Setting to Disable Closed Tabs History and Remove Trashcan

Pesala

@Hioma I think it is to protect careless users who close Vivaldi when they did not intend to. Recovering closed tabs from the trash can is easy, and if you want to clear them from trash it is also easy — just press the Access Key shortcut (C for English UI).

tech444

@kobi I don't know if you'll ever read this but I agree with you 100% and I think we have the wrong browser. The Vivaldi I was just glancing over doesn't want you or me to have any privacy of any kind.

This browser claims to have the most user settings but anything important is not available.

That trashcan for recently closed tabs is ridiculous. We should have the option for everything clearing on exit and the feature to choose whether to have a feature or not.

Vivaldi staff doesn't like me because their browser is so easy to pick apart. It's designed by them for them it's not designed for us. If it was we would have the features that were now discussing.

tech444

This post is deleted!

Spuner

I never would have thought that adding such an elementary feature as "hide the icon of recently closed tabs" would be such a problem for developers.

No one is telling you to remove this feature - I'm sure there are people who use this functionality. But there are also people who don't, and why would they want to see it? I don't understand... And also... Next to the "recently closed tabs" icon is the "sync tabs" icon. Can you please tell me why this icon is there? What is the meaning of this icon?

You talk about flexibility of settings... I'm not arguing; of all browsers, Vivaldi is one of the most flexible browsers in terms of settings. But the lack/availability of some things is surprising (in a bad way). You can't even properly explain your point about the presence of the "recently closed tabs" icon.

Pesala

@spuner said in Setting to Disable Closed Tabs History and Remove Trashcan:

Can you please tell me why this icon is there? What is the meaning of this icon?

It shows tabs that were open on another device if you use the Sync feature. Say you had some tabs open at work, and want to resume work at home later, you can open the work tabs on your synchronised home PC.

Most data, like Bookmarks and Notes, will be put to their respective locations, but to access the tabs that you have open in another Vivaldi instance (Remote session), look for the Sync icon Remote Sessions button on the Tab Bar, next to Closed Tabs button Recently Closed Tabs.

That icon, like the trash bin, can also be removed with a line of CSS code:

/*Remove Sync Icon*/
.synced-tabs-button {display: none;}

Since this request has only 14 votes after three years, and has simple solutions, that might explain why it has not reached the top of the long list of things to do yet.

Spuner

@pesala said in Setting to Disable Closed Tabs History and Remove Trashcan:

Since this request has only 14 votes after three years, and has simple solutions, that might explain why it has not reached the top of the long list of things to do yet.

For a normal programmer (even for a trainee), it's a day's work (and that's the maximum). You like to make life difficult for others...

P.S. maybe you could also give me a link to a guide on how to make css commands?

void2258

I agree that this is a possible security hole. Someone could sit at your computer and see your recent tabs in seconds. Having the option to at least disable the icon so it requires going into menus for those concerned is a very easy way to accommodate those who don't want this exposed without much work. Certainly the option to not have everything you have done viewable with a single click (or midclick) is not a huge ask.

More granular history control options would be good too. The current options seem to be keep everything for a designated time, then discard everything without any kind of data type granularity, ie it might be good to keep browsing history for a while but remove download history at the end of every session unless incomplete.

Maiyannah

Hiding this feature, does not rectify the security issue that this feature presents.

This feature ignores my history settings elsewhere, and keeps a rolling list of my closed tabs. It would be trivial to access this data to view user history and since this doesn't observe my history settings elsewheres, it represents a huge security flaw. You must have security to have privacy. They go hand in hand.

That such a flaw has existed for at least four years is in my view inexcusable.

mib2berlin

@Maiyannah
Hi, this request has 16 user votes in four years, I guess this will not be implemented any time soon.

Cheers, mib

Maiyannah

@mib2berlin As with most security matters in browsers, it likely will not be taken seriously until it is actively exploited and the media makes a circus about it.

Stardust

I have a latest Snapshot and noticed that the list of Closes tabs is not removed after Vivaldi restart (history is for session only).

