Stupid Simple Mac Tips #99 – Better Safari’ing Starts with Toolbar Customization
Which side do you fall on in the great debate over whether Chrome or Safari is the more efficient browser for Mac users?
If you think Chrome beats Safari, have I got a surprise for you?
Sure, at first blush, Chrome might seem like the champ, but there are a variety of tools and tricks for Safari that make it and not Chrome the better choice for productivity-hungry users.
This is why I’ve pulled together this first in a series of Safari-focused Simple Stupid Mac Tricks to help you achieve greater efficiency every time you use your Mac-supplied browser.
Right-Click on the Toolbar
The starting point, however, is personalizing Safari. You do that by customizing its toolbar.
In case you didn’t know, Safari (like most other macOS apps) makes it very easy to add, remove, and reposition buttons in the toolbar.
Just right-click anywhere on the toolbar, then select Customize Toolbar.
A popup window appears. Find inside it the buttons you want to add to the toolbar.
Drag Away Unwanted Buttons
The toolbar has a default set of buttons, but you can purge one, some, or all of them.
The first step is to get rid of the buttons you’ve never used.
Go into the Safari toolbar, click on the icon you want to remove, and drag it down.
Let go of the mouse and see a satisfactory POOF cloud to confirm it’s been removed.
Let’s make the toolbar yours.
Now drag the buttons you often use to your desired location in the toolbar, exactly where you want them.
Lastly, if you see any icons at the bottom you’ve previously wished for, drag them up where you want them.
Click “done.”
Among the buttons, you can add are the back/forward command, iCloud tab, share, new tab, tab preview, start page, sidebar, bookmarks, auto-fill, zoom, mail, website preferences, flexible space, and search bar. You’ll also see 3rd party icons, such as Grammarly or 1Password.
See you next time for our second installment of the SSMT Safari Series.
