Opera Tips & Tricks: Sessions

February 24, 2011 · by Aleksander Aas

Sessions were first introduced in 1994, but didn't reach final until late 1996. You might have heard about them, but do you know how to use them? Check out this short introduction to sessions in Opera desktop.

What are Sessions?

Sessions allow you to store your open tabs and open them all at a later time. Let's say you have a laptop you use at school or work. You work on it all day, but it's time to head home. When you come home you want to browse something not related to work. Instead of adding to your existing list of tabs, save your session and close the tabs. The next time you go to work or school just open your old tabs through a session and resume working!

How to

Go to "O Menu (or File)" > "Sessions" > "Save this session...".
Give it a name like "work".
Close all your tabs.
Go to "O menu (or File)" > "Sessions" > "work"
Enjoy your work session!

Readers' comments 24

Left under the original article, as archived.

TamilThursday, February 24, 2011 2:05:35 PM
You can use session to open page with preferred page zoom. http://files.myopera.com/Tamil/Smilies/Yes.gif -

You can drag & drop session file (file with extension win) inside Opera window to open session.
Alguém que anda por aqui :)Thursday, February 24, 2011 2:21:20 PM
That's awesome! I didn't know that
Paweł PawlakThursday, February 24, 2011 2:41:02 PM
I knew about this, it's very useful...
I'm using sessions to open specific pages, when Opera starts
A.shunThursday, February 24, 2011 2:53:08 PM
Sessions is very useful function, have been using it.

This feature has not been increased for more than ten years.
It would be better, if the session can be quickly edited can be added.
Juan Francisco GiordanaThursday, February 24, 2011 2:58:45 PM
'Go to "File"' is not part of the standard interface, wont be that easy for newcomers or non-power users. I could be wrong though.

You should fix the Menu button to at the very least include the items in the menu bar.
ZodiusThursday, February 24, 2011 3:02:52 PM
Aleksander AasThursday, February 24, 2011 3:03:42 PM
Originally posted by juangiordana:

'Go to "File"' is not part of the standard interface, wont be that easy for newcomers or non-power users. I could be wrong though.

You are right! I'm on Mac, hence the confusion!
ZodiusThursday, February 24, 2011 3:07:11 PM
Originally posted by Aleksander:

You are right! I'm on Mac, hence the confusion!

The corrected post is still wrong: to save session you go to O Menu, Tabs and Windows, Sessions, Save this session... (and not to "O Menu (or File)" > "Sessions" > "Save this session..." as described above).
huxrThursday, February 24, 2011 3:53:35 PM
It would be great if sessions were brought to the next level. Ie., integrated into Bookmarks, made editable, made viewable like a folder in bookmarks etc.

Also, Opera Link synchronization, also for Opera Mini and mobile, would be great.

We would be able to close Opera on the desktop and load part or all of that session in Opera Mini or Mobile. And vice versa.

Good advice: when a feature needs 'tips and tricks' articles to boost its use, it means it is not really an intuitive, obvious and easy-to-use feature.

Sessions is an example of an unpolished gem in Opera, with yet untapped but bright potential.
Charles SchlossThursday, February 24, 2011 4:11:25 PM
Been using it a lot and in the rare case of an Opera crash you can resume from last session

Edit: one other thing I have done with seesion is resote all open tabs and windows after a kernal panic or hang
Bruno CasanoThursday, February 24, 2011 4:45:39 PM
Can Sessions be synced with Opera Sync ? If not, its useless, because I use Opera in all my PCs, but with out the ability to view sessions from my other PCs isnt to usefull .

Same with Psswd sync feature ...
TamilThursday, February 24, 2011 4:50:51 PM
Originally posted by brunitoc:

Can Sessions be synced with Opera Sync ?
Nope.
Yeni SetiawanThursday, February 24, 2011 6:00:25 PM
Another cool thing about opening some series of web pages is using nickname for bookmark
Mağruf ÇolakoğluFriday, February 25, 2011 2:49:07 PM
Cutting SpoonFriday, February 25, 2011 5:35:29 PM
Create a portable install of Opera, place into Dropbox folder....
d4rkn1ghtSaturday, February 26, 2011 1:37:19 AM
ratsarepoSaturday, February 26, 2011 11:53:12 PM
Simple? Not that simple.
"Go to "O Menu (or File)" > "Sessions" >"
First base, yes there IS an O Menu,but that's the end of the line for that little game.
No 'Sessions' entry in O Menu, just as Juan Francisco says.
Did no-one test the cute looking instructions??? I'm more puzzled than annoyed.
ZodiusSunday, February 27, 2011 5:20:09 AM
Originally posted by ratsarepo:

Did no-one test the cute looking instructions???

Originally posted by AleksOD:

to save session you go to O Menu, Tabs and Windows, Sessions, Save this session... (and not to "O Menu (or File)" > "Sessions" > "Save this session..." as described above)
balu-ertlWednesday, March 9, 2011 12:17:39 AM
are Opera's sessions in any relation with PHP sessions, or just the names are the same?
Cutting SpoonWednesday, March 9, 2011 6:04:15 PM
Very different. PHP sessions are used to track a browser without setting a "cookie" file. Opera sessions are files that contain information about a group of tabs.
balu-ertlFriday, March 11, 2011 10:42:32 PM
@Cutting Spoon: thx for clearing. So 'Current Workspace', 'Opened Tab Status', or something similar would be a bit better name for this feature to distinguish them from PHP's, wouldn't be?
Cutting SpoonSunday, March 13, 2011 8:44:02 PM
I suppose. Though more than 99% of all humans don't know what PHP is, and think "sessions" are when you visit a special care provider. (massage, chiropractics, counseling etc)

Like a "work session", is how Opera views them. I wish the interface for controlling them was better exposed and modernized.
Martin JosefssonFriday, April 1, 2011 2:18:02 PM
Heard of this but never used it in real-life situation. Perhaps it will change it now!
Adonis @ my.opera /friendspartyworldMonday, July 25, 2011 6:29:59 AM