HOW TO: make vivaldi open downloaded files automatically

azarij

Searched the forum, but couldn't find any solution. Meanwhile, it seems to be really easy. Confirmed with one of the moderators here this will not violate vivaldi terms of service.

So, vivaldi is chromium based. Chrome is chromium based. Chrome has an option Open certain file types automatically, but vivaldi does not. What gives?

Checked chrome preferences file (C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Preferences), found this (note the last line of text):

"download": {
        "default_directory": "D:\\downloads",
        "directory_upgrade": true,
        "extensions_to_open": "torrent"
     }

The last line tells chrome to open torrent files with default torrent app after downloading them... I bet you see already where I'm going with this.

Checked vivaldi preferences file C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Local\Vivaldi\User Data\Default\Preferences:

"download": {
        "default_directory": "D:\\downloads",
        "directory_upgrade": true
    }

sooooo....

---ACTION PLAN STARTS HERE---

Close vivaldi browser. Make sure no vivaldi processes are running in task manager.
Open C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Local\Vivaldi\User Data\Default\Preferences file with any text editor.
Find the following text:
"directory_upgrade":true
Change it to look like this:
"directory_upgrade":true,"extensions_to_open":"torrent"
4.1 Make sure you don't touch anything else!
Save the file.
Start vivaldi and check if downloaded torrent files are automatically opened by default torrent app.

---ACTION PLAN ENDS HERE---

If you need to autoopen multiple file types (torrent and pdf for example), then make the text in step 4 look like this:

"directory_upgrade":true,"extensions_to_open":"torrent:pdf"

Add as many extensions as you need separating them with :

If you don't close vivaldi before editing the file, your edit will be gone on next vivaldi restart.
Will this edit survive vaivldi version upgrade? I have no idea, but suspect it will not.

Use at your own risk and let me know if I missed anything

tags for easier search: how to, vivaldi, open, files, mime type, automatically, download

j1simon

This is implemented in Chromium, why doesn't Vivaldi use it?

section31x

It's probably a security risk and best to leave that option out.
I don't want files opening automatically.

j1simon

@section31x said in HOW TO: make vivaldi open downloaded files automatically:

I don't want files opening automatically.

Nobody forces you, this functionality (if accessible, because it is already implemented) is optional and is by file type.

@section31x said:

It's probably a security risk and best to leave that option out.

The security of a program should not be at the expense of usability and comfort for the user.
In this case, moreover, this is a poor excuse. All the most popular browsers implement this function. Chromium, on which Vivaldi is based, has it.
I chose Vivaldi for its flexibility, despite its many bugs (which I trust will be solved little by little), and the freedom it allows the user. So I don't accept that such functionality is not implemented with the poor excuse of security.
Not all of us use Windows. And those who do have to be careful and/or use an antivirus.
Not allowing downloaded files to be automatically opened does not make it safer.
The management of that downloaded file is done by the operating system, not Vivaldi.
For example, .torrent files are downloaded to be opened with another program (by themselves they are useless), opening them automatically with the browser is, for me, essential.

sjf2

@j1simon I absolutely agree with you… I had used Firefox for years, as it slowly declined in functionality. The developers kept removing different functions with the pat answer: "It's a security risk"... They arbitrary changed the internals (to an incompatible Chrome clone) so that all the add-ons had to be re-written. Hundreds of useful and long used add-ons disappeared because the add-on developers said, "screw it" and didn't spend many unpaid hours, converting, only to become a beta program again. There was no reasoning with the developers. There were hundreds and hundreds of requests and they all fell on deaf ears because these developers thought that they were the all-knowing oracle. They believed that they were far smarter/better than the users and that the user's requests were foolish. The developers were making Firefox work just as THEY thought it should work -- and who do these petty users think they are, anyway.

So, all this boils down to 'what the users want, they should get' (given that there are a number of users that want it). If ten users say that opening a file automatically should be an OPTION then it should be. And any user who is so incompetent that they change this option from the default of NO to some form of YES without understanding (or asking) what that does, is their problem. We don't need developers, or anyone else, dictating what options are not safe, in their opinions, and that they need to protect us from ourselves.

Sorry for rambling.

mib2berlin

@sjf2
Therefor we have 8 votes for the OP in two years, development cant fit everyone.
If you try your software get messed up very fast.
The first thing users switch off was Google extensions after it was implemented and the forum was flooded with bug reports about not working Google services.

Cheers, mib

Firsh

As someone who relied on this for a while, let me share a workaround and a mindset change. Torrent clients such as utorrent or qbittorrent have a watched folder option which vacuums up all downloaded torrents. Once I found this I no longer had to rely on the browser (or me) opening these files. Take it a step further and in qbittorrent you can set up a level of automation that is very seamless. Pick a default downloads folder and any added torrent will start and use that. With the automatic management, once you add a category to the torrent (presumably after you check the completed ones) files get relocated to their final HDD seeding place according to another path, this time set for the category. This allows you to leverage SSD speeds (during downloading) if that is holding the downloads folder, and still give control over the final location.