Page zoom not holding in Safari, settings corruption

Question

Level 1

19 points

Page zoom not holding in Safari, settings corruption

Q. Anyone know how I can reset my Safari Settings to it's default setting and purge my current Safari iCloud settings?

I seem to have a corruption that will not save custom page zoom settings after I change them using key commands [⌘+ / ⌘-].

Description of problem

After a few seconds [~6 sec] the new zoom setting snaps back to whatever the setting is in:

Safari / Settings / Websites / Page Zoom

If I "Remove" the setting for a specific website, the Zoom just snaps back to the default setting under "When visiting other websites"

One more anomaly

If I change the site Page Zoom setting in Settings, and then ⌘+/⌘- that page, it will revert back to the original setting it had before I changed it in the Settings window.

Troubleshooting

I tried to delete the PerSiteZoomPreferences.plist in my ~/Library/Safari, but it does not resolve the problem.
In Safe Mode the problem goes away
Creating a new user resolves the issue with default AppleID
- After I log in with my AppleID the problem returns because the corruption is in my iCloud settings somewhere and merges with my current instance of Safari

MacOS Ventura 13.2

Safari 16.3 (18614.4.6.1.5)

Mac Studio

Posted on Jan 30, 2023 7:13 AM

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Answer 1

Mar 3, 2023 10:26 AM in response to morgankrane

I am experiencing the exact same issue and have noticed an additional symptom on my system:

An applied zoom setting can be forced to persist by following these steps:

Apply desired zoom setting.
Quit Safari before Safari resets the desired zoom setting.
Start Safari.

The applied zoom setting is now the default zoom setting for the webpage.

Any attempt to change the zoom setting without following these steps results in Safari reverting to its last saved default zoom setting (exactly as stated by the OP).

MacOS 13.2.1 (22D68)

Safari 16.3 (18614.4.6.1.6)

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Answer 2

mikeg28806

Community Specialist

Jan 31, 2023 5:56 PM in response to morgankrane

Thanks for posting in the Apple Support Communities morgankrane,

Isolating the behavior with safe mode was a great step to take, the following explains how to use the results of that step:

If the issue doesn't continue in safe mode

If the issue doesn't continue while in safe mode, leave safe mode by restarting your Mac normally. Then test for the issue again. The issue might be resolved.

If the issue returns after leaving safe mode, startup items are probably at fault. Apps can install such items in numerous places, and they aren't always easy to find or recognize. For that reason, you should first make sure that you've installed any available updates for your Apple software and third-party apps.

If updating your software doesn't help, try any of these solutions:

• Test your login items.

• To learn whether software in your user account is causing the issue, set up a new user account, then log in to it and try to reproduce the issue in that account.

• Unplug all accessories from your Mac, including printers, drives, USB hubs, and other nonessential devices. You could have an issue with one or more of those devices or their cables.

• Reinstall macOS.

If you still need help, please contact Apple Support.

How to use safe mode on your Mac

We hope this helps!

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Answer 3

morgankrane Author

Level 1

19 points

Mar 7, 2023 4:06 PM in response to morgankrane

Problem appears to be solved today

So, I never found a fix that allowed me to solve this problem myself, but today I noticed my Safari pages are now retaining all zoom changes from keyboard shortcuts.

If there is an Apple tech out there that helped me out with this on the back end, or if the Safari team squashed the bug, [full-hearted] THANK YOU!

Everyone else here, please test your Safari.

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Answer 4

morgankrane Author

Level 1

19 points

Feb 1, 2023 9:25 AM in response to mikeg28806

Thank you for your suggestions mikeg28806

I tried all the different solutions you suggested and nothing changes the behavior. Pages are still snapping back to a pre-defined zoom setting 6 seconds after I zoom in or zoom out

Wha you suggested are all standard-issue, trouble-shooting steps that help narrow the scope of the problem somewhat. But I suspect my issue is related more to how iCloud syncs my Safari settings, and something got corrupted in those files.

Knowing how to reset Safari's custom settings, so they are purged from iCloud, would be helpful.

I will reach out to Apple Support again and see if someone can suggest a more advanced solution. If I have success, I will post it here

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Answer 5

Sean088

Level 1

8 points

Feb 17, 2023 1:54 PM in response to morgankrane

I'm also having this problem on several sites, including, now, Wikipedia. The one case the page zoom defaulted to 50% and then snapped back when I would change it to 100. In the case of Wikipedia, the zoom setting shows 100% but the text on the page is clearly at 50%. Perhaps it's a Retina resolution issue?

This has only been happening for the past week (2/17/23) and only on a some sites that I have noticed.

M1 MacBook Air

MacOS Ventura 13.1

Safari 16.2

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Answer 6

Sean088

Level 1

8 points

Mar 8, 2023 2:13 PM in response to morgankrane

This also seemed to have resolved for me on the couple sites I noticed it on.

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Page zoom not holding in Safari, settings corruption

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