What happened to my Vivaldi and how can I fix it?

[Sannah]

Last week, I installed Vivaldi 7.0, replacing the lastest 6.9 which previously ran on my computer without any problems. The installation first seemed to be alright and all the settings from 6.9 were adopted.

But there was one thing that was intolerable: URL links on the active web site were not really usable. Instead, each link automatically changed the active web site to another (random) one that was available in the list of web sites I have stored in the list of links on top.

So I tried to install Vivaldi once more. The result of this installation is even worse and is completely unusable. I'll attach it as a screenshot.

What do I have to do in order to get

• a working copy of Vivaldi
• with all of my bookmarks from Vivaldi 6.9 (many)
• with all passwords I have stored in Vivaldi 6.9 (quite a lot of them)
• the links in the top line that I had before in 6.9 as a shortcut to particular sites, but not dozens of them (as shown in the image).

I have no idea how to repair this mess and obtain a Vivaldi that looks and works as it did before. It's no problem to move particular Vivaldi files from A to B, but I don't know which.

[sgunhouse]

@Sannah OS and desktop, if applicable?

Based on the corners, I presume those are tab icons - or have you modified Vivaldi to display something else in the tab bar? You might want to revert any modifications before trying anything else.

[Sannah]

@sgunhouse
Sorry, I forgot to mention the OS. Windows 10, all recent updates installed.

[sgunhouse]

@Sannah So, why is 3/4 of the window off the left side of the screen? You slid it over so we could see, or this is the right half of a dual monitor setup - or of course it just appeared that way and you haven't tried to move it back?

You tried resetting Settings and then reconfiguring it as you like?

[Sannah]

@sgunhouse said in What happened to my Vivaldi and how can I fix it?:

So, why is 3/4 of the window off the left side of the screen?

I have no idea...

But I made some important progress. I deleted the bulk of empty tabs in the top line of my browser. Dozens or even hundreds of them. I don't know where they came from, but now they're gone. Vivaldi now has a start page that looks like it did before (a few dozens of quick links to various web pages). Also, web pages are displayed full screen now, instead of the strange view before where only 30% of the page was shown on the left.

The next thing I'd like to repair is my collection of web page links on top (what is this top line called, by the way?). I marked this with a red arrow in the image attached. I hope that the links I would like to have there (quite a number of them) are stored in a backup file somewhere on my computer that I can restore. But what is the name of that file? Any hints?

[Sannah]

@Sannah
Sorry, forgot the image.

[Sannah]

One (important) thing I forgot to mention: My passwords stored in Vivaldi are also back!

[mib2berlin]

@Sannah
Hi, I guess you mean the bookmark bar, iirc the default shortcut to enable it is Ctrl+Shift+B.
A folder has to be chosen to get it to work.
Check:
https://help.vivaldi.com/desktop/bookmarks-speed-dial/bookmarks-bar/

Cheers, mib

[TbGbe]

@Sannah said in What happened to my Vivaldi and how can I fix it?:

my collection of web page links on top ...

I'm guessing that they are "pinned tabs" - not bookmarks.
The Bookmark Bar would (normally) be below the Address Bar.

(what is this top line called, by the way?).

That is the "TAB BAR".

[Pathduck]

@Sannah The reason you had this strange issue occur is that you had a very large (some would say insane) amount of pinned tabs.

I made a video showing how this (probably) happened:
https://0x0.st/X0R4.mp4

Your arrow in the image points to the row of pinned tabs in the tab bar.

Read about pinned tabs:
https://help.vivaldi.com/desktop/tabs/pinned-tabs/

The overflowing of the pinned tabs and UI shifting is a bug and is reported as:
VB-110970 Large number of pinned tabs overflow and causes UI to shift to side
Does not seem to be specific to version 7 as it also happen in 6.9.

To avoid this, try to keep your amount of pinned tabs to the ones you actually need to have pinned. Having hundreds of pinned tabs kind of defeats the whole purpose of pinning your most used tabs.

[Pathduck]

@Sannah

I hope that the links I would like to have there (quite a number of them) are stored in a backup file somewhere on my computer that I can restore. But what is the name of that file? Any hints?

The last 100 closed tabs will be in the Windows Panel and also available from the "Trash can" icon in the tab bar.
https://help.vivaldi.com/desktop/tabs/window-panel/
https://help.vivaldi.com/desktop/tabs/tab-bar/
https://help.vivaldi.com/desktop/tabs/opening-and-closing-tabs/#Reopening_recently_closed_Tabs

Other than that, the browser History will probably contain most of what you need.
https://help.vivaldi.com/desktop/navigation/history/

There is no "backup file" for closed tabs.

[Sannah]

@TbGbe said in What happened to my Vivaldi and how can I fix it?:

I'm guessing that they are "pinned tabs"

Your're right!

@Pathduck said in What happened to my Vivaldi and how can I fix it?:

I made a video showing how this (probably) happened:

Yes, that's what happened.

@Pathduck said in What happened to my Vivaldi and how can I fix it?:

To avoid this, try to keep your amount of pinned tabs to the ones you actually need to have pinned. Having hundreds of pinned tabs kind of defeats the whole purpose of pinning your most used tabs.

The amount of tabs was surely insane. But I did not create this insane amount myself. At one point of my attempts to fix all this, Vivaldi itself created them. Not only an insane amount, but an insane amount of completely useless tabs - because most of them were empty. But that's fixed now because I deleted them one by another. After that, Vivaldi looked like a "real" Vivaldi again.

And yes, you're right, what I mean is pinned tabs. Forgot they are called this way.