Solved Sessions Panel

roti

There are lots of request about this kind of feature. Call it tab group, live tabs, instant session or whatever.
I see that this request is already in the pipeline, however just checked FF panorama tab proups, and that is what covers the needs. Instantly switching between the group of tabs. I plan to wait for this feature for a while here, but after that I think I will have to make my switch back ...

https://forum.vivaldi.net/topic/32151/tab-groups?page=1
https://forum.vivaldi.net/topic/28287/possibility-to-keep-tabs-for-later/2
https://forum.vivaldi.net/topic/35854/live-set-of-tabs
https://forum.vivaldi.net/topic/34820/update-replace-saved-session

Folgore101

@roti While you wait for it to be implemented, you can try this one: https://forum.vivaldi.net/topic/28102/advanced-panels-mod-with-sessions-panel?page=1
It's a Mod, i don't know if it does everything you need but it works well and is comfortable.

roti

This mod is cool, but does not fulfill the main requirement:
Automatically update the currently opened session. If I open a session, and open/close a tab, it should update that session automatically. I do not want to save it by hand.

There is a mod, autosaving current session, but it creates a new session in every 5 minutes, so this is not the same:
https://forum.vivaldi.net/topic/33047/autosave-sessions-mod

By looking at the vivaldi source code for sessions, we are not able to get the signals to reflect to (windows close, window open ...), therefore we cannot update the current session on the fly with mods.

Folgore101

I'm not an expert on sessions but i miss the behavior you want, if the session automatically updates (at what time?) then how does he know the tabs you want to keep? Do you never close all tabs but close the browser directly? Do you always open one session at a time?
Have you tried the extensions?
I'd like an easier way to update existing sessions.

roti

This would be the ideal step by step operation:

open vivaldi
last selected session is active by default, e.g.: 'travel' with 10 tabs
I continue my session, do some search, open 3 tabs, and close 1 tab ... etc
every change should be automatically update the current session, without any further manual step, as I always want to store all the currently active tabs with their state
change to session 'todos 1'
'todos 1' session is loaded in the current window
I continue this session, do some worg, open/close tbas
every change should be automatically update the current session, without any further manual step
change back to session 'travel'
this session should load immediatelly, because the previous session is only "hidden", so opening it should happen instantly
I continue this session, do some worg, open/close tbas
every change should be automatically update the current session, without any further manual step
...
It does not matter if I open a session in a new window, or in the current one.

Problem with the extensions:

tabs outliner:
When I close a session (or window), and open it, I will open the tabs once again in the current window, e.g. from 10 tabs, I will have 20, for the next time 30 ...
All the open/close operation will behave like a brand new vivaldi startup with "long" time and high cpu.
toby
I can create collections of my tabs, but if I open a collection, it will open the tabs next to the current

The others that I have tried simply not doing the job.

So still FF and 'panorama tab groups' is the only one doing the job right.

Folgore101

@roti Thanks for the explanation, i'll try it out with FireFox.

XLN

So are we ever going to get this? Sessions is a nice feature in Vivaldi and it being tucked in deep in the menus is kinda sad.
With a dedicated panel it could easily be used as one of the main features, it fits perfectly with Vivaldi's "philosophy".

I hope to see this as soon as possible

Charlllles

@ROTFL Totally agreed！

Killy.MXI

Subbed to this thread.
I was talking about the same idea in the Tab Groups thread.

Sessions Panel can probably be an extension of the existing Window panel.
It already has "current session" and "closed stuff". It can also list other sessions as root level nodes.
(Idea for another improvement: Vertical split view or "accordion" can make it easier to drag and drop tabs between large sessions.)

The next step would be to let bind windows to sessions.
I don't necessarily like the idea of switching sessions within a window. Being able to open a separate session window without even touching the current one seems more appealing to me.

Under Windows 10, Vivaldi can make use of the taskbar feature - list the sessions in the context menu. The same way I open projects in IDEs.

browseruser

My vote would be for sessions to go on the existing "Window Panel", there would be an icon for each session/tab group/workspace and then you could just switch between them.

See Opera's new workspace feature: https://www.opera.com/features/workspaces I think it would be great to have this same functionality

And currently I barely ever click on anything in the existing window panel, so for me sessions in the window panel would be much more efficient use of this space.

And if you want to "one-up" opera then make the sessions/workspaces optionally separate containers (like firefox containers)

Killy.MXI

I imagined dragging tabs between sessions shown as columns (as if they are cards in Trello or similar board).
I liked this idea a lot.
If there ever going to be a full view for Windows/Sessions (in addition to side panel) - it better be like this.
Having columns in parallel is much more convenient to drag stuff between them compared to root nodes in a tree of the side panel.

(Although having tab groups makes the analogy to card stacks incomplete. Each column will have to have a tree inside, as the Window panel currently does.)

psydvl

This post is deleted!

aach1

V had something special with sessions, but now it looks pretty clunky and underdeveloped when you compare to the Collections in Edge. Losing ground, and some or all of the bullet list here would regain the lead.

Steffie

@roti said in Sessions Panel:

mod, autosaving current session, but it creates a new session in every 5 minutes

A few days ago i deployed this, & @LonM kindly added some more cool tweaks to it. I also deployed the associated Advanced Panels mod. They are working great.

As for the 5' objection you raised, the user can easily tweak this shorter or longer. Yes i get your point that it's still a time-based not activity-based trigger, but c'mon, really... under what usage scenario would you not be able to recover from some crisis crash by loading your session from 5' [or 4/3/2/1'] ago, aided if necessary with the trashcan [+ your memory]?

sahands

I've been looking for editable sessions for years, but never came to vivaldi , so for years I've been using the freshstart - session manager extension instead

molex

Nice feature. It will be cool if developers implement two types of sessions. One type, as implemented now, when session with all tabs are unloaded and saved. And the second kind, when the user does not want to unload the tabs, but need to free up space on the tab bar. In this case, opera and firefox workspaces are great. You can make shortcuts to spaces on the sidebar and quickly switch between them without opening the menu - fewer clicks more productivity and speed. Yes, Vivaldi has a grouping of tabs, but sometimes workspaces are more convenient.

Pesala

@molex said in Sessions Panel:

And the second kind, when the user does not want to unload the tabs, but need to free up space on the tab bar.

Why not just move them to a new window?

molex

@Pesala Probably, I will not give serious arguments. But workspaces are just easier to use in some work scenarios. Another plus for me is the ability to save space on the windows taskbar - I use wide tiles and don't always want to open an additional window. Another small advantage is the ability to avoid butthert when you accidentally closed the window (not close the browser with exit).
And I see that many opera users say: "I use opera only because workspaces" - great opportunity to entice them.

roti

@Pesala When you close all the opened windows, only the tabs from the last opened winow will re-open next time. The other window's tabs will lost.

Pesala

@roti If you Startup with the last session, all closed windows will be reopened. Use File, Exit, not the Window close button. If you want to save a set of tabs to reopen later, save it as a session.