Essential Safari tips to help you browse smarter and faster on your Mac

While there are a lot of browser options on your Mac, Safari is one of the best choices out there. Not only is it the default browser on every Mac, it offers a slew of features, like privacy and accessibility options. It’s a solid browser all around.

If you’re new to Safari, here are six tips to help you get the most out of the browser. Even if you’ve been using Safari on your Mac for while, take a quick look at these tips—maybe there’s a setting or feature you had not heard about.  

Display full URLs

By default, Safari only shows the name of the website that you’re currently visiting in the address bar. If you’d rather see the entire URL, there’s a really easy way to turn it on. Navigate to the Safari menu and select Preferences. Then click on the Advanced tab. Then, in the setting for Smart Search Field, toggle the Show full website address option on.

Quickly reopen closed tabs

You probably spend a lot of time jumping between tabs in Safari. But what happens if you close one accidentally? Well, you can always reopen it. To easily reopen tabs that you’ve recently closed, all you need to do is press Shift+Command+T and the tab will reopen.

If you aren’t super comfortable using the keyboard shortcuts on your Mac, you can also use the browser’s settings bar, too. Click on History at the top of your browser and then select the Reopen Last Closed Tab option. There’s also an option to Reopen All Windows from Last Session, in case you accidentally closed a set of tabs.

Pin a site

If you want to avoid closing a tab altogether, you can always pin it. This will keep the tab permanently to the left of the others, making it easier to find when you really need it. It’s also really handy for when you’re working with multiple tabs and don’t want to lose it in the fray.

To pin a tab, all you need to do is right-click on the tab that you want to pin and then select Pin Tab from the dropdown list. This will pin it directly in your browser, letting you find it easily whenever you need it. You can also switch to pinned tabs easily by pressing Command+1 or Command+2, etc. on your keyboard.

Change the layout

Apple is always updating Safari, which means the user interface changes as time goes on. One thing that has changed in recent iterations is the way that tabs are laid out in the browser. Luckily, if you don’t like the standard layout, you can always change it.

To change the tab layout in Safari on Mac, got to the Safari menu and select Preferences.  Navigate to the Tabs section where you will find the Tab Layout setting. You can chose between Compact, which puts the tabs and address bar in a single row, or Separate, which puts the tabs below the address bar.

Customize the toolbar

One of the best things you can do to master Safari is personalize it. This lets you change where things are on the toolbar, as well as adjust what kind of add-ons you want to see during your daily browsing. 

You can easily customize the toolbar in Safari on the Mac by right-clicking on the toolbar at the top of the screen. Then select the Customize Toolbar option and it will bring up a new window that lets you customize all of the items on your toolbar, including your add-ons, search bar, and more.

Change the Homepage

If you want to completely bypass the Start page and set a specific site as your Homepage whenever you click on the Home button, head over on the Safari menu. Click Preferences, then General and enter any URL into the Homepage box. We recommend www.macworld.com.

Personalize the Start page

By default, Safari is set up to take you to a special Start page that showcases your Favorites, Reading List, Bookmarks, and other handy things. If you want to customize that particular page, you can. 

To customize the start screen, then right-click in any blank space on the Start page to bring up a list of options that you can show or hide. You can also drag and drop icons to move them around or even create a new folder to store them in. 

Once you’ve customized how you want the Start page to appear, you can have it appear on all the devices you use by turning on the “Use Start Page on All Devices” option in the settings menu in the lower right corner of the Start page. This menu also lets you set a background image and turn off Siri Suggestions and sidebar options.