How to change a thumbnail in Top Sites

Question

How to change a thumbnail in Top Sites

(Using Safari 7)

I know I can drag a URL to the Top Sites page to add it, but invaribly it does not add the thumbnail I want. A good example of this is the Google Calendar. If I have the calendar open and drag the URL to Top Sites I get a thumbnail of the Google login page, which doesn't accurately depict the content. This used to happen with Facebook, but mysteriously that finally changed to an actual Facebook page thumbnail. This was never a problem with previous versions of Safari, so wondering if there's a way to force a page thumbnail onto the Top Sites page in Safari 7. Thanks for any help.

iMac, OS X Mavericks (10.9)

Posted on Jan 18, 2014 6:37 AM

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Answer 1

dominic23

Level 10

83,904 points

Jan 18, 2014 11:05 AM in response to Larry McJunkin

Visit the site you want to add to the Top SItes.

Move the mouse pointer over to the " + " button, just left of the address bar.

Touch the trackpad with 3 fingers.

Move the mouse to the "Top Sites" in the Bookmarks dropdown.

The site should be now added to the Top Sites as a tile.

Move the mouse pointer to the top left corner of the tile and pin it.

Best.

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Answer 2

Jan 18, 2014 11:58 AM in response to dominic23

@dominic23: I may not have been specific enough. I know how to simply add a site to Top Sites, my problem is the thumbnail image of that site is NOT what I want...I want a more current one. Per my original post:

If I have the calendar open and drag the URL to Top Sites I get a thumbnail of the Google login page, which doesn't accurately depict the content.

Also, not using a laptop so don't have a trackpad, but again, it wasn't a problem of adding a site...but rather of changing the thumbnail for an existing site. FWIW, I also tried deleting the site in Top Sites and starting over...but I still get an incorrect thumbnail.

Better example...you have a Top Site thumbnail for Apple.com and it (theoretically) shows an apple.com home page thumbnail displaying an iPhone 4. What do you do to change that to a new thumbnail that depicts "today's" apple.com homepage?

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Answer 3

Jan 18, 2014 12:24 PM in response to Larry McJunkin

Might be corrupted Top Sites preferences Larry...

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

Type or copy paste the following:

~/Library/Safari/TopSites.plist

Click Go then move the TopSites.plist file to the Trash.

Then try the Google login page and the Apple homepage in Top Sites.

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Answer 4

Jan 18, 2014 12:27 PM in response to Carolyn Samit

Thanks, Carolyn...but don't think so. It appears to work for most of the Top Sites thumbnails...just a couple of sites it's not working for. I thought it had something do with sites that required a login, but a couple of those show up fine, so it's not that. I'd rather try a little more before rebuilding the .plist...just don't want to through the hassle of adding all those sites back to Top Sites if not necessary.

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Answer 5

Jan 18, 2014 12:31 PM in response to Larry McJunkin

I understand. You could try deleting the cache database ...

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

Type or copy paste the following:

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

Click Go then move the Cache.db file to the Trash.

Quit and relaunch Safari to test.

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Answer 6

Jan 18, 2014 12:45 PM in response to Carolyn Samit

Before I try this...is it going to delete all my history, cookies, favorites, Bookmark bar items, etc.? If so, it's not worth it :-)

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