Can't change Safari search engine.

Zent,

After all of these forums and all of the suggestions that didn't work, including deleting a bunch of things from the Library file, downloading malware programs, and of course trying to set the default search engine in Safari Preferences (which, no matter what I clicked in the drop down, was stuck on that goddam duck!), it was as simple as this:

Make Google my default search engine - Google Search Help

1. Open Safari.
2. Click the search bar.
3. In the left corner of the search bar, click the magnifying glass.
4. Select Google.

I hope this saves someone from the hours I spent on this frigging idiotic problem!

The right method to change the search engine is : Safari for Mac: Set your homepage in Safari

In the Home page as shown with red arrow in the screen shot , enter the search engine , take your cursor on top menu bar > History > click on home .

You are trying to change by opening safari preferences > clicking on search > clicking on drop down arrows of search engine .

Once the search engine is set it will be reflected in safari preferences > search section .

You are welcome.

Go to Safari Preferences/Extensions and turn all extensions off. Test. If okay, turn the extensions on one by one until you figure out what extension is causing the problem.

Safari Corruption See post by Linc Davis

Safari Reset

If that doesn't work, try running this program in your normal account , then copy and paste the output in a reply. The program was created by etresoft, a frequent contributor. Please use copy and paste as screen shots can be hard to read. On the screen with Options, please open Options and check the bottom 2 boxes before running. Click “Share Report” button in the toolbar, select “Copy Report” and then paste into a reply. This will show what is running on your computer. No personal information is shown.

Etrecheck – System Information

Enter into user library : macOS Sierra: Library folder

Find a folder Preferences , delete com.apple.Safari.plist into the trash , restart the machine and empty the trash .

Now , no settings are saved in safari preferences , general .

Enter duckduck go link in the URL bar and click on enter and it will open .

Might be a corrupt .plist.

Do a backup, preferably 2 backups on 2 separate drives.

Quit the application.

Go to Finder and select your user/home folder. With that Finder window as the front window, either select Finder/View/Show View options or go command - J. When the View options opens, check ’Show Library Folder’. That should make your user library folder visible in your user/home folder. Select Library. Then go to Preferences/com.apple.Safari.plist. Move the .plist to your desktop.

Restart the computer, open the application, and test. If it works okay, delete the plist from the desktop.

If the application is the same, return the .plist to where you got it from, overwriting the newer one.

Thanks to leonie for some information contained in this.

I just wanted to say thank you. Had the same problem with duckduckgo and this had been driving me crazy all day and I saw all of the other responses and tried a few, but none of them worked and then I scrolled down and saw this response. ***. So simple and worked perfectly. This should be the top answer to this problem and I hope others see it.

Wow! Thanks for letting me know this worked for you! Crazy how stupid little things can drive you crazy and you can search forever before you finally stumble on such a simple fix. On that note...got any ideas why I can't get through an iTunes movie or TV show on AppleTV when everything else streams fine? 😁

THANK YOU! I've already had to pay a chiropractor yesterday since I was so stressed trying to find a solution to this exact problem. While your solution works in accomplishing what I need (get back to Google rather than Yahoo, as my default search engine), the underlying bug still exists, as I'm not able to change via the dropdown box in Safari Preferences. Regardless, you saved the day, albeit after 4 hours of wasted time and a chiropractor copay. Thanks!!!

Zent,

Did you ever find a solution to this problem? I've tried all of the suggestions you were given and none worked.

any advice would be appreciated!