Address Field

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Address Field is a section on the Address Bar where you can see the URL of the page you’re currently on. There you can enter a new web page link to navigate to the website or a search term to see search results. But the Address Field in Vivaldi has a lot more to offer. Continue reading to learn all about the Address Field.

Focus on the Address Field

To use the Address Field, you first need to focus on it. To do that:


Go to a web page

To open a web page with a link you want to visit:

  1. Focus on the Address Field.
  2. Enter the full link or start typing and select a previously visited link from suggestions.
  3. Open the link in one of the following ways:
    • Press Enter on your keyboard.
    • Click on a suggestion in the drop-down menu.
    • Click on the icon on the left of the Address Field. The icon can be Search’s magnifying glass, selected Search Engine’s logo or website’s logo in case you’ve highlighted a previously visited link in the Address Field’s drop-down menu.

Press Alt + Enter to open the link or search results in a new tab. The shortcut can be changed to Shift + Enter in Settings > Address Bar > Open Address in New Tab.


Search in the Address Field

To execute a Search from the Address Bar:

  1. Focus on the Address Field.
  2. Enter the search term to search with the default search engine or type a Search Engine Nickname before entering the search term.
  3. Open the page with search results in one of the following ways:
    • Press Enter on your keyboard.
    • Click on a suggestion in the drop-down menu.
    • Click on the icon on the left of the Address Field. The icon can be Search’s magnifying glass or selected Search Engine’s logo.

Searching in the Address Field is enabled by default, but you can disable it from Settings > Search > Search Options, if you prefer to search using the dedicated Search Field and/or Quick Commands.

From Search Settings, you can also enable Search Suggestions and limit suggestions only to times when you’ve entered the Search Engine Nickname prior to entering the search term. It’s a convenient feature, but has privacy implications. You can read more on our Team Blog.


Address Field Options

Show Full Address

URLs can have a lot of distracting information in them, such as a protocol, query string parameters, and anchor identifiers.

We want to make it easy for you to see the most important parts of the URL by default. Those are the website’s domain, and which part of the website you are looking at.

The protocol, such as http: and https: look like they might be helpful, but they can be misleading. “https:” can make a website look like it will be secure, when actually, it could be insecure for some reason, such as using low grade encryption or no encryption, have failed certificates, or have mixed insecure content into the page. As a result, rather than showing the protocol, Vivaldi just shows a badge, which says whether the page is secure or not.

The query string parameters and anchor identifiers can add so much confusion that it can be hard to see which website you are using, and we need to make sure you know exactly which website you are using, without having to struggle to find it. The domain is far more important than everything else in the URL, which is why it appears first, why we highlight it, and why we try to reduce the clutter that might distract you from it.

To always show the full address:

  1. Go to Settings > Address Bar > Address Field Options.
  2. Enable Show Full Address.

Alternatively, right-click on the Address Field and select Show Full Address from the context menu.

Select Address on Activation

To place a text cursor to where you clicked on the address field instead of selecting the full address:

  1. Go to Settings > Address Bar > Address Field Options.
  2. Disable Select Address on Activation.

Copy and Cut Encoded Address

The number of characters that are allowed in a website address, aka URL, are limited. If a URL contains special characters, for example spaces and characters from languages with a non-Latin alphabet, the browser encodes them before sending the URL to a web server. When you see a URL in the address field with special characters, like this: https://forum.vivaldi.net/category/26/日本語-japanese, the URL has been decoded. An encoded URL of the same address looks like this: https://forum.vivaldi.net/category/26/%E6%97%A5%E6%9C%AC%E8%AA%9E-japanese.

By default, Vivaldi copies and cuts encoded addresses. If you wish to copy and cut decoded addresses:

  1. Go to Settings > Address Bar > Address Field Options.
  2. Disable Copy and Cut Encoded Address.

Important! Other apps may not be able to understand decoded URLs, which may break the URL.

Page Load Progress Bar

When Page Load Progress Bar has been enabled in Settings > Address Bar > Address Field Options, the Address Field will turn into a progress bar in your Theme’s accent color while the page is loading.

QR Generator

To create QR links of the active tab from the Address Bar enable QR Code Generator in Settings > Address Bar > Address Field Options. Learn more about the feature on the Help page about creating and sharing QR Codes.


Address Field Features

Address Auto-Complete

When you type something in the Address Field, Vivaldi offers to auto-complete it with suggestions from your Bookmarks and History. In Settings > Address Bar > Address Auto-Complete you have a couple of options for the feature:

  • Autocomplete on Item Title – In addition to links, page titles will be searched through for a match.
  • Autocomplete on Domain First – This will prioritize autocompleting the homepage of a site before suggesting sub-pages.

Go to parent page

Ctrl / ⌘ + Click on the URL to cut the link at the point you clicked and go to that page. For example, when you click on the word “blog” in https://vivaldi.com/blog/address-field-drop-down-guide/, you’ll be taken to https://vivaldi.com/blog/.

