Sequioa 15.7 Safari bookmark issues

Don't erase anything.

You have to go into recovery via startup options. Shut computer down.  Hold power button until startup options appear. Click Options, macOS recovery. When in recovery, select reinstall macOS and then select your hard drive to install on.

Just make sure it doesn't go to sleep. Whole process took about ten minutes.

I was having the same issue with a new download of Sonoma. I just reinstalled Sonoma 14.8 and it fixed the issue.

I see the same issue. I was able to delete the descriptions by highlighting and hit the delete key. I also see that after having the bookmarks in the side bar that it collapses after closing Safari and when reopening need to click on the favorites category once again to show all. very anoying.

I fixed the issue. You need to install 15.7 without the latest Safari 26. Boot into recovery, erase your drive then reinstall the OS. It will update to 15.7 but keep the previous Safari version. I just did this on 3 Macs and works fine.

The "..." are not there with Sequoia 15.7 which also uses Safari 26 (same as on Tahoe). I believe Apple has a bug because without that menu you cannot organize the bookmarks correctly. What you need is 15.7 but with the previous Safari (18.6). To do that you need to boot into recovery, erase your drive and reinstall the OