So my safari toolbar (edit, view, history, etc) went away and I can't get it back

So there are two things going on and I can't seem to fix either of them. First, the page I was on in Safari went from a widescreen format to a standard format, with the grey bars on the side of the page (like watching a standard movie on a widescreen TV). I've tried numerous solutions, everything I can think of, and so far none of them have worked, and I have no idea what I did to cause it in the first place.

While trying to fix that, the top safari toolbar was accidentally hidden and there is no "unhide toolbar" or "show toolbar" under the "view" tab. And I tried the "command, shift \" thing and all it did was send me into the format where all the open tabs are reduced to little pages (not sure what that's called). Please help. The hidden toolbar is driving me crazy because I can't drag the whole program now to move it and I have to move the arrow over the top of the page to show it, and the little red, green and yellow dots in the left top corner to close and hide the program are also missing, so I have to actually quit the program just to reduce it, so I can't see other programs I have opened.

And I'd really like the pages back to normal. I tried the zoom feature, and it does work to a certain degree, but I don't believe that is the correct solution to the problem because all the pages in all the tabs I had opened have been affected, and that only works on the tab I'm looking at. I have OS X, not sure which safari it is but I recently undated it to the latest version. Thanks bunches!

~K

Are you sure you aren't in some Safari full screen type mode??

Try pressing the esc keyboard key and see if it goes back to normal.

Well, when I press the escape key, it makes the whole screen smaller, leaving the toolbar at the top of the screen. Then I *can* just pull the sides until it fits under the safari toolbar, but that isn't really the right way to fix the problem. I need to "unhide" the bar. And as far as the pages not fitting the screen, it doesn't help. I will say, some of the new pages I've opened up are opening up correctly, but I'd still like to know what it is I did and how to fix it. Thanks bunches!

And you say you don't have a View option to Show or Hide?

This is from my Mavericks Safari View options and the window sizing is up to you, and I don't use Yosemite in case it's a new "feature"!!

Yes, pm-r, Yosemite is virtually identical to your screen shot there.

pm-r is also on the right track, but it's sort of hard understanding what you're saying without the proper terminology - meaning we have to read it several times to interpret what you mean.

A few of terms in use here, just so that it will be easier for others to assist you:

Screen - that is the entire display - it is a piece of hardware - like a TV Screen - there is nothing you can do to make the "screen" change sizes. Unless there is some new magical piece of hardware that can change screen sizes from 13" to 15" to 21" and back that I haven't heard about yet.

What you can change is the size of a "window". A window is that area that displays the application. A Safari window can be moved around the "screen", minimized, you can drag the edges to change it's size or go into 'Full Screen mode'.

That top bar that is normally at the very top of the "screen" all the time in OS X - the one that when you have Safari open, on the left side it will list Safari - File - Edit - View - etc... that is the "Menu bar".

The Safari 'toolbar' is the line that has the 3 pretty lights on it along with the back/forward buttons, the area that has the address of the page you are on, and can have many other things there.

The "tab bar" in Safari is that single line that shows you the different web pages you currently have open in that window.

When you are in 'Full Screen mode', then the Menu bar will be hidden from view unless you move the cursor (that thing that is usually shaped like an arrow is called a cursor) up to the top of the screen.

You can exit full screen mode by using the 'esc' key. You can also enter and exit by pressing 'control + command + F' all at the same time or by going to 'View' on the Menu bar, going to the bottom of that drop down menu and selecting Enter or Exit Full Screen.

OK, so when I said the toolbar, what I meant was the bar across the very top that has the apple logo, and the tabs that have dropdown boxes with commands, like (on the left side) Safari, File, Edit, View, History, etc. and on the right side it has the wifi symbol, and the battery usage, and the time-date and my name, etc. I suppose that would maybe be the 'application command bar' or something? Oh, now I see, pm-r posted a picture of it. That's the one. (And I'm also using Mavericks.) Anyway. You know how you can hide the dock, and it only pops out when you scroll over to where you have it positioned? (Mine is on the left hand side but I think most people put it on the bottom of the screen.) That's what the application bar (?) was doing.

One thing that's puzzling though, is the 'hide toolbar' option was greyed out when it happened and I was trying to figure out how to fix it, but now it's back to black again. That's why I thought it was the toolbar. Nothing else is hidden, except my dock, and I know where that is. And there is no "show toolbar" option.

When I said screen, what I meant was the window. Sorry. Sometimes my brain just doesn't work very well - I think it's part of the curse of getting older. It's frustrating. And of course, I don't know what some of them are called, but I swear I'm not completely computer illiterate.

Everything fixed itself last night when I went to stream something from a certain website. All of sudden, everything just went back to normal. Weird, huh?

Anyway, thanks bunches for trying to help me. And I still would like to know how to fix these problems, just in case they happen again at some point. So if anyone has any suggestions, it would be greatly appreciated.

~jazzy

It definitely sounds like you had Safari running in Full Screen mode.

The next time it happens, just press the esc key to get back to a normal window view.

You should be able the access the hidden menubar and have it pop into view by just moving the mouse pointer as far as it can go whoever your menubar is located, but sometimes there's a bit of a lag before it will show.

Until next time….

pm-r said:

It definitely sounds like you had Safari running in Full Screen mode.

The next time it happens, just press the esc key to get back to a normal window view.

You should be able the access the hidden menubar and have it pop into view by just moving the mouse pointer as far as it can go whoever your menubar is located, but sometimes there's a bit of a lag before it will show.

Until next time….

Click to expand...

pm-r, I tried that but all it did was minimize all my tabs into separate pages. I also tried a couple of different command series that a couple of people suggested, and they all did the same thing.

And why did my post show up several times? I swear I only posted it once. hmmm...
How do I delete the extra ones? I hate to keep asking the moderators to do it for me, but I don't see a delete button.

Next time it happens just press Escape or, just move your cursor to the top of the screen.
The menubar should drop down. On the far right of the Menubar, there will be "double arrows" in a blue box. Just click on that.

Missing menu bar in safari

To restore the Menu Bar, carry out these steps...

Step 1. Press the "esc" key (top LH corner of keyboard)
This will minimise your Safari window and the Menu Bar will now be showing as normal.
DON'T HIT THE GREEN BUTTON TO RESIZE THE SAFARI WINDOW THOUGH OR YOUR 'PROBLEM' WILL RETURN.

Step 2. Click on the new small Safari window which has opened and drag it to the top left hand corner of the screen but just below the Menu Bar.

Step 3. Now, Resize the Safari window by dragging the lower right hand corner until it fills the remainder of the screen or until it is a s large as you want.

And that's it - Safari is back to normal with the Menu Bar fully restored.

That's a neat trick. How did you hit on that?


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Missing menu bar in safari

Rod Sprague said:

That's a neat trick. How did you hit on that?


Sent from my iPhone using Mac Forums

Click to expand...

Well, the other advice didn't seem to work, the problem simply came back, so I went back to first principals, and, bingo!

problem with Safari opening small and tool bar disappearing

Richard Woods said:

To restore the Menu Bar, carry out these steps...

Step 1. Press the "esc" key (top LH corner of keyboard)
This will minimise your Safari window and the Menu Bar will now be showing as normal.
DON'T HIT THE GREEN BUTTON TO RESIZE THE SAFARI WINDOW THOUGH OR YOUR 'PROBLEM' WILL RETURN.

Step 2. Click on the new small Safari window which has opened and drag it to the top left hand corner of the screen but just below the Menu Bar.

Step 3. Now, Resize the Safari window by dragging the lower right hand corner until it fills the remainder of the screen or until it is a s large as you want.

And that's it - Safari is back to normal with the Menu Bar fully restored.

Click to expand...

Finally!!!!!!
Thanks..I have been searching the net for an answer and you had it. I am amazed there are so many wrong answers out there when it was so simple.
Anyway..Thanks.

Or you can just Option-click the green button and go sort of full screen without covering the menubar or the Dock.

Or simply note where 'View' is on the Menu Bar when not in Full Screen Mode. Some applications go into Full Screen. Move the cursor to where approx view lives, it will come up and bottom line 'Exit' and away you go.

Rod Sprague said:

That's a neat trick. How did you hit on that?

Click to expand...

I don't see the difference in the suggestion in Post #7 and that in Post #10