Google history

Hi Matt

By best guess would be to remove the Google cookies via Safari Preferences>Security>Cookies, and empty the cache via the Safari Menu. Then restart Safari and try the Google page.

Post back

Tray going into the safari menu next to the blue apple and clearing the cache.

Hi Matt,

In the Caches folder there is a Metadata Folder. Move the Safari folder inside Metadata to the desktop and restart Safari. Does the Google History appear? If it does, return the folder to its original location. Then in the same Caches folder, move the Safari folder to the desktop, again restarting Safari. Try Google.

Post back

I believe the route to do what you want is the following:

1. Go to Safari -> Preferences.
2. Click on the Autofill tab.
3. Click on the "Other forms" button.
4. Scroll through the items there to find the google.com.au item. (Or it might just be google.com; look around to be sure.)
5. Click on the google.com.au (or however it turns out to be named) listing to highlight it and click the "Remove" button.

This will clear the autofilling of past searches when you start typing in the Google search field. New searches will begin to accumulate in the autofill history as long as the "Other forms" checkbox is checked.

If you are signed into Google as a member, it will still save your past searches unless you instruct it not in "My Account" and then in the "My Services - Edit" section, where you can click "Delete Search History." But this search history doesn't result in autofilling when you type - it's just accessible when you look in the Search History section of Google while signed in.

If you are signed into Google as a member, it will still save your past searches unless you instruct it not in "My Account" and then in the "My Services - Edit" section, where you can click "Delete Search History." But this search history doesn't result in autofilling when you type - it's just accessible when you look in the Search History section of Google while signed in.

Hi Rachel

I looked at this area before my initial post after signing in to my Google account. I checked "search history", missing the small "edit" next to My Services - good eye you, as the locals in the Islands say. Another area I had looked was the Other Autofill section. No Google items exist there.

What I find a bit surprising, no search history, or trends etc. are accumulated in my account even though I use Google search quite a bit. Googles "help" section is not very helpful here. I do see the auto prompts as I type in the Search field on the Google History search field, but no prompts appear when entering in the regular search engine. Given the beta nature of the product, I wonder if this is still more oriented toward the PC realm than the Mac platform?

What I find a bit surprising, no search history, or trends etc. are accumulated in my account even though I use Google search quite a bit. Googles "help" section is not very helpful here. I do see the auto prompts as I type in the Search field on the Google History search field, but no prompts appear when entering in the regular search engine.

Well, remember that we're talking about two different things:

1. Autofilled searches as entered in the Google search field, which are handled by a Safari feature, not by Google. This is what I believe Matt is asking how to clear.
2. Google's saving of your search history, which is accessed by logging into Google as a member and then clicking on the "Search History" link at the top. This search history is not something that automatically appears when you start typing in the Google search box (unless #1 is in effect, but they're separate feature regardless, handled by different entities).

As far as #1 goes, this is completely within Safari's realm. When you type in anything in a form on a web page and have Safari's preferences set to autofill for "Other forms," Safari remembers what you type until you clear the autofill entry for a given site or turn off that preference setting.

For #2, this is a Google feature entirely and not within Safari's realm. This does work for me in Safari, but only if I'm logged into Google when I search. If you log out of Google (or never had an account there, either just a Google account or a Gmail account), it doesn't track and retain your searches until you log in again.

So, in response to:

I wonder if this is still more oriented toward the PC realm than the Mac platform?

No, it works just as well on a Mac, including in Safari. 🙂 You just have to be logged into a Google account while searching for Google to remember and save your searches. (And you also have to have that feature turned on in your Google preferences. That is the default setting, so Google will save your searches while you're logged in, as long as you haven't specifically turned it off.)

Thanks Rachel

As far as #1 goes, this is completely within Safari's realm. When you type in anything in a form on a web page and have Safari's preferences to autofill for "Other forms," Safari remembers what you type until you clear the autofill entry for a given site or turn off that preference setting.


I realize this - was just surprised not seeing a Google entry in there.

I'll have to pay closer attention to my Google Status when I'm searching. When I accessed "my account" for the previous post here, there was no sign-in necessary. Strange. It seems this ought to apply to searches. I'll remove the cookies and see if that effects a change for future search activity.

.

(This is just to Starman. I think Matt's original question is more easily answered, above. :-))

I suspect this might all have to do with SAFT, or some other setting you have set up in Safari. If you have anything set to avoid saving autofill entries in SAFT, that could explain Safari not having a google.com "Other items" autofill entry. And if you have anything set to delete cookies, perhaps your Google cookies are being deleted as they're created. Then Google might not be able to keep a search history for you.

Before attempting the cookie removal, I checked Google search. In the upper right corner confirmed I was "signed in". Yet, still no prompts when I enter the search field. Also, no other help aids appear when I search (set out in Google's Help section -regarding trends, favorite searches, bookmarked searches etc.). I still wonder if this beta is still PC oriented? Nothing I've seen in Google Help alludes to one platform versus another.

In the upper right corner confirmed I was "signed in". Yet, still no prompts when I enter the search field.

Ah, but see, this is where you're talking about two different things:

1) Being signed into Google will only result in saving your search history as seen when clicking on Google's "Search History" link.

2) Prompts when typing in Google's search field (i.e. autofill) are only controlled by Safari's autofill feature. You do not get these prompts from Google's search-history tracking.

I still wonder if this beta is still PC oriented?

No, I am quite certain this is not the case. I have both (1) a long Google history when clicking on Google's "Search History" link and (2) autofill via Safari's feature when typing in Google's search field.