How to Organize Your Browsing with Safari Profiles

Learn to manage separate browsing sessions for work, personal, and projects using Safari Profiles on macOS Sonoma or later.

1. Open the Profiles settings menu. Launch Safari and navigate to the menu bar. Select Safari, then click Settings to open the preferences window. Navigate to the Profiles tab located in the top navigation bar of the settings window.
2. Create a new profile. Click the plus (+) button at the bottom of the Profiles list. Enter a descriptive name for your new profile and assign it a color and icon to distinguish it from your main browsing window. Click Create Profile to finalize the setup.
3. Assign extensions to profiles. While still in the Profiles settings, select your newly created profile. Click the Extensions tab to view which content blockers or productivity tools should be active for this specific environment. Toggle the switches next to the extensions you wish to enable for this profile.
4. Switch between active profiles. Click the Safari menu in the top menu bar. Select New [Profile Name] Window to open a fresh instance of the browser assigned to that specific profile. You can also right-click the Safari icon in your Dock and select the desired profile from the context menu.
5. Identify your current profile. Look at the toolbar in your active Safari window. The profile name or icon will appear on the left side of the tab bar, indicating which workspace is currently in use. This provides a visual cue to prevent cross-contamination of browsing history.
6. Remove an unnecessary profile. Return to Safari Settings and select the Profiles tab. Select the profile you wish to delete from the list on the left sidebar. Click the minus (-) button and confirm the action to remove the profile and its associated cache and history data.