Welcome
There is a wealth of information about Opera for all types of users. These help pages are a good place to start learning about Opera. They are intended for new users. Click a link on the sidebar for an orientation to the Opera browser.
Web developers can find detailed information about our standards, creating extensions, and more in our developer pages.
Advanced and power users may find answers to their questions in our user forums.
Frequently asked questions
How does Opera improve performance?
Opera has a feature called Opera Turbo, which uses server-side compression to give you better browsing speeds when you are on slow connections. If you are on dial-up or pay for your internet connection by data usage, Opera Turbo can save you money, too. Read more about Opera Turbo.
What about security? How does Opera protect my privacy?
Opera displays security badges, which give you a quick glance at the security of a page. If the browser detects anything potentially dangerous, it will display a page and security badge to warn you. Read more about security badges.
To ensure your privacy, there are ways you can control how websites monitor your web activities, and ways to keep your browsing habits and data private if you share a computer or account. You can manually set what information you want to share with specific sites. Read more about setting your web preferences.
Is Opera available in my language?
Opera is translated into many languages, making it easier for you to browse in your native language. Opera will use your system’s default language to set the browser’s language. To change this language or to find more information, visit the Apple Support pages.
How do I remove items from my browsing history?
To remove items from your history:
- From the O Menu on Windows/Linux or the toolbar on Mac, select
- Hover over any entry and click the x that appears on the right.
To clear all browsing history, including cookies and more, click the Clear browsing data… button on the top-right of the History page.
I love Opera! How do I make it my computer’s default browser?
Setting Opera as your default browser is easy:
For Mac users:
- Click .
- Click Basic in the sidebar.
- Under Default Browser, click the Make Opera my default browser button.
For Windows users:
- Go to Settings.
- Click Basic in the sidebar.
- Under Default browser, click the Make Opera my default browser button.
What’s a private window?
Private windows remove any browsing data once you close them – history, image cache, passwords, everything. You can browse more comfortably on public computers knowing your browsing activity and passwords are removed when you close all private windows. Read more about private browsing.
How do I zoom into a page?
For Mac users, you can zoom in or out by selecting from the menu.
For Windows or Linux users, go to the and click the + or – buttons.
Opera also has full-screen and presentation modes for browsing without menus or toolbars. Read more about accessibility in Opera.
Why can’t I view videos on Facebook, Twitter or Vine?
You can! But, something might be wrong with your Adobe Flash Player. Navigate to opera://plugins and check that your Adobe Plash Player is enabled. If you’re still having trouble, download and install the latest version from the Adobe website.
Java isn’t working. What am I doing wrong? (Mac)
You’re doing everything right; but, your Mac has its own version of Java that isn’t compatible with Opera. You’ll need to restore version 6 of Java to use it in Opera. Read more about the Java plug-in.