Copy Without Parameters

Sometimes web page links have additional information, called parameters, added to the end of the URL. Parameters in an URL come after a ? symbol and if there are multiple parameters they’re separated by an & symbol. URL parameters are used for sorting and filtering, pagination, language options and more. But parameters can also be used for tracking.

Example URL from Vivaldi Forum with multiple search parameters: https://forum.vivaldi.net/search?term=tab%20stacks&in=titlesposts&matchWords=all&categories%5B%5D=32&sortBy=relevance&sortDirection=desc&showAs=posts.

The same URL without parameters: https://forum.vivaldi.net/search.

To copy a link without parameters:

  1. Right-click on the Address Field.
  2. Select Copy without parameters.

Address Field Drop-Down Menu

Clicking the Show Typed History button on the right side of the Address Field will display, in a drop-down menu, the latest web links and search terms you’ve entered in the Address Field.

When you start typing in the Address Field, suggestions will be listed in the drop-down menu. Following types of suggestions can be displayed:

  • Autocomplete Result
  • Search Queries
  • Search Suggestions (needs to be enabled in Settings > Search > Allow Search Suggestions)
  • (Bookmark) Nicknames
  • Bookmarks
  • Frequently Visited Pages
  • Typed History
  • Browser History
  • Synced Tabs
  • Vivaldi Pages

Customize the drop-down menu

You can customize the Address Field drop-down menu in Settings > Address Bar > Drop-Down Menu.

In the Drop-Down Menu Priority section by (un)ticking the boxes, you can choose which categories are displayed in the drop-down menu. You can also change the order in which they’re displayed.

To reorder the categories:

  1. Select a category you want to move.
  2. Using the arrows in the bottom right corner, move the category up or down.

Alternatively, drag and drop the categories to reorder them.

If you don’t want to see any suggestions when typing in the Address Field, you can disable the drop-down menu altogether in Settings > Address Bar > Drop-Down Menu. You can also disable the showing of search queries in the Typed History. When disabled only links will be displayed.

Tracker and Ad Blocker

Adjust the blocking of the active tab and view information about blocked trackers and ads from the Content Blocker button. Learn more about the feature on the Help page about Tracker and Ad Blocker.

Site Info

You can tell from the icon on the left side of the Address Field whether a site is Secure , not secure not secure icon or even dangerous .

Clicking on the icon will open a menu with additional site settings, for example, for Cookies and Website permissions

Start dragging from the Site Info button to your desktop or file folder, to create a webpage shortcut.

Feeds

Page Offers Feeds icon will appear on the right side of the Address field when the website offers feeds. Click on the button to preview and subscribe to the feed.

Learn more about the feature on the Help Page about Feed Reader.

Reader View

To concentrate on the main content of the web page and hide all distractions, switch on Reader View.

Learn more about the feature on the Help Page about Reader View.

Translation

With Vivaldi Translate, you can translate full web pages easily. Just click on Translate Page on the right side of the Address Field.

Learn more about the feature on the Help Page about Translate.

Bookmark Page

Click on Bookmark Page to add the active tab to Bookmarks.

Learn more about the feature on the Help Page about Bookmarks.


Address Field Security Features

When there’s not enough space to show the full domain name, a warning icon will be shown. Make sure to check the full link and that you trust the website before submitting any data on the page.

Base Domain Highlighting

The URL’s base domain (eTLD+1) is highlighted and the rest lowlighted to help recognize which company controls the domain and prevents scams and phishing attacks.

Address field

It’s not recommended to disable base domain highlighting, but Vivaldi still gives you the option to do it in Settings > Address Bar > Security Features.

Strip Javascript from Pasted Text

Vivaldi allows you to type javascript: URLs in the address field. When you press enter, the JavaScript is run in the context of the current page. This allows you to quickly type some commands and execute them to modify the page’s behavior, without needing to open up the debugging tools.

When pasting a javascript: URL into the address field, by default Vivaldi will remove the “javascript:” protocol prefix from the start of the URL. This is done to prevent social engineering attacks, where an attacker convinces you to copy a JavaScript URL, paste it into the address field, and press enter before you realize what you pasted, allowing them to compromise your accounts on that website. When the setting is enabled, you would need to manually add the protocol back after pasting, which is enough to let you know that something malicious is happening.

However, some users might not want that protection, so they can disable the protection from Settings > Address Bar > Security Features. With it disabled, the protocol will remain.

Important! Only disable that setting if you are certain that you can detect this kind of malicious attack yourself.

Always Use Secure Connection (HTTPS)

To always load websites using the secure HTTPS protocol instead of the less secure HTTP, go to Settings > Address Bar > Security Features and enable Always Use Secure Connection (HTTPS). Then, whenever you’re opening a link which starts with HTTP, you’ll be redirected to the HTTPS version of the site. In case you’re opening a website that doesn’t support loading the site with HTTPS, you’ll see a warning message with options to go back or continue on to the website.

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