Safari address bar appears to be locked

Written by Joe Aimonetti

Occasionally users may find that their address bar in Safari is locked. They are not able to enter any text into the field. The most likely cause of this is a corrupt preference file.

If you are attempting to click in the address bar of Safari and type a URL and you find you cannot, try these steps:

1. Navigate to: MacintoshHD > Users >username > Library > Preferences
2. Drag the "com.apple.Safari.plist" file to the Desktop.
Note: This will reset all your Safari preferences.
3. Open Safari and test your address bar.

If your address bar works, you may trash the "com.apple.Safari.plist" file on your Desktop. (A new plist file has been created.) You might also try removing the address bar in Safari (press and hold Command click and drag the address bar) and re-adding it (Safari menu bar > View > Customize Toolbar...).

If you are still experiencing issues with your address bar, check to be sure all your third-party add-ons are up-to-date. I experienced slowness and intermittent lock ups in my address bar with the Evernote plug-in installed (which I eventually deleted).

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