Missing "X" to close tabs

Experiencing the absent [x] tab closer icon, and absent status bar text (updated when mousing over hyperlinks, etc). Didn't expect it would have an effect, but Force Quit (cmd+alt+esc) and restart Safari solved it for me. Once anyway.

Safari Version 5.1.5 (6534.55.3)

Snow Leopard 10.6.8

I done the reset thing, then a restart..... fixed 🙂

Same problem. Resets and restarts can temporarily clear the issue but it comes back. It sounds like a bug and it shouldn't occur in the first place, is Apple investigating this?

Mac OS X 10.7.4

Safari 6.0

Whomever suggested Force Quit was correct. That gets the "Close Tab" X back. Hopefully, Apple can fix the problem. BTW, I'm using Snow Leopard 10.6.8.

I had to do a ForceQuit Safari. The menu item Safari->QuitSafari was grayed out. I killed it from the ActivityMonitor. Even though all my safari windows were closed, killing safari freed up 1 gig of SystemMemory. (I wonder what it was doing/running?) When I started safari again the missing X on the tabs was found. You could probably accomplish the same thing by rebooting your Mac. I did not need to delete/reset my preferences.

This worked the best for me and i kind of wish i read it before i read the reset one.
I say force quit it first and when push comes to shove reset it second because it seems like either one or the other works for most people

This started happening for me after I updated to Safari 5.1.9 the other day. I'll try force quit and hope I don't lose data.

Force quit worked for now. 😮😐🙂😀😁

Hmmm- It seems that this problem is solved for everyone by Resetting Safari then Force quitting safari then removing it from docks then placing it back on docks again...I feel left out, as that hasnt worked for me! 😟 Am I the only person that this method doesnt work for, I still can't find any small little "X" on the tab buttons, and still have no idea how to get it back. boooo! Please can anyone help?

Force Quitting Safari solved it for me when none of the other suggestions would. Also, you'll want to make sure Adobe Reader is completely quit out of. If Adobe comes up in your Force Quit window, get rid of that too.

Force quit and reset didn't work for me. What worked for me was going to Preferences under Safari, selecting Tabs then making sure the "When a new tab or window opens, make it active" box was checked. It is the second of three boxes. Once I checked that box, the X appeared again for all of my tabs.

Excellent! This forum is great. I have an older MacBook, OS X 10.6.8. The HD's getting pretty full and the old girl's running slower, having trouble with more than a few tabs open at a time in Safari especially if I have other applications running. Safari is causing weird problems to crop up that I've never seen before, like the cursor freezing, or this completely new problem with the "x" disappearing from the tabs.

However, I did exactly as Applesfanatic said -- reset Safari, clear downloads, force quit, drag icon out of dock (I love making that little puff of smoke), drag it back in -- and there was the "x" again, totally operational.

I'll move a bunch of music and photos to storage and off my HD and free up some memory, and see if it runs more smoothly. In the meantime, thanks, Applesfanatic-- and the people who shared the  + w command to close tabs!