Safari won’t upload via file selection

Only solution right now is to downgrade the Safari 14.01 update and get back to version 14.0 .

My tests showed that the issue of upload/file select button not working in Safari is introduecd by that update.

Sad enough the big security update 2020-005 for 10.14.6 introduces also new issues on my machine, maybe on others as well.

Please report your issues and findings back to Apple using their feedback site:

https://www.apple.com/feedback/safari.html

There are several ways to chose from. Depending on your willingness and knowledge some are less easy than others.

The easiest would be TimeMachine. You should be able to revert back using a TM (Time Machine backup) in case you got one.

If not, things get complicated. The most straightforward alternative would be to reinstall the entire macOS from an original installer with macOS10.14 Mojave. It can be accessed and downloaded from the App store in case you have none.

When reinstalling macOS 10.14.6 this way all your data is preserved, but you go back several updates including the Safari 14.01 update. After doing this you might want to install the three or two other updates again, leaving out the afari 14.01 update.

Also you can reinstall your macOS by booting from your recovery partition which is part of any normal macOS installation on a partition of your boot drive. Finder doesn't show it, but it is there.

Apple provides instructions on how to reinstall the OS that way. In general this might need a lot of time depending on your internet connection speed as an image of macOS is downloaded during the process. Afterwards you can install all the updates again but the Safari 14.01 update.

Instructions for this method can also be found here: https://www.macworld.co.uk/how-to/reinstall-mac-os-recovery-3593641/

Also you can set up an USB boot drive and reinstall from there which is similar to having a bootable copy on an external drive.

When you have a bootable copy of your current MacintoshHD ( or whatever your boot drive is named ) you can boot from it, and install a fresh macOS on the internal drive from there.

When either your Mac came with Mojave as its original macOS or you downloaded it as an upgrade from the App Store you can redownload the installer image any time from the AppStore again.

Using this URL https://apps.apple.com/us/app/macos-mojave/id1398502828?ls=1&mt=12

It should start the AppStore and display macOS Mojave together with a blue button to the right for downloading the image.

This should be the most convenient way to do this. Start the installer when it finished downloading and select your boot drive as the place where to install it. Be prepared to wait until the installer has finished. This might need several restarts or rebooting depending on your Mac type. All this restarting, rebooting will probably display black displays, grey displays, black progress bars or grey ones depending on your setup and is fully automatic. Be patient.

The progress bar might appear as stuck for many minutes or a spinner might appear that rotates for a long time. Do not interrupt the process. It is really still working even if appearing as being stuck somewhere. Depending on your hardware this might need anything between 15 minutes and 60 minutes. On some older Macs it even might take a bit longer than that.

Since Mojave 10.14.6 some of the updates introduced some errors on my production Mac of which this error is the last that broke the camels back. I reverted back to the initial state of 10.14.6 before the security update 2020-005 and the supplemental update for macOS 10.14.6 and Safari 14.01.

That solved three pending issues I had:

1. Safari upload/file select button -mechanism not working
2. Safari and Firefox both bringing the entire system to a halt for anything between 10 to 60 seconds when websites loaded videos. Everything stopped working but mouse movement for that time. Usually some advertising content or real content videos caused that hang to appear
3. Crash/hang in SystemPreferences when accessing the preferences for the "photos using" screensavers like e.g. "Ken Burns" plus crashing SystemPreferences when trying to select a non default folder with pictures for this.

So now I'm back to macOS 10.14.6 (18G103) without these bugs.

I will copy my system to an external SSD for testing purposes and will apply one update and security update after the other in order to determine which caused which bug. I'll then report back here which update to avoid if possible. As it stands now this seems to be the only thing we can do from the user side right now.

I am aware that hardware types and software installed can change the behaviour of your personal installation and you might have never seen either of those bugs above or none at all. Though some of us seem to have at least this new issue with the upload button.

I'll report my findings as soon as I get them.

I subsequently tested the other available updates.

1. Supplemental update for 10.14.6 at 68,9 MB ( the size might depend on the type of your mac and might bedifferent )
2. Safari 14.01 at 69,1 MB

The supplemental update #1 seems to be without issues for me, the "upload/select" button reacts and works as expected.

The Safari update to version 14.01 introduces the issue with the select/upload button for me. I went back to Safari 14 with no issues and as soon as I install that update the upload/select button stops working.

So revert back from that Safari 14.01 update when you can as it introduces that particular bug for me too.

Same problem here after the latest updates to macOS 10.14. Cannot say if it is since Safari14.01 update, or the general security update or the supplemental update which I applied all in one batch.

As a sort of workaround you can still drag 'n drop any file to the box with the file selection button as long as it has a field to where to drag it. Usually the button sits beside a text field that would contain the file name or path to the selected file that you would normally have selected by pressing the button.

This is seriously going to cost me money. If I can't get drag & drop to work, I won't be able to upload my work to my clients. How does such basic functionality slip past devs anyway? Thanks for the "update" Apple. Ya broke it...AGAIN!

I did today revert back to Mojave 10.14.6 without the update. Things are back to normal.

I can afford to work without the updates and I cannot afford to live with it. I must work with various CMS installations and fileupload via Safari is a must as is via Firefox in order to be able to support clients who use both for their content.

The standard Mojave full installer does not include the updates that broke Safari. If you did not save the Mojave installer package you should be able to revert the OS to a previous state by booting from your recovery partititon and from there re-install Mojave without data loss. There are many descriptions on how to perform this out there but have a handy backup before doing so!

That explains a lot. Thanks for sharing this info. But we cannot do anything on our side to remedy the situation. I reverted back to Mojave in a previous incarnation today and am back to working order.

Today tested what happens after applying security update 2020-005 at 1,67 GB on my Mac ( size might be different for you on a different Mac ) :

This repeatedly introduced error 3 on my list - Crash/hang in SystemPreferences when accessing the preferences for the "photos using" screensavers like e.g. "Ken Burns" plus crashing SystemPreferences when trying to select a non default folder with pictures for this.

The "select/upload" button issue is not present for me after applying that update.

I'll revert back to the previous state and will test the supplemental update for macOS 10.14.6 at 68,9 MB

Well when it is asking too much to install the original macOS then installing an update of the update comes out as almost the same, doesn't it?

I have no clue if Apple quality services is listening to bug reports, but it is important to actually be helpful with identifying and describing bugs.

To lament bugs is common, it helps a bit to vent, but it solves nothing. Basically the more people are reporting the same bug or issue on the feedback page the more likely it is that it is elevated to someone who decides it is worth solving.

Bugs fall into several categories. Some are urgent, pressing and need many resources, some are medium, some are small, some are tiny and not severe. To actually dedicate resources to a task you need to convince people that it is worth it.

So file a bug report please and also inform the service department about being stressed and nerved and feeling let down and experiencing sub par treatment.

But there is a more easy option too: Visit an Apple store near you and ask at the Genius Bar politely if anybody will revert the buggy Safari14.01 update for you. If somebody does it you'll feel fine. If they fail you can mention the above options.

But I know your initial question must remain unanswered. I do not know if a solution to that specific issue is in the works, or if it ever will.

I am afraid to print what I really think about this

There is this message in system.log :

 "NOTE: Disabling remote save panel due to app using subclass (SafariOpenPanel)"

when we click on an upload button in Safari the first time after starting it.