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Why does Safari refresh the page when using the back button?

Safari didn't use to do this.

Even on these forums, when you hit the back button to go back exactly where you were at, if there are new posts, the entire page may have changed. I knew exactly the next post I wanted to look at before the page was refreshed. Now, I can't even find the post I wanted to read unless I scroll through the entire list again.


I need to be able to go back to the page I was just on and not have it refresh.

I need to go back exactly where I was.


Safari can't even go back properly as it wants to go back near the top of the last page I was on.


I need it to go back exactly where I was at.


I have no idea what the engineers are thinking about this one.


FireFox works properly when going back to the prior page.


I have long lists on pages I work with.

For example:

1. through 1,000.

If I am on reference number 500 on the previous page, when I hit back, it goes all the way back up to around 20 in the list.

I have to then scroll manually page down to 500 where I was at.

This is tedious, cumbersome and unnessesary.

Safari was much better before it was updated to this horrible behavior.


I don't know of any preferences you can change to change this odd behavior.

Anyone know of anyway to stop this horrible behavior in Safari?


This is like reading a book, but when you go back a page, the entire page may have changed and I have no idea where I was at.

Pretty $iss poor in my opinion.

iMac, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2), iMac 27 (11,3)

Posted on Oct 17, 2012 5:50 PM

Reply
16 replies

Oct 26, 2012 5:58 AM in response to Joseph Kriz

I'd like to find a way to disable this as well.


I try to remember to "right click" and open in a new tab or window instead, but it's just not an easy flow to get into.


This is really annoying, especially if I'm looking at eBay listings. It's hard enough to weed out the duplicate listings as it is, only to get thrown back towards the top of the page when you go back a page.


I might have to place a call to AppleCare to see what I can find out.

Oct 26, 2012 6:36 AM in response to RedGeminiPA

I just spoke to AppleCare. She told me this happens because when you go back to the previous page, it's directing Safari to the page again, which results in a refresh. She knows of no way to prevent this from happening, except for opening links in new tabs or windows.


She suggested I address my concern to Apple, which I did, using http://www.apple.com/feedback/safari.html


Hopefully Apple address this in an update to Safari in the near future.

Oct 26, 2012 11:31 PM in response to RedGeminiPA

Yes, that is correct.


However, you can also use the mouse or trackpad to swipe back a page and it still refreshes the last page.


Safari never did this back in Snow Leopard and maybe some versions of Safari in Lion.

However, Safari in Mountain Lion always does this.


It is very cumbersome using the "open link in new window" or "open link in new tab".

It was much better just being able to click the back button or swiping to get back exactly where you were on the prior page.


Hopefully more people will send Apple feedback on this.


Thanks for sharing.

Dec 29, 2012 10:25 PM in response to Joseph Kriz

I just started using Safari because I wanted to try out its iCloud tabs integration feature with my phone. Aside from the jerky scrolling on some pages, like Facebook, I find that this "back" forced refresh / scroll-up is absolutely ridiculous. You would think there would be a way of disabling page refreshes, even if it's a terminal command.


This is the main reason why I'm considering just going back to Chrome. I could always re-test Safari after the next big update, but that could be months away. 😠

Dec 27, 2013 10:03 PM in response to BraytonAK

Brayton - I tried to post a link to this article but it wouldn't let me. Here's a cut and paste -


  1. Turn off “Swipe between pages” in the Mouse settings in System Preferences
  2. Go to BetterTouchTool preferences and select Gestures tab menu bar
  3. Add or modify existing gesture in BetterTouchTool: “Single Finger Swipe Right”
  4. Enter “Command-[” (the open bracket key above the double-quote key) in under Custom Keyboard Shortcut


It worked for me and stopped the issure of page reload when swiping back.

Why does Safari refresh the page when using the back button?

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