I would like to have a setting to keep Closes tabs for

session only
completely disabled

Upvoted!

Maiyannah

It should be noted that since the UI is part of the closed-source portion of Vivaldi, this is not something I could submit a change for myself. Which is frustrating, because I suspect it is not all that much work to fix this.

I will probably try to see why the closed tab history doesn't observe browser history settings, but I suspect that most of this behaviour will be a black box.

flatline23

Crazy that such an obvious security/privacy hole, with a seemingly easy fix, is still around after all this time.

Pesala

@Pesala said in Setting to Disable Closed Tabs History and Remove Trashcan:

/*RemoveTrashCan*/
.button-tabbar.toggle-trash { display: none !important; }

OziIan3880

@mib2berlin said:

@Maiyannah
Hi, this request has 16 user votes in four years, I guess this will not be implemented any time soon.

Cheers, mib

ANYTHING or anyone that keeps data without the user's permission and without the user's ability to remove that data is as bad as Google, et al.

3.8k views - at least some Vivaldi users are now aware of the issue.

16 upvotes? Yes ... is that possibly because only 16 people can comprehend the threat this seemingly innocuous "feature" poses? OR are there thousands who are aware of the list of Closed Tabs being a threat and simply don't care? Then there are the millions who don't even know what a 'security threat' is. In any case, that doesn't make the Closed Tabs 'feature' less of a security threat.

In my case it is not a shared computer, is turned off when not in use, and requires a reasonably secure password to gain access. That said, anyone with an OS (Linux anyone?) on a thumb drive can bypass Windows, gain access to my data and, if they know where to look in the Vivaldi installation, can see the Closed Tab history. I'm betting it is not encrypted, right?

I see the benefit of going back to a previous site using the Closed Tab data. [What's the point, anyway - isn't that what browser History is for?] I should be able to control that Closed Tabs data. It is strange that there isn't the simple functionality of right click on the bin and a drop-down menu with the option of "Clear History". Being able to select session, day, week month etc to auto-clear would be a bonus. Being able to optionally totally disable (not just hide) the Closed Tabs function in settings would be better still, as @tech444 said.
As it is, right click on the bin does nothing different to what left click does - just opens the Closed Tabs list.

@Pesala said: (in part)

... and if you want to clear them from trash it is also easy — just press the Access Key shortcut (C for English UI).

Yeah, this works for me, although it doesn't stop the list being generated in the first place, nor is it automatic.

@Maiyannah said:

@mib2berlin As with most security matters in browsers, it likely will not be taken seriously until it is actively exploited and the media makes a circus about it.

Sadly, I have to agree.

Equally sadly, the developers are seemingly more interested in the 'Next Big Thing' to add to Vivaldi rather than fixing security problems in what has already been developed - 4 years ago.

SO ...

I upvote fixing this "security flaw' fixed ASAP. There, that's now 17 upvotes

Cheers, everyone,
Ian

mib2berlin

@OziIan3880
This was not meant as "Don´t implement this" more not many forum user care about.
Fix ASAP has never helped in my experience.
The user should care about his/her data.
Use Bitlocker on your harddrive and you are fine, this is default on Windows 11 now, by the way.
I had to disable it to reach my Windows data from my Linux install, I could not read anything on the Windows partition.

Cheers, mib

Pesala

The CSS code that I posted earlier, no longer works:

/*RemoveTrashCan*/
.button-tabbar.toggle-trash { display: none !important; }

Until we have a Setting for the Number of Closed Tabs to Store, the Trash Can is next to useless, so may as well be removed.

Not saving the closed tabs history is also an important option to have for some users for the sake of privacy.

nomadic

@Pesala The .button-tabbar is now .button-toolbar:

/* Remove Trash Can */
.button-toolbar.toggle-trash {
  display: none;
}

seasonsoflove

Is there a short cut command to clear all closed tabs as a workaround for the next 10 years?

Pesala

@seasonsoflove I have a bookmark to vivaldi://restart — that does it for me. I have:

Settings, General, Startup with Last Session
Privacy, Save Browsing History, Current Session Only