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How To Reset Your Safari Web Browser

Which version of Safari are you using?

Safari Versions 17.1 - 11
Safari Versions 10 & 9
Safari Versions 8 - 5


Note: If you believe Safari may be infected with adware, please see the following article for more information

How to Remove Adware, Pop-Ups, and Browser Redirects From Your Mac

 

Reset Safari Versions 17.4.1 - 11

In the Safari menu, choose "Preferences..." (macOS Monterey and older) or "Settings" (macOS Ventura)

preferences.png Screenshot_2023-01-20_at_12.34.58_PM.png

Select 'Privacy' at the top of the new window that appears, and then click the 'Manage Website Data' button. In the next dialog box, click 'Remove All'. It will ask you if you are sure you want to remove all data stored by websites on your computer.

Manage_Website_Data.png

Remove_All_Website_Data.png

Select 'Remove Now' to clear data that could be used to track your browsing.

remove_website_data.png

Next, you'll want to clear caches. To do so, you need to enable 'Develop' mode to clear Safari caches:

  • From your Safari menu bar, click Safari > Preferences, then select the Advanced tab.
  • Enable the checkbox to 'Show Develop menu in menu bar' or 'Show features for web developers,' depending on which version of Safari you have installed, this may differ.

Show_Dev_Bar.png

Show web developers.png

From the menu bar select: Develop > Empty Caches.

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Reset Safari Versions 10 & 9

Curiously, Apple has actually made this process a lot more difficult than it used to be. There are now three different areas inside Safari for removing certain information. To reset Safari, follow these steps:

In the Safari menu, choose 'Preferences...'

Preferences-1.png

Click the 'Privacy' button at the top of the new window that appears, and then click the 'Remove All Website Data' button. It will ask you if you are sure you want to remove all data stored by websites on your computer.

Remove_Data.png

Select 'Remove Now' to clear data that could be used to track your browsing.

Remove_Now.png
Next, you'll want to clear caches. To do so, you now have to enable Develop mode to clear Safari caches:

  • From your Safari menu bar, click Safari > Preferences, then select the Advanced tab.
  • Enable the checkbox to 'Show Develop menu in menu bar'.

Developer.png

From the menu bar select: Develop > Empty Caches.

Empty_Caches-1.png

 

Reset Safari Versions 8 - 5

In the Safari menu, choose 'Reset Safari'.  The browser will restart without bringing up the problematic site.  It will, however, erase a lot of other historical saved data.

Reset_Safari.png

ResetSafari.png

 

 

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