Show full website address no longer working in Safari

In the Advanced Tab of Safari settings there is a "Smart Search field: Show full website address option". It used to be that that would cause the full URL to show, but now it only shows the search terms, which is not ever what I want.


I have cleared history and turned off extensions to try to fix it and neither worked.


Is this just a bug?


See the image for an example

MacBook Pro (M1, 2020)

Posted on Mar 24, 2025 2:14 PM

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Mar 25, 2025 11:06 AM in response to Mac Jim ID

That's not quite right. Google results include links to other google search pages and safari insists on replacing the link with the search terms when I click on them.


In any case the "Smart Search field: Show full website address" must mean that full web site address is shown after search. How would turning the checkbox off be different? If it doesn't do anything, why is it there?


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Mar 25, 2025 11:42 AM in response to msi_support

You posted the same thing where Safari is showing you the search terms of your Google Search. It is called Smart Search Field because you can enter search terms from there to reveal results from your search engine. It is not a webpage that you are viewing, it is the search results from the search terms you have used. You have not clicked on any of those links from the search results that would then show you the full website address. Here is another example:


Once you click one of the search terms, this is what shows when the full address is checked:




And this is what shows, when it is unchecked:

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Mar 25, 2025 1:07 PM in response to Mac Jim ID

OK so that checkbox is just for domain vs full website address on regular sites, but there is no way on safari to show/copy a google search url in the address bar if google is your configured smart search. Copy URL isn't even showing up in the share options for me (it's turned on in settings) so I guess google URLs only available via History or send link thru email/message. Weird, but I guess that's the way it is.

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Show full website address no longer working in Safari

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