macOS 10.13.4: Sorting Safari Bookmarks by Name

In the latest update to macOS High Sierra, Apple added a feature that we’ve needed for pretty much forever: the ability to auto-sort bookmarks by name or by address. I can’t tell you how many times people have asked me about how to do this! And now I actually have an answer for them. Awesome, Apple, and thanks very much.

You can use this feature in a couple of new ways. First, if you’ve got your Favorites Bar showing, you can just right-click on any folder there to get started. The toggle for hiding and showing the Favorites Bar is underneath the “View” menu…

…and if yours is on, some of your folders and bookmarks will show up underneath Safari’s Smart Search field (folders are shown with a downward caret).

As I mentioned, then, you can right- or Control-click a folder to get the option to sort its contents by name or by address. Neat!

Another way to do this is to open the Bookmarks Editor instead. Do that by choosing the “Edit Bookmarks” choice from the Bookmarks menu at the top of your screen…

…and again, you can right- or Control-click on any folder to sort it.

This’ll even work on your Favorites, so if you want to sort all of those, you could do that, too.

Finally, know that you can undo this action by pressing Command-Z or by choosing Edit > Undo:

However, if you decide you don’t like the change after you’ve quit Safari and reopened it, for example, then you’re out of luck. So, you know, be sure that you enjoy the effects after you’ve done your sorting, because you can’t go back forever! You’ve heard the saying “You can’t go home again”? Well, in the case of Safari, you can go Home all you want by pressing Shift-Command-H, but you won’t always be able to un-sort what you’ve sorted. Somehow, that’s just not as pithy of a saying, though.