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Searching your history

You can search your browsing history if you want to return to a webpage but can’t remember its address. By default, your history contains about a month’s worth of webpages you’ve opened.

To search using the address field:

Remove any text that’s currently in the address field at the top of the Safari window and type a word or phrase. A list of suggestions appears, including pages from your history. If you don’t see the page you want, choose “Search in History” for a full search of your browsing history.

To search your browsing history:

  1. Choose History > Show Top Sites, or click the Top Sites button in the bookmarks bar.

  2. In the Top Sites search field, type a word or phrase.

Search results appear immediately. Use the horizontal scroll bar to flip through the webpage previews, and then click the page you want to view. The webpage’s address, and the date you last viewed it, appear beneath its preview.

To search using the bookmarks list:

  1. Click the open-book icon at the left end of the bookmarks bar.

  2. In the Collections list, select History.

  3. In the search field at the upper-right corner of the bookmarks list, type a word or phrase. Results appear as you type.

Two buttons, All and History, appear above the list of search results. Click History to search recently viewed webpages, or click All to search recently viewed webpages plus all your bookmarks.

To search using Spotlight:

  1. Click the Spotlight icon in the upper-right corner of your screen.

  2. Type a word or phrase. A list of results appears as you type, including any bookmarked webpages that match what you’re typing.

    On Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard and later, the results also include webpages in your browsing history.

Related Topics

Searching the web

Searching RSS pages for topics

Bookmarking webpages