Matt Klein has nearly two decades of technical writing experience. He’s covered Windows, Android, macOS, Microsoft Office, and everything in between. He’s even written a book, The How-To Geek Guide to Windows 8. Read more.

Modern versions of Safari don’t show the entire URL of a page in the address bar—it just shows the web site’s domain name. If this bothers you, it’s easy to change.

For example, if you visit this article in Safari—whose full URL is —Safari will only show howtogeek.com in the address bar. It’s only telling you what site you’re on, not what page you’re on.

The easiest way to reveal the full URL is to click on the Smart Search Field. From here you can copy the location into a message or e-mail.

That’s easy, and maybe good enough for most folks. But what if you want to always see the full URL for everything you visit?

To do this, you will need to open Safari’s settings by clicking on the Safari menu and choosing “Preferences” or by pressing Command+, on your keyboard.

Once you’ve accessed Safari’s preferences, click on the Advanced tab and check the box next to Smart Search Field to “Show full website address”.

Now, wherever you go and whatever you visit, you will see the full URL in the search field. If you prefer the default, tidier way that Safari does things, simply reverse the process and uncheck the box.

Q. Ever since I upgraded my Mac to OS X Yosemite, the Safari browser does not display the full web address of the sites I visit. I like to know the exact page I’m on, so is there a way to extend the abbreviated addresses that are shown at the top of the window?

A. By default, the Safari browser’s Smart Search Field shows only the domain name of the site you are on (like ), instead of the much longer URL of the page on the screen (like ). However, you can easily reveal a web page’s full address in a couple of ways.

Clicking the address field/search bar at the top of the Safari window automatically expands the simple domain name to the page’s full URL. When you have pages open in tabs, the title of each page is displayed on its tab as well.

If you prefer to have the full address displayed at all times without extra clicking, you can also just change the Safari settings. With the browser open, go to the Safari menu and select Preferences (or press the Command and comma keys to get there by keyboard shortcut). Click the Advanced tab, and next to the “Smart Search Field:” line, turn on the checkbox for “Show full website addresses” before you close the Preferences box.

Considering a Touch-Screen PC

Q. Is it worth it to get a Windows 8.1 model with a touch screen instead of a standard screen? I just want a regular laptop, not one of those combination tablet-laptop things.

A. Financial considerations aside, if the prices for touch-screen and non-touch-screen machines are about the same, getting one with a touch-capable screen does give you an alternative method of interaction with the PC to go with the traditional mouse and keyboard input. Some people may find tapping the colored tiles of the Modern interface useful as shortcuts, and touch can be used alongside regular mouse work.

On the downside, some touch screens may drain the laptop’s battery more quickly than a computer with a regular display. You may find yourself cleaning your screen more frequently to get rid of fingerprint smears.

While the first version of Windows 8 in 2012 put more emphasis on the touch-screen features, Microsoft has upgraded the system more recently to make it friendlier for those who prefer to navigate the old-fashioned way.

The recent update to Windows 8.1 has tried to make the software even easier to use with mouse and keyboard by adding right-click contextual menus, and minimize and close buttons to the Modern side of the interface. It is also possible to start up the computer directly to the desktop mode and largely avoid the Modern interface if it does not appeal to you.

TIP OF THE WEEK Are you feeling inspired to upgrade your smartphone after seeing all the new fall models arrive, but are not sure how to transfer all your contacts, photos and other personal data to a different mobile platform? To help answer those questions — and possibly sway customers to pick up and move across operating systems — Google, Apple and Microsoft have all created illustrated online manuals that show how to relocate your phone’s contents from another system.

Browsers can let you customize a whole lot of things to enhance your web browsing experience. Among the popular browsers is the Safari on Mac that lets you surf the web seamlessly. But like many browsers, Safari is also one that doesn’t show the full URL in the address bar.

Not all browsers may show you the full URL of the website in the address bar. Not just for Safari, but the Google Chrome browser too, doesn’t let you view the full URL. It shortens the URL within the address bar with the main domain along with sun-domain (if any). Browsers show you the short domain to give you a more minimalist look, but you can always view the full URL of the website in Safari with a quick workaround.

Alongside the Google Chrome browser which allows you to show the full URL in the address bar, the Safari browser can also let you view the full URL in the address bar. Here’s what you need to do.

View Full URL In Address Bar In Safari Browser [Mac]

To always show the full URL in the address bar on Safari,

• Launch Safari and in the menu bar go to Safari -> Preferences.
• Under Preferences, switch to the Advanced tab.
• Check the box that says Show full website address.

Now, Safari should display the full URL. You can still view an copy the full URL of the website you want by clicking on the link in the address bar, however, this trick will show you the full link right away without needing to click on the address bar.

Did you like this quick tutorial? If you do, make sure you also check out these top 5 browsing tricks you can do in the Safari browser on your Mac. To get more cool stuff for your Mac, take a look at these Mac related tutorials, guides, tips, and tricks.

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The newest versions of Safari in macOS High Sierra, Mac OS Sierra, OS X El Capitan & OS X Yosemite defaults to only displaying the domain name of the website you are visiting, rather than the complete URL that many users have long been accustomed to seeing. Some users won’t notice the change, but for many of us, this is unnecessary and annoying as it hides information about active websites that is important to know.

If you’d like to change back to how most web browsers have behaved for twenty+ years and display the complete website URL, you can make a quick settings change on your Mac within Safari to display the entire URL address of any link in the address bar.