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Clear Safari address bar history

OldCorpse

OldCorpse

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Dec 7, 2005
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compost heap
This is probably very simple, but how can I remove the history that resides in Safari's address bar?

I guess I could "reset Safari", but then I'd lose all my cookies, and I don't want to do that.

I already emptied the cache, cleared history, restarted Safari, even turned on Private Browsing. The darn address bar history is still there.

So what's the solution?
 
Clearing Safari's history does clear the address bar history. There's a few stores and web sites and stuff built into Safari by default, if that's what you're talking about.
 
Any bookmarks you have will auto-complete if you type in the address bar.

So if you have amazon.com bookmarked and you start typing "am.." in the address bar, amazon.com will pop up.
 
dpaanlka said:
Clearing Safari's history does clear the address bar history. There's a few stores and web sites and stuff built into Safari by default, if that's what you're talking about.
Click to expand...
But it does clear all those sites not in your Bookmarks, right, those from the history, which was what the OP asked for (in part one of the question, at least ;) :eek:)...? Edit: I don't know any way to avoid autocompletion of your bookmarks (short of getting rid of all bookmarks, but you may avoid the history by clearing history and then locking the History.plist file.)

I'm using Firefox, and that makes this very much easier (because it only tries to auto complete from the browsing history):

Picture 1.jpg

OldCorpse, if you want to visit certain sites without them ending up in the Safari history, at all, just enable Privat Browsing... ;)
 
Mitthrawnuruodo said:
But it does clear all those sites not in your Bookmarks, right, those from the history, which was what the OP asked for (in part one of the question, at least ;) :eek:)...?

I'm using Firefox, and that makes this very much easier (because it only tries to auto complete from the browsing history):

View attachment 69811

OldCorpse, if you want to visit certain sites without them ending up in the Safari history, at all, just enable Privat Browsing... ;)
Click to expand...

But Safari is so much more prettier
 
Mitthrawnuruodo said:
Try this:
- quit Safari
- delete, move or rename ~/Library/Safari/History.plist
- start Safari again
Click to expand...

Clear the history in Safari. Then go to said .plist file and 'lock' it. That way its still there to be read by Safari but cannot be added to because its locked. So basically once you quit Safari your history is cleared.

Then if you change your mind all you gotta do is unlock it.

EDIT: Ive read the OPs post again and it looks like you want to clear the history while you are still browsing? Im not sure if thats possible without some form of hack. Isnt Safari erasing history on closing good enough?
 
Thanks everybody!

OK, this was helpful. First, I was wrong. Clearing history does clear most of the junk from the address bar. My mistake was forgetting that a few months ago I had bookmarked something to check out later - and then forgot about it. Basically, I've got hundreds of bookmarks, and it's impossible to keep track of all of them. I had forgotten that I bookmarked this site, and then it kept appearing whenever I'd start putting urls into the address bar.

Which brings me to a more general point - dealing with bookmarks. It ain't easy. There are a number of 3rd party apps/plugins that try to help, but there are many issues. I'll make a separate post for it, as many folks might be interested in exchanging their favorite tricks and/or apps.
 
swiftaw said:
Any bookmarks you have will auto-complete if you type in the address bar.

So if you have amazon.com bookmarked and you start typing "am.." in the address bar, amazon.com will pop up.
Click to expand...

Ok I've got a question: One of my bookmarks is rockauto.com

When I type that in the address bar, rollingstone.com fills in underneath rockauto.com

Why? I've never bookmarked rollingstone.com; nor have ever even been to that site.

:confused:
 
MACDRIVE said:
Ok I've got a question: One of my bookmarks is rockauto.com

When I type that in the address bar, rollingstone.com fills in underneath rockauto.com

Why? I've never bookmarked rollingstone.com; nor have ever even been to that site.
Click to expand...

Because RollingStone comes pre-bookmarked. You have to delete it if you want it to go away, or start going to rockauto.com so many times that Safari's intelligent history figures out you go there the most and defaults to that instead.
 
MACDRIVE said:
So how did RollingStone get on there? Did I click on their site? I don't remember ever going there. How do I delete it? :confused:
Click to expand...

Rollingstone.com is one of the pre-installed Safari bookmarks. Click on the book icon in the top left of safari and you'll see all the pre-installed bookmarks. RollingStone.com is under Entertainment I think.
 
come on folks- clearing the address bar history

Surely somebody knows how to take care of this annoyance.
I tried the history.plist thing by trashing it and locking it. That's not cutting it.

Problem is obvious in that the address bar keeps autocompleting with items in my bookmarks (that I don't want coming up.)

Firefox has addons to solve this. Please tell me Safari is as smart! OR, at least a way to create a private bookmarks folder. There's plenty of private browsing besides porn to keep off of my address bar. PLEASE HELP.

