Past 4 Weeks
  • Everything
• Which elements of the stored browsing data to delete
  • Browsing History
  • Downloads
  • Cookies
  • Storage
  • Cache
  • Passwords
  • Form Autofill Data
  • Application Cache
  • Site Settings
• And confirm by clicking Delete.

History Retention

You can decide for how long your browsing history is saved in Vivaldi.

To review and change the time:

1. Go to Settings > Privacy and Security > Privacy > Save Browsing History.
2. Choose between:
   • Session Only – meaning your history will be deleted every time you exit the browser.
   • One Day
   • One Week
   • One Month
   • Three Months (the default)
   • Six Months
   • One Year
   • Forever
3. Restart the browser.

Privacy

History data is strictly private and stored locally to individual Vivaldi installations – Vivaldi Technologies does not collect any History data from browser users. Find out more about Vivaldi’s Privacy policies and terms here.

If you have issues uninstalling Vivaldi while using Windows 10, Windows 10 provides two different UIs to add/remove programs: the old style UI, and a new modern look (see screenshots below).
Only the older style UI will allow a non-admin user to uninstall a single user installed program.

Older add/remove program Windows UI

New add/remove programs UI in Windows 10.

To uninstall Vivaldi from Windows 10, make sure that you are using the old add/remove UI.
To ensure that you are, follow these steps:

1. 1. Use ⊞ WinKey+R to open the Run dialog,
   2. Type: control appwiz.cpl,
   3. Press OK,

1. Scroll down to the “Vivaldi” entry and double click it.

Alternatively, you can also uninstall the browser by using the setup.exe we include with Vivaldi and calling it directly, e.g. assuming the version number is 1.7.735.29, start the run dialog and then issue the following:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\Vivaldi\Application\1.7.735.29\Installer\setup.exe --uninstall --vivaldi

If you still run into issues when attempting to uninstall Vivaldi from Windows 10, please get in touch with our support team on vivaldi.com/contact.

Other operating systems

If you use macOS, Linux or another version of Windows, head here for instructions on how to uninstall Vivaldi.

Vivaldi’s built-in Capture tool lets you capture either a Full Page screenshot, or a Selection of the screen that you define. It can be accessed in a number of ways through the Vivaldi UI to give you flexibility in how you implement the tool.

Types of Capture

Full Page

A Full Page capture is a screenshot of the full length of a website (max 30 000 pixels). Whether you’re giving feedback on a design, gathering inspiration, or just want to share an interesting site with a friend, this is a great way to get a bird’s eye view in a single image.

Selection

Capturing a Selection lets you focus in on a particular piece of your screen for more precision. After doing an initial selection, you can resize the capture area, before taking the screenshot.

Output of Capture

Whether capturing a Full Page or a Selection, you can choose to save the new snap to your disk for later use, or copy it to your clipboard to share it instantly.

Save to Disk

In the Capture tool you are given options to “Save as JPEG” or “Save as PNG“. When choosing these options, your new screenshot will be saved immediately to your local disk.

Copy to Clipboard

A newly captured screenshot can be copied as an image to your system’s clipboard. This makes it easy to share your new screenshot in other applications and documents immediately; once a screenshot is copied to your clipboard, simply Paste in place to insert the image into the desired location.

Create a new note from the capture

When you save the capture as a note, the screenshot will be saved with the capture date and page URL. The note won’t have a title or any text content, so go to the Notes Panel or Notes Manager to add it.

Access the Capture tool

Vivaldi lets you choose how to use its features, giving you several ways to get something done. Capturing screenshots is no exception. Below we describe the ways which you can access the Capture functionality in your browser.

Status Bar

Capture can be accessed in your Status Bar via the camera icon. Clicking on the icon will bring up your options for capturing a new screenshot: Full Page vs Selection, “Save as…” and “Copy to Clipboard“.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Capture functionality can be activated using Keyboard Shortcuts in Vivaldi. This means that pressing a pre-defined combination of keys will fire the associated action (e.g. capturing a Selection screenshot).

To map a custom keyboard shortcut to your preferred Capture method open your Settings and search for “Capture”. The available actions that can be mapped to a keyboard shortcut will display in the search results.

Click into the action you’d like to work with, and type your custom shortcut. The command is available immediately.

• Read more about adding or editing Keyboard Shortcuts

Notes

Vivaldi has a built-in Notes tool which allows you to capture thoughts and ideas while you browse. The Capture tool is integrated directly in the Notes Panel, allowing you to attach screenshots to your notes.

Quick Commands

Quick Commands is a tool for users that like to keep their hands on the keyboard. To access the Capture tool via Quick Commands:

• Open Quick Commands by pressing F2 / ⌘ E.
• Enter “Capture” to filter the list of available commands.
• Use ↓ ↑ arrow keys to navigate the list of Capture commands.
• Press Enter to issue selected command, or
• Close Quick Commands by pressing Escape key.

Change the location of saved captures

When you select the option to “Save as PNG” or “Save as JPG“, your capture will be stored at the directory specified in Settings. The location where your captures will be saved can be edited in Settings > Webpages > Image Capture > Capture Storage Folder.

Naming the Capture

Captures will be named automatically, but you can define the format in Settings > Webpages > Image Capture > Capture File Name Template.

Tab Stacks are a great way to keep things tidy on your Tab Bar when you have a lot of tabs open.

Previewing tabs lets you find the page you’re looking for easily by showing you a screenshot of the page in a thumbnail.

Pop-up thumbnails

To preview a tab, move your mouse pointer over the tab in the Tab Bar. A visual preview of the tab’s contents will appear below. This feature can be enabled/disabled in Settings > Tabs  > Tab Display > Tab Options > Show Pop-up Thumbnails.

Pop-up thumbnails for Tab Stacks

When you’ve grouped tabs into a Tab Stack, hovering over the stack on the Tab Bar will show you the thumbnails for all tabs in the stack. You can close tabs from there and drag tabs out of the stack to the Tab Bar or new Window. Alternatively, right-click on the thumbnail and select Close Tab or Remove from Tab Stack from the context menu.

Tab Bar thumbnails

To enable or disable more permanent tab previews:

• Go to Settings > Tabs  > Tab Display > Tab Options and toggle Show Tab Thumbnails on or off.
• Type “Tab Thumbnail” in Quick Commands.
• Create a Keyboard Shortcut or Mouse Gesture for the action.
• Place the mouse pointer on the edge of the Tab Bar, where it changes into a double ended arrow. Then drag (like shown on the gif below), double-click or middle mouse button click to show and hide tab thumbnails. For this option to work, Show Tab Thumbnails needs to be enabled in Settings.