03-03-2010, 03:19 PM

For the last week, I have had this problem with Safari.

After having Safari open for a while and I try to open a new tab by clicking on the "+" or by taking the long route (File, New Tab), nothing happens.

If I want to open a new tab, I have to quit Safari all together (thus closing out of the web pages that I had open) and re-start.

If I give up and just use the tabs that I have open, eventually, Safari freezes up and I can't refresh pages or enter new web addresses.

I have quit Safari and re-booted my computer countless times. I have reset Safari and cleared the cache countless times, as well.

I am at a loss. Any ideas of what is wrong?

Thank you for your help!

03-03-2010, 04:41 PM

Welcome to Mac Forums.
If Safari is the only thing you are having problems, I would start by quitting Safari, going to user/library/preferences and deleting com.apple.safari.plist and restarting, and if that doesn't fix it, going to Apple's download page, and redownloading the latest version of Safari, and see if that fixes it.

03-04-2010, 10:49 AM

It might interest you to know that you can open a new tab with cmd+T.

03-04-2010, 11:32 AM

6string--thank you for the suggestions. I tried each of them and neither one worked.

mymacrox--that doesn't work either when Safari acts up. the only way i can get a new tab is to quit it completely and start over all over again.

i guess i am destined to have this problem permanently. Totally sucks because it really holds my work up sometimes.

Thanks for your help, though.

03-04-2010, 01:15 PM

Originally Posted by kmurray1231

i guess i am destined to have this problem permanently.

No! Almost any software problem has a solution. Maybe you just need a new com.apple.safari.plist file.

You should find it in Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences
Move that file to your Desktop, then start Safari. This will make an new plist file with default settings.
If you like how it behaves better, toss that file on your Desktop in the Trash.
In the unlikely event that it's worse, put the file back in Preferences, overwriting the new one.

The next thing to try would be logging in under a different user account...

03-04-2010, 08:03 PM

toMACsh--thank you for taking the time for your suggestions. I tried both of them and neither one worked. When I did your first suggestion, Safari started behaving the same way. Also, when I logged into my husband's user account, and began using Safari, I encountered the same problem.

I guess I will just switch to Firefox because it is not realistic for me to keep having to deal with this much longer.

Thanks again to everyone who offered help. It is appreciated!

03-04-2010, 08:09 PM

Safari definately has bugs at the moment, which I hope will be resolved with the next Safari update, or the 10.6.3 update.
I use Firefox and have no issues with it, and if you want to import you bookmarks etc, just go to the firefox menu bar, file>import>safari>continue>select what you would like to import.

03-04-2010, 09:07 PM

If I missed the answer to this question earlier I apologize. have you added any add ons/plugins to Safari?

03-04-2010, 10:23 PM

No, no plug-ins or add-ons.

03-04-2010, 11:35 PM

I have to point out that this is NOT a bug in Safari. If it was, everyone (or many people) would have it. Most of us on this forum use Safari and obviously we're not having the issue -- indeed this is the only report of it.

I don't know what the issue actually is, but it's not a bug in Safari.

03-04-2010, 11:44 PM

does safari work in another user account? Create a new user and open up Safari and see if it will let you create new tabs. This will tell us if its an issue with your user account or with Safari.

03-04-2010, 11:48 PM

The bugs in safari I am refering to is based on Safari Jumping and even though I've not heard of this one, I only just noticed the other one yesterday.
I have no doubt that there are many more which I am unaware of, esp after hours of googling trying to find how to uninstall any version after the Safari 4Beta version by various people having all sorts of problems with it.

03-05-2010, 08:59 AM

Originally Posted by macsupportpro

does safari work in another user account? Create a new user and open up Safari and see if it will let you create new tabs. This will tell us if its an issue with your user account or with Safari.

See post #6 above.

The problem is with Safari.

kmurray, if you've identified your OS version and version of Safari, I missed it. Perhaps you need an upgrade of Safari. If you're at the latest version, I'd still suggest downloading Safari again and reinstalling it to see if that will fix the tabs problem.

03-05-2010, 09:46 AM

OK, Sorry I missed that. Here are the next trouble shooting steps.
1.Go to the apple menu and make sure you are completely up to date with software updates. (if you havent already).
2.Launch disk utility, on the left select your Macintosh HD, click on repair permissions.
disk utility is in your /Applications/Utilities folder.
log out then log back in and check Safari.
3.if the issue persist try reinstalling safari.
4.archive and install the OS. here is a link to help with that.
if you are running snow leopard the archive and install is done by default. Meaning you just have to put in the installation disk and run the installer. I always suggest doing a backup first, just in case.

hope this helps

10-03-2010, 01:56 PM

Hi, I have the same problem with safari and have done all the same things. Still have problem, so went to firefox and no more problem. I have had several Mac experts give up.

Bob