Thanks T
 
MacBoobsPro said:
Clear the history in Safari. Then go to said .plist file and 'lock' it. That way its still there to be read by Safari but cannot be added to because its locked. So basically once you quit Safari your history is cleared.

Then if you change your mind all you gotta do is unlock it.

EDIT: Ive read the OPs post again and it looks like you want to clear the history while you are still browsing? Im not sure if thats possible without some form of hack. Isnt Safari erasing history on closing good enough?
Click to expand...

I may have to try that when i'm home. Does it definitely work?

AnDy
 
Opera rocks my socks off!

hey, don't forget about Opera... I use Safari, Opera, and Firefox. Personally my preferred web browser is Opera.
:apple:
 
Safari Preferences > General
Remove history items: After one day

Unfortunately, "after leaving the site" is not an option. But, maybe that helps a little.
 
"Problem is obvious in that the address bar keeps autocompleting with items in my bookmarks (that I don't want coming up.)"

I have the same complaint as you.

I _think_ that Safari uses the bookmark list (NOT the "history") from which to make "auto-completions" as you type manually in the address bar.

If that's the case, deleting or locking the history .plist will have little or no effect.

Of course, you _could_ delete your bookmarks .plist, but then, you will not only lose the autocompletion problem, you'll lose your saved bookmarks, too! Not a good idea.

So -- the essence of the problem is, that Apple has created an "autocompletion" function with no obvious way to "turn it off". You can't get rid of it. There should be a user preference choice to enable/disable autocompletion in Safari's preferences panes - hint to Apple.

I don't like it, either.

There _is_ a "workaround". I use it often, but forget sometimes:

When you go to enter a URL in the address bar,
TYPE A SINGLE SPACE CHARACTER FIRST. Then begin typing your URL.
Safari won't autocomplete when you do this.
 
great suggestion

that's a great work around...I have to double space bar, but it works.

it's funny how only a couple of people actually "get" the problem here in the first place. It IS an auto-complete issue (from bookmarks, NOT history) so folks, try to understand the problem before suggesting all manner of riding off in all directions.

Fishrrman said:
"Problem is obvious in that the address bar keeps autocompleting with items in my bookmarks (that I don't want coming up.)"

I have the same complaint as you.

I _think_ that Safari uses the bookmark list (NOT the "history") from which to make "auto-completions" as you type manually in the address bar.

If that's the case, deleting or locking the history .plist will have little or no effect.

Of course, you _could_ delete your bookmarks .plist, but then, you will not only lose the autocompletion problem, you'll lose your saved bookmarks, too! Not a good idea.

So -- the essence of the problem is, that Apple has created an "autocompletion" function with no obvious way to "turn it off". You can't get rid of it. There should be a user preference choice to enable/disable autocompletion in Safari's preferences panes - hint to Apple.

I don't like it, either.

There _is_ a "workaround". I use it often, but forget sometimes:

When you go to enter a URL in the address bar,
TYPE A SINGLE SPACE CHARACTER FIRST. Then begin typing your URL.
Safari won't autocomplete when you do this.
Click to expand...
 
For dealing with bookmarks in Safari, or any browser with a bookmarks toolbar, use folders.

I've outlined a tip in another thread here


Basically, just create folders in your "bookmark toolbar" which sits at the top of the browser window above the tabs (If you use tabs). Name them whatever you want, but use them to organize things. I put "Wallpapers" for example, and within it, any site relating to wallpapers. "Resources", and within it, any site with info or tools like speedtest.net.
 
How to change Safari address bar suggestion

I had a similar problem; when i started typing 'maps.google..' it would always suggest 'maps.google.ch' instead of 'maps.google.de'

to change that suggestion i opened the history.plist with TextEdit and did a

find: maps.google.ch
replace with: maps.google.de
'replace all'
save changes

or simply replace with == to get rid of that suggestion completely.


hope this helps.
 
stray bookmarks...

I realize I'm on the late show here, but maybe this will help someone: I, too, had been living literally for years with a handful of stray autocompletes coming up in Safari address bar, having previously tried all the obvious stuff (reset, clears, etc.) and slightly less obvious stuff (.plists). Just wasn't quite important or maddening enough for me to suss it out, but I finally had enough.

The magic bullet for me was bookmarks. Though I'd gone through most of what I'll call my 'ordinary' bookmarks folders (numerous, layered), I FINALLY found these strays within a menu item, which I virtually never use and/or even look at (another user on this machine had made these particular bookmarks...at least one was a bookmark of a Yahoo email, for example).

For me, they lived in Bookmarks - Unsorted Bookmarks. Which means, to delete, one must go to Bookmarks - Show All Bookmarks - Bookmarks Menu (under COLLECTIONS, and NOT under BOOKMARKS), and there lives the 'Unsorted Bookmarks' folder. Deleted the contents, and no more autocomplete.

Cheers!
 
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