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Safari History [message #1347] Thu, 10 February 2022 12:43 Go to next message
kestrel
Messages: 3
Registered: February 2022
Junior Member
I’m trying to work out how I can see safari browsing history in foxtrot search.

I've selected preferences>files and selected library folder - the description notes for library folder says it includes safari history.

I then let indexing run but when I try to search for items I know are in my safari history I get no results showing.

Just in case this was a foxtrot professional only feature I’ve downloaded a trial of professional but cannot get safari history working in there either.

Is there anything else I need to do to get this working please?
Re: Safari History [message #1348 is a reply to message #1347] Tue, 15 February 2022 10:06 Go to previous messageGo to next message
kestrel
Messages: 3
Registered: February 2022
Junior Member
Hi

I’m wondering if someone from Foxtrot could give me an answer on this query please. Prior to posting here I had sent a message to support but got no response so posted here as I’m keen to buy Foxtrot but wanted to know the answer to this query first. Thanks.
Re: Safari History [message #1350 is a reply to message #1348] Fri, 18 February 2022 11:51 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Atlas
Messages: 130
Registered: August 2009
Senior Member
I'm hoping the Foxtrot team would answer directly, but perhaps my experience with Foxtrot might help shed some light. Foxtrot does not index ALL file types. It typically will index documents and other file types that you work with on a daily basis. However, Safari history is stored in a database, and Foxtrot (to my understanding) does not index databases. Therefore, telling Foxtrot to index the location of Safari history will not help. In my experience, you would need another application that can search Safari's history database. There are several options, including HistoryHound and "DB Browser for SQLite".

It should be noted that HistoryHound will not only search through Safari's history, but it will also index the page content of your browsing history, which means you can search through the content of webpages you've visited. This could be a great feature, but if you only want to search through the url and title of your webpages, then use something like "DB Browser for SQLite" and follow this guide:http://2016.padjo.org/tutorials/sqlite-your-browser-hi story/. There are also other applications like Alfred and LaunchBar that offer methods for searching Safari's history, but they are not as sophisticated as HistoryHound or DB Browser.
Re: Safari History [message #1356 is a reply to message #1350] Sat, 19 February 2022 13:18 Go to previous messageGo to next message
kestrel
Messages: 3
Registered: February 2022
Junior Member
Hi Atlas - thanks for taking the time to post - it is much appreciated.

I have looked at the 2 alternatives you suggested and have downloaded a trial of HistoryHound which looks great so I'll see how I get on with that.

Once again thank you for posting.

Re: Safari History [message #1357 is a reply to message #1356] Sat, 19 February 2022 13:54 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Atlas
Messages: 130
Registered: August 2009
Senior Member
HistoryHound is specifically designed to search through the contents of your web history, but it's not designed for searching specific url that you visited or narrowing down your search down to a specific date. To search in HistoryHound, you typically have to know some string in either the web page title or content. However, if you know the string then it support wildcard and even boolean search query.

The developer of HistoryHound also develop DefaultFolderX, and he also provides great support if you notice bugs.
Re: Safari History [message #1365 is a reply to message #1347] Mon, 21 February 2022 15:41 Go to previous message
FoxTrot Engineering
Messages: 383
Registered: April 2020
Senior Member
In the past, Safari used to store its bookmarks and history as individual files in the Library folder, which could be indexed using FoxTrot. This is no longer the case in recent macOS versions (they are stored in a database format; FoxTrot only support individual files), so the description notes for library folder is no longer accurate. Thanks for reporting this.

Jérôme - FoxTrot Engineering
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