Whenever I try to add or delete bookmarks, a pop-up comes up saying "The sites above include your bookmarks and history from Google Chrome. Keep or Don't Keep". Regardless of which option I choose, the pop-up won't go away and I cannot add or delete bookmarks/favorites. I've already tried re-installing Yosemite but this did not resolve the issue. Does anyone know how to change this? Thanks in advance!
MacBook Air, OS X Yosemite (10.10)
I posted the same thing a few days ago and hadn't seen a response yet. But after piecing together some advice from other sources (none of which directly referenced this specific issue), I did the following tonight and it seems to have solved the issue:
1. Remove the existing Safari installation using Terminal (requires sudo access).
2. Reinstall OS X Yosemite from Recovery (there is no stand-alone download of Safari, so this is the only way to reinstall it)
After reinstalling the OS, I launched Safari and didn't see any reference to the Google data. However, it hung for quite a while (spinning beach ball) and I had to force quit the application. When I opened Safari a second time, it went straight to the home screen and I *DID* see the Google data / Keep / Don't Keep text at the bottom ... I'm wondering if it wasn't trying to auto-import data from Chrome again the first time (when it hung). But this time, I clicked "Don't Keep" right away, and the message went away. No problems since.
Hope this helps.
Thank you! I can try that. Would you be able to show me how to remove the Safari installation using Terminal? Or do you happen to have a link that would have the steps?
Sure thing.
1. Launch Terminal
2. Type the following:
sudo rm -rf /Applications/Safari.app
... and hit Enter. You'll be prompted for your administrator password
I'll add the usual disclaimer about the dangers of using "sudo" in Terminal ... be forewarned that the wrong command can really mess up your system, so tread carefully.
Also, I don't know how essential it is, but it might be helpful at this point to also clear out any Safari-related files and folders in your Library folder. I don't have a definitive list of exactly what, but I think I got rid of the following:
~/Library/Safari (the whole folder)
~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Safari.Extensions.plist
~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Safari.plist
~/Library/Caches/com.apple.Safari (the whole folder)
~/Library/Caches/com.apple.Safari.SocialHelper (the whole folder)
Just drag them all to the Trash and empty it before you reboot into Recovery. Again, doing this might not necessarily help with the process, but it doesn't hurt to do it anyway just in case.
Do not try to delete Safari.
Never delete anything using the shell (Terminal.)
Back up all data before proceeding.
Triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it, then copy it to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C:
~/Library/Safari/Bookmarks.plist
Quit Safari.
Select
Go â–¹ Go to Folder
from the Finder menu bar. Paste into the text box that opens by pressing command-V, then press return.
A folder window should open with a file named "Bookmarks.plist" selected. Move the selected file to the Desktop, leaving the folder open.
Relaunch Safari. It will open with the default set of bookmarks. Delete them all. Select
File â–¹ Import from...
from the Safari menu bar. Import from the bookmarks file you moved to the Desktop. Arrange the bookmarks as you wish.
If Safari now performs normally, you can delete the old bookmarks file. Otherwise, quit Safari again and put back the file you moved, replacing the newer one with the same name. Close the Finder window and post again.
That doesn't solve the issue. I tried that -- and a dozen other intermediary steps -- over the past two months trying to find a solution. You can see my earlier post here: Unable to edit bookmarks after Chrome import
The original poster in this thread didn't reference the "December 31, 4000" part of the error, but I'd be willing to bet it's the same thing.
I reported this to Apple during the Yosemite beta process, and I searched daily for any other people having a similar issue. I did find a semi-cached reference to it in a Google search one day, but when I tried to visit the thread I couldn't read it ... following the link gave me an error message of some sort, I believe. So if there was a solution posted there, I was never able to see it. But I'm pretty technically savvy and pretty good at using Google, and I honestly lost sleep over this problem for several weeks. I think if there were a "simple" solution to the issue, I would have found it a long time ago.
I don't take lightly the suggestion to use Terminal/sudo to uninstall ... I know it's very much a last resort approach and fraught with danger. But I just didn't see any other way. And, at least in my case, it happened to work.
Has anyone found a solution to this issue yet? I have the same problem, (except I'm a year younger than the OP).
Tried disassociating Safari on the MBP then deleting all the bookmarks from Safari on IOS 8. As soon as I turn iCloud back on, the MBP sends all the crap back to IOS.
Really don't want to be reinstalling Yosemite as everything else is working swimmingly.
Herb
Sorry, forgot to mention, I've tried the trashing bookmarks.plist procedure. All's fine (clean browser) until I put it back, then they all reappear.
OS X doesn't recreate a new plist.
Is a .plist editable?
Has apple come up with a solution.. I am now having this same problem...Do not know where to start to fix
I have the same problem; tried removing the bookmarks.plist solution,
but was not allowed to delete the default set of bookmarks!
I had this problem as well when I decided to try Safari out in Yosemite. I finally figured out a solution to it after noticing that no matter what I did to my com.apple.Safari.plist in my ~/Library/Preferences folder, Safari kept recreating the same preferences file. Even after replacing the preferences file, the same old preferences file would be recreated.
After researching why that was happening, I learned that Yosemite caches many preferences files, Safari being one of them. To reset Safari, you have to delete the Preferences file and remove the cached preferences from memory.
To do that, open Terminal and enter the following commands:
rm ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Safari.plist
defaults delete com.apple.Safari
Hopefully, that will allow you to start Safari with a rebuilt Preferences file. If you still have problems after that, you may have to nuke your Safari history/bookmarks/etc by deleting the ~/Library/Safari folder.
Thanks; that worked. I did get an error message after "defaults delete com.apple.Safari";
and I nuke'd ~/Library/Safari folder. And after then starting Safari, the bookmarks were all still there.
But then the Firefox bookmarks disappeared without me doing anything.
I developed this same issue about 3 days ago, though I've noticed that one particular folder in my Bookmarks folder kept moving to the bottom of the list. I'd move it and back again it would move. Then, I couldn't change anything - add, delete, edit - no joy.
I tried the bookmarks.plist suggestion, but no success. In the end I dumped the whole ~/Library/Safari folder and problem was solved. Thanks.
Thanks all I was able to get it to work too..
OK, This seems like an issue that really needs an apple solution. I couldn't get it to work. Interestingly, when I added the bookmark I wanted on my iMac (because it has Mavericks still and is ammune to this bug) It popped up on my Macbook with Yosemite via my Wi Fi. hhhhhhhmmmmmmmm. (okay, maybe it was the tin foil hat 🙂 )
Can't add or delete bookmarks- Yosemite
