Safari 6: favicons slow to load and don't 'stick' (remain in bookmarks)

Try deleting the webpageicons.db

Open the Finder. From the Finder menu bar click Go > Go to Folder

Type this exactly as you see it here:

~/Library/Safari

Click Go

Move the WebpageIcons.db file to the Trash.

Quit then relaunch Safari. It may take a few minutes for your favicons to re populate.

also as I write this, I am reminded I am seeing a lot of web site entry text field words & text dissappear in patches as I type words.

Typs this:

~/Library/Caches/com.apple.Safari/Cache.db

Click Go. Move the Cache.db file to the Trash.

Quit then relaunch Safari.

Apple - Safari - Feedback

Sending feedback is the best way to go.

No way of knowing for sure if Apple developers actually peruse these forums.

I'm having the same issue. Very strange. The favicons disappear when browsing history is cleared and show up again only as each site is visited. Maybe Apple figured they're not important?

This is definitely a Safari 6 issue as I am still using Lion experiencing the disappearing icons after deleting history. Clearing history now does 1. clear history 2. delete favicons 3. empty cache.

I removed the WebpageIcons.db file, quit and relaunched Safari - does not work. Apple built in the removal of the favicons through the clearing of history along with cache for Safari 6, hence not a bug.

Yep, clear History does about 6 different things, including clearing Web Icons & Safari Cache.

Clear History: Clears the list of webpages you viewed. Also empties caches, removes website icons, and clears the list of recent searches. Website icons are small graphics that help identify sites on the Internet. You see them in the address and search field, the bookmarks list, and other places. You can see your recent searches by clicking the magnifying glass at the left end of the address and search field when it’s empty.

Is there any practical reason as to why "Clear History" now removes favicons? Personally I think they look good 😎 but can also make picking out a favourite from a long list a bit quicker.

Dissi --

I have no idea why this was all changed. We're just other Mac users here, helping each other. But, if I ever get my hands on the engineer who thought all this up, well, I will have to restrain myself, LOL.

Me, too.

This is definitely a Safari 6 issue, since I am still running Lion, and it really annoys the fsck out of me. Rhetorical Question for Which I Expect No Answer: What possible reason would Apple engineers have for thinking this is a good idea?! I like favicons; they help me find specific bookmarks more quickly in a long list of them. (That's the whole point of them!) Now recalling what a pain it was to "upgrade" to Safari 5, I should have known better than to move to Safari 6. Oh well. Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.

Thanks a lot Apple. You just can't leave well enough alone, can you?

Me too! 😢

I loved all of my easily reconizable favicons. Now it's just one dayum dot after another...

I don't suppose there's a way to uninstall Safari 6 and go back to the old version is there?

SIgn me: "Lost in a sea of blue dots" ... 😟

it's mid august and i'm still having the same problem.

Mmm, I've found this really annoying too.

Not sure why the need to remove all the webpageicons from the bookmark list when you just want to clear the browsing history?

The way I deal with it is that once you've visited all your bookmarked sites to get the webpageicons (favicons) back, go to the Safari Folder in your user Library

~/Library/Safari

Then find the WebpageIcons.db file, and copy it to somewhere else on the hard drive (and keep it there).

Don't put in the Trash, as you'll have to load all the bookmarked websites again.

Then when you clear history, just copy back this old WebpageIcons.db file into the Safari Folder in your user Library. You may then need to quit and re-open Safari, but all the old bookmark favicons will be back.

Another slower way to get the favicons back is to go Show All Bookmarks in the Bookmarks menu, then highlight all the bookmarks, then double click to open all of them at once...

You may run in to a tab limit if you have too many though.

Thanks for the tip! That will work until Apple (hopefully) comes to its senses and fixes this.

Then again, there are other browsers. For example, Firefox still preserves bookmarks as far as I can tell.