HT203353: If Safari is slow, stops responding, quits unexpectedly, or has other issues

Learn about If Safari is slow, stops responding, quits unexpectedly, or has other issues
Mohawk Guy
Level 1 (0 points)

Q: I moved a Safari bookmark folder to my desktop to alphabetize it but could not move it back. Now Time Machine will not restore Safari to where I started. Restore is greyed out and the desktop keeps coming up--not bookmarks editor. TM working OK.

I attempted to move a subfolder from my bookmarks folder to alphabetize it by moving it to my desktop. That worked but I could not put it back into Safari. So I tried to restore Safari from Time Machine but it brought back my desktop and the restore button was greyed out. I am running Yosemite on a late 2013 27 inch Mac. Time machine seems to work ok on other folders.

iMac (27-inch, Late 2013), Mac OS X (10.5)

Posted on Feb 17, 2016 9:19 AM

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Mohawk Guy

Q: I moved a Safari bookmark folder to my desktop to alphabetize it but could not move it back. Now Time Machine will not restore Saf ... more

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  • by Linc Davis,Helpful

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Feb 17, 2016 4:23 PM in response to Mohawk Guy
    Level 10 (207,925 points)
    Applications
    Feb 17, 2016 4:23 PM in response to Mohawk Guy

    You can only restore the whole bookmarks file to a previous state. It's not possible to restore individual bookmarks.

    Please triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it, then copy it to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C:

    ~/Library/Safari

    Quit Safari.

    Select

              Go ▹ Go to Folder

    from the Finder menu bar. Paste into the text box that opens by pressing command-V, then press return.

    A folder window should open. Restore the file named "Bookmarks.plist" in that folder from a backup that predates the unwanted changes.

    If you don't have such a backup, but the bookmarks are still present on an iOS device (iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch) that synchronizes with iCloud, then see below.

    Back up your iOS devices. Turn off iCloud synchronization of Safari on all devices except one of those. Quit Safari and delete the bookmarks file on the Mac, then enable Safari sync on it. Launch Safari. The bookmarks should sync from the iOS device.

  • by Mohawk Guy,

    Mohawk Guy Mohawk Guy Feb 17, 2016 1:41 PM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 17, 2016 1:41 PM in response to Linc Davis

    Thank you. I followed your advice with no problems and my Bookmarks are now restored back to normal. Am I correct in assuming that if I ever have to recover a lost Safari bookmark in the future, this is the way to restore the list?  I recognize this may sound like a dumb question but I only ask it because if I click on Time Machine while in Safari, it continues to bring up my Desk Top and not past Safari lists.  Thankfully I have not had to use Restore much in the past so I am not familiar with its limitations.

  • by Linc Davis,Helpful

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Feb 17, 2016 4:22 PM in response to Mohawk Guy
    Level 10 (207,925 points)
    Applications
    Feb 17, 2016 4:22 PM in response to Mohawk Guy

    Am I correct in assuming that if I ever have to recover a lost Safari bookmark in the future, this is the way to restore the list?

    Yes.