Where/How is Browser History Stored for Safari 8?

Question

Level 3

562 points

Where/How is Browser History Stored for Safari 8?

Anyone know? I ask because, long story short, Safari was non-functional when I upgraded to Yosemite. I ended up having to nuke several app files in order to get it working. Among the casualties was my browser history. In the previous versions of Safari, there was a preference file ("History.plist") that was created which resided in the "Safari" folder in the user Library. This contained browser history. From what I've researched, restoring this file from a back-up is how one, previously, recovered lost history. Evidently, the new version of Safari no longer creates this ".plist" file. If it does, it's not in the same location. Copying my existing ".plist" file to the "Safari" folder does nothing. This suggests that Apple has changed the way this information is stored. Is there any, possible, way of restoring my history to the new Safari or am I out of luck?

MacBook Pro (15-inch Mid 2010), OS X Yosemite (10.10)

Posted on Oct 20, 2014 8:27 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Best reply

Carolyn Samit

Level 10

165,615 points

Oct 20, 2014 10:16 PM in response to Cerebro

Hi ..

Open the Finder.

From the Finder menu bar click Go > Go to Folder

Type or copy paste the following:

~/Library/Safari/History.plist

Click Go.

There is a Safari.plist. Keep in mind there are two libraries.

One is root: /Library/

The other is your Home folder denoted by the Tilde character: ~/Library

Exact path: ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Safari.plist

The com.apple.Safaril.plist file doesn't store your history. Just preferences.

Reply

Answer 2

Cerebro Author

Level 3

562 points

Oct 21, 2014 4:23 AM in response to Carolyn Samit

~/Library/Safari/History.plist

Nope. Sorry. I've already mentioned that this doesn't work. I did have a "History.plist" file that carried over from the previous system. One of the troubleshooting steps we employed to get Safari working with to quit Safari and remove the whole Safari folder from the user library (the path you specify), then, restart Safari. On restart, the system created a new Safari folder. I copied my "Bookmarks.plist" file from the old folder to the new folder (overwriting the new file). This gave me back my Bookmarks. There was, however, no newly created "History.plist" file. I, now, have a couple days of browsing history under my belt and, still, no "History.plist" file exists in this location. Copying the old one to the new Safari folder doesn't do anything as I can't replace/overwrite a file that isn't there. Clearly, my history is being stored somewhere. Just not here. So where?

Reply

Answer 3

seduc

Level 3

510 points

Oct 21, 2014 5:02 AM in response to Cerebro

Try this:

Quit Safari

remove ~/Library/Safari/History.db and History.db-wal
restore History.plist to said folder
edit ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Safari.plist
search LastOSVersionSafariWasLaunchedOn
replace value with (guess) 10.9.5

Edit:

Or maybe better restore ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Safari.plist from backup too.

Reply

Answer 4

Cerebro Author

Level 3

562 points

Oct 22, 2014 7:56 AM in response to Cerebro

Looks like I may have figured this out, though not to my desired satisfaction.

So here's what my Safari folder from the user Library looked like prior to the Yosemite upgrade:

And after the upgrade:

Note the differences. The old folder has a preference file, "History.plist", that stores browser history. The new folder has three files ("History.db"; "History.db-wal"; "HistoryIndex.sk") that I, presumed, stored the history data in some way. What I did was remove all three of the new files from the Safari folder and copied the ".plist" file from the old folder to the new folder. I launched Safari and, voila, my "old" history was back. Unfortunately, it was completely unusable. Trying to view, search, or do just about anything with the browser history would cause Safari to go unresponsive and require a force quit of the app. Relaunch, rinse, repeat. No go. I reopened the Safari folder and noted that the system had created new ".db" and ".db-wal" files alongside the ".plist" file. I removed these three files and returned the previous ".db", "db-wal", and ".sk" files back to this folder. I launched Safari and my "new" history was restored and everything was running smoothly, again.

It would have been nice to continue where I left off with my browser history, but it looks like a lost cause. It would seem something got borked in the upgrade, but I don't know exactly what. Maybe this is, somewhat, useful to anyone else who might be having the same, post-upgrade problem. I'll stick with the "new" history. If I, desperately, need to find something in the "old" history, I can open the ".plist" file in a text editor and search through it. Not particularly efficient, but useful for something.

Reply

Answer 5

goldfilm

Level 1

14 points

Nov 21, 2014 10:45 AM in response to Cerebro

Same here... My history.plist was updated for last time on October 18th. Now Yosemite apparently stores history in History.db. I tried to open this file with an SQL browser but it's empty (though it's 35 MB and updated today), so I don't know if they protect the file from being edited...

Please somebody help, I have to open the history with a full analyzer and not from Safari, because I'm trying to trace additional info about a page I visited and asked for information. Can I do that with a special software? If I can... what is the file that Safari uses to store history in Yosemite?

Reply

Answer 6

fred242

Level 1

29 points

Feb 9, 2015 5:13 AM in response to goldfilm

You are not the only ones, I have the same exact problem, my history stops in October when I updated. I have been following old advice threads telling me to delete the plist which does nothing. will have to nuke all three files and see if the history survives quitting and relaunching the application. What has happened to Apple's quality control??

Reply

Answer 7

Mar 25, 2015 12:42 AM in response to Cerebro

so no solution to this ? I've having the same issue, cannot see the old history in my safari in yosemite. I have to open my old history/plist file and use text editor if I want to search for something ?

Reply

Answer 8

xaipete

Level 1

24 points

Sep 10, 2015 11:43 AM in response to Cerebro

I figured it out today.

What time did I log into a url on Safari - Safari date time stamp

Reply

Answer 9

Rockyd99

Level 1

0 points

Nov 19, 2015 11:40 AM in response to Cerebro

OSX 10.10.5 / Safari 9.0.1

I was in the same situation where I deleted my history to try and fix a problem with Safari. I followed a similar path to the one suggested by Cerebro, with some changes and I did manage to recover my history:

1. Quit Safari (Don't know if necessary but can't hurt)

2. In the Finder, press "Option" and Go / Library

3. Locate and select the Safari folder (make a copy if you want to be extra safe)

4. Open Time Machine

5. Navigate to a date where you know the history file is OK and make sure the Safari folder is selected

6. Click Restore and then Replace

7. Open the Preferences folder and locate and select com.apple.Safari.plist (make a copy if you want to be extra safe)

8. Navigate to the SAME date and time as in step 5 and make sure the com.apple.Safari.plist is selected

9. Click Restore and then Replace

10. Open Safari and your History should be back, up to the date you restored from

YMMV

Note that you will loose History and possibly Bookmarks and other stuff between the two dates.

Hope that helps.

Reply