Q: How do i get rid of the Bookmarks/Reading List bar on the left side of browser?

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Apple - What is wrong with you? You pretend to be user friendly but you add all these stupid not intuitive whatsoever changes with every single update for the most minor tasks and it so so so so frustrating. Figure it out so it is intuitive or stop doing stupid changes that only your engineers who live and breathe this stuff 24-7 understand and think are cool. Every time you update anything, I (and millions of others, I'm sure) have to spend hours searching amongst posts from other frustrated users to understand how it works. Stop. STOP. STOP. STOP STOP STOP.

I am now having the same

problem that has been discussed.  I updated and now I have the gray side bar that is just in the way.  I can't figure out how to get rid of it.  It covers too much of my screen.

In the case that this problem has not been solved:

It looks as though I have made it so that the bookmark bar does not open every time I open a new window or tab.

Go to View--> Customize Toolbar--> Grab the icon for the bookmark bar and pull it up to the top of your tab so that it is added to your toolbar. 

This should keep it from popping up, but I wouldn't be surprised if I open up Safari later and it pops up...this has been a pain for way too long.

Thank you soon much!  I've been battling this for months!

Thank you so much.  This worked easily at View.

Did you ever resolve this issue? If so how did you fix it?

Phil

Thank you, Sk424.  This did the trick for me! 

Select View at the menu on top and then select "Hide Status Bar"

It didn't work for me...

When I move my pointer to the left side of the Safari that grey bookmark/reading list bar pops up

If I move my pointer away it disappears

I can't switch it off so It's very frustrating

Go to Safari --> Preferences --> General --> change NEW WINDOW OPENS WITH and NEW TAB OPENS WITH to whatever you want.

Hi

I know it's a bit late but I've figured it out.

Basically go to "view" on your safari, go on "customize toolbar", then it seems like you can add or remove anything from the toolbar, just drag the "sidebar" icon away and it will disappear in a sort of fog/dust kinda thing. then you're free, you can open new tabs and it doesn't have the sidebar anymore.

You're welcome !!

On an iPad or iPhone when you are in Safari and have tilted to your device to landscape view all you need to do is tap the book icon at the top left. It is highlighted in blue when ON.

I believe I have found your solution. Click on the button beside the back/forward arrows, between the arrows and the address bar. That seems to do the trick.

Thanks man! It took me about ten seconds to disable the sidebar thanks to your ever so clear instructions. It's been bothering me for about a year too. Weird that that other person had such difficulty, and hatred for computer programmers... habits are a lot easier to break than code in my opinion, especially when seemingly simple problems are actually nearly impossible to fix in the tech industry these days. Much love for the computer geeks.