No History.plist?

[JVG]

Hey guys

I'm posting because for some reason I cannot find my history.plist file on my macbook. For some reason my safari stopped recording my history and I had a few websites with job applications that I would love to get back. I read that the history.plist file will be inside the Safari file but I cannot see it. I tried searching it with spotlight but it's not there. Turned PC on and off and closed safari and still not there. I tried searching around but honestly it seems I'm the first person to experience this problem? Help? thanks guys.

 

[GGJstudios]

Hey guys

I'm posting because for some reason I cannot find my history.plist file on my macbook. For some reason my safari stopped recording my history and I had a few websites with job applications that I would love to get back. I read that the history.plist file will be inside the Safari file but I cannot see it. I tried searching it with spotlight but it's not there. Turned PC on and off and closed safari and still not there. I tried searching around but honestly it seems I'm the first person to experience this problem? Help? thanks guys.

So it's not in the following path?:

/Users/yourusername/Library/Safari/History.plist

 

[JVG]

So it's not in the following path?:

/Users/yourusername/Library/Safari/History.plist

The weird thing is that I can't find the safari browser with those steps. When I search for "Safari" in spotlight I can see the folder and when I look at the location, it goes like this:

Library/Caches/Metadata/Safari

thing is, when I do try and find it by myself I can't even find the Metadata folder and can only get up till "caches". I don't have a "safari" folder in the Library directory. When I click the Safari browser (that's inside Metadata) I only see a history folder and a bookmark folder but history.plist is nowhere to be seen (not even inside the "History" folder)

Thing is really messed up. So there's nothing else I can do right? if not then it's okay, I'll have to research the things but I just wanted to see if there was a way I could find the history.plist. Is there any explanation as to why I don't have history.plist?

 

[GGJstudios]

The weird thing is that I can't find the safari browser with those steps. When I search for "Safari" in spotlight

Don't use Spotlight; use Finder. Spotlight won't search Library folders. Follow the exact path I posted earlier.

Your Library folders are hidden by default in Lion and ML. To get to your /Library or /Users/yourusername/Library (also known as the ~/Library) folders in Lion and ML:

• Launch Finder and click Go > Go to Folder and type: /Library or ~/Library
  
• Hold the Option key while clicking the Go menu item, which reveals your ~/Library folder in the menu.
  
• Make it permanently visible by entering the following command in Terminal, then press the Enter key:
  
  chflags nohidden ~/Library​
• 18 ways to view the ~/Library folder in Lion

 

[Weaselboy]

The weird thing is that I can't find the safari browser with those steps. When I search for "Safari" in spotlight I can see the folder and when I look at the location, it goes like this:

Library/Caches/Metadata/Safari

thing is, when I do try and find it by myself I can't even find the Metadata folder and can only get up till "caches". I don't have a "safari" folder in the Library directory. When I click the Safari browser (that's inside Metadata) I only see a history folder and a bookmark folder but history.plist is nowhere to be seen (not even inside the "History" folder)

Thing is really messed up. So there's nothing else I can do right? if not then it's okay, I'll have to research the things but I just wanted to see if there was a way I could find the history.plist. Is there any explanation as to why I don't have history.plist?

Try this. Click your desktop to bring focus to the Finder. Then press shift-command-g and you will get a popup window. Type ~/Library/Safari in the window and hit enter. You will see history.plist among about 12 files in that folder.

 

[JVG]

Try this. Click your desktop to bring focus to the Finder. Then press shift-command-g and you will get a popup window. Type ~/Library/Safari in the window and hit enter. You will see history.plist among about 12 files in that folder.

Mother of god, you did it! thank you!!

Don't use Spotlight; use Finder. Spotlight won't search Library folders. Follow the exact path I posted earlier.

Your Library folders are hidden by default in Lion and ML. To get to your /Library or /Users/yourusername/Library (also known as the ~/Library) folders in Lion and ML:

• Launch Finder and click Go > Go to Folder and type: /Library or ~/Library
  
• Hold the Option key while clicking the Go menu item, which reveals your ~/Library folder in the menu.
  
• Make it permanently visible by entering the following command in Terminal, then press the Enter key:
  
  chflags nohidden ~/Library​
• 18 ways to view the ~/Library folder in Lion

Thank you as well, you both were a great help!

 

[robincroen]

Apologies for digging up an old thread, but I am having a similar problem that I haven't been able to find a solution to on my own or by searching forums.

My history.plist file is nowhere to be found. Its not in the USER/Library/Safari folder. I've done the ~/Library/Safari finder search, which brings me to the same place with the same result. I've done the /Library/Safari search which did not yield any results. I've also tried restarting safari and have even gone as far as to reinstall OS X, all to no avail.

Any thoughts?

 

[Mike MA]

Apologies for digging up an old thread, but I am having a similar problem that I haven't been able to find a solution to on my own or by searching forums.

My history.plist file is nowhere to be found. Its not in the USER/Library/Safari folder. I've done the ~/Library/Safari finder search, which brings me to the same place with the same result. I've done the /Library/Safari search which did not yield any results. I've also tried restarting safari and have even gone as far as to reinstall OS X, all to no avail.

Any thoughts?

Launch finder-> go to and hit the command button. Than your personal library appears to be selected. There you find your local storage and your entire session playlists.

 

[Weaselboy]

Apologies for digging up an old thread, but I am having a similar problem that I haven't been able to find a solution to on my own or by searching forums.

My history.plist file is nowhere to be found. Its not in the USER/Library/Safari folder. I've done the ~/Library/Safari finder search, which brings me to the same place with the same result. I've done the /Library/Safari search which did not yield any results. I've also tried restarting safari and have even gone as far as to reinstall OS X, all to no avail.

Any thoughts?

What OS version are you on?

I'm on Yosemite and the history no longer appears to be in a plist file, but rather these files in the ~/Library/Safari folder.

 

[robincroen]

What OS version are you on?

I'm on Yosemite and the history no longer appears to be in a plist file, but rather these files in the ~/Library/Safari folder.

View attachment 561557

I'm also on Yosemite (10.10.3) and I see the same files. I guess if thats what its supposed to be, then not having the plist is not a problem.

After accidentally infecting safari with some adware and subsequently attempting to remove it, Safari stopped recording search history. I have since removed the adware and resolved that problem, however I still have an odd problem where posts I mark as favorites on my craigslist account disappearing after I close the browser. This issue was what prompted me to search for the history.plist file in the first place- I read that removing this file from the Library folder and restarting the browser rebuilds the file and may solve my problem. At this point, is it safe to try the same procedure with the three history. files listed above?

 

[GGJstudios]

After accidentally infecting safari with some adware and subsequently attempting to remove it, Safari stopped recording search history.

For future reference, you can remove adware without affecting Safari's normal functions:

Remove unwanted adware that displays pop-up ads and graphics on your Mac
Adware can be removed by using this tool: AdwareMedic

 

[Weaselboy]

At this point, is it safe to try the same procedure with the three history. files listed above?

Yes... you can delete those and Safari will recreate them when it starts back up.