Safari URL bar disappeared

[unblocktheplanet]

Arrggh! Reinstalled High Sierra. My Safari URL bar has gone. Can't even Google.

As you can see, the options to choose Toolbar are greyed out. Yes, I tried the 'full screen' option & had to force quit Safari.

Any ideas, please? I like Safari!

 

[IWT]

It seems that "Customise Toolbar" is also greyed out??

Try this. Quit Safari. Not close, Quit. Command plus Q or click onSafari icon and choose Quit.

Now, hold down the Shift key and whilst doing so, click to open Safari. Does that change things. In particular, can you use" View" and Click on Customise Toolbar?

If you can, then drag the default set into the toolbar.

Please tell us if that works.

Ian

 

[unblocktheplanet]

Thanks, Ian. No change--still greyed out.

 

[ferrarr]

Can you right click on the bar, to the right of the green Full Screen button?

Maybe there is a way t drag down to make the

 

[toMACsh]

Can you right click on the bar, to the right of the green Full Screen button?

This should work. If not, you can try deleting the plist file for Safari: com.apple.Safari.plist
Then restart Safari and see if the default toolbar is back.
…or, a long shot, the one that controls menu items: com.apple.systemuiserver.plist

 

[unblocktheplanet]

Thanks, Bob. But no dice. Nor did deleting those prefs help.

If there is a way to access the Library/Preferences & Library/Safari folder from my previous Time Machine or CCC backups?

Replacing these should fix the problem I'm having.

Thank you.

 

[ferrarr]

Are you looking in the correct "Library" folder? Your user Library is hidden on purpose. See this,

How to Access the Hidden ~/Library Folder on Your Mac

A lot of Mac tutorials mention the Library folder, which is where your macOS applications store things like settings and caches.

www.howtogeek.com

Then, if you want to, you can drag the Library icon into the Finder Sidebar.

 

[unblocktheplanet]

Not really what I was asking. I know how to get to the ~/Library folder.

But how can I access the ~/Library folder on my TM or CCC backup to copy its Safari data over to my Mac?

Thanks!

 

[IWT]

But how can I access the ~/Library folder on my TM or CCC backup to copy its Safari data over to my Mac?

I'm prepared to be contradicted on this, but I don't think that is a good way to go and there is a real chance that you "damage" the Time Machine backup in the process. In my view, anyway, that is not what TM is there for.

But doing it Bob's way may work - just not via TM.

I recently had a different, but still annoying, problem with Safari and nothing worked. Again, in my opinion, the best solution is to replace, ie re-download Safari - and the only way is to re-download the OS; which I did. All is now well, but I did lose my pinned tabs - not a big deal.

I fully appreciate that you have already re-downloaded macOS High Sierra - post #1. I wonder how you did that? Was it by entering Recovery Mode - reboot the Mac whilst holding down Command plus R and when into that mode choosing re-install OS?? I'm asking the method because that's when this Safari problem occurred, strongly suggesting that something went wrong with the installation.

I believe that a further reinstallation is likely to be the only solution. Use the Cmd + R method would be my choice.

As I said, I'm happy to be contradicted if there is a better solution. This forum is a team and a team-effort may come up with alternatives.

Ian

 

[unblocktheplanet]

Thanks, Ian. Yes, Command R. Unfortunately, along the way trying many solutions, I completely fubared the Safari prefs as well as the Safari folder in Library.

So if I do Command-R again, all those fubars will remain in place.

Unless (nothing to lose dept) I delete all the Safari prefs + the contents of the Safari folder in Library. That seems extreme. What think you?

I get that Apple hides the Library folder intentionally to prevent accidents. But sometimes one needs access. Presumably the old Library folders are present both in TM & CCC backups. If it's too difficult to extract these from TM, what about CCC?

Seems to be the only hope to get Safari useable again.

 

[unblocktheplanet]

Ah, just an update. I got Safari back, by serendipitous accident.

Long time back, I had mistakenly installed Safari for 10.14. (Yes, Apple should have made that impossible!) To get Safari back, I copied over Safari for 10.13 from my backup.

It would not replace in Applications ƒ so I kept in in my main folder. Worked fine until Reinstall OS.

Miraculously, Reinstall OS installed the right Safari in Applications. I was trying to use the Safari outside it!

What a schlmozzle. Safari works now.

 

[IWT]

Ah, just an update. I got Safari back, by serendipitous accident.

Long time back, I had mistakenly installed Safari for 10.14. (Yes, Apple should have made that impossible!) To get Safari back, I copied over Safari for 10.13 from my backup.

It would not replace in Applications ƒ so I kept in in my main folder. Worked fine until Reinstall OS.

Miraculously, Reinstall OS installed the right Safari in Applications. I was trying to use the Safari outside it!

What a schlmozzle. Safari works now.

Gosh!!!

As the film title says: "Whatever Works".

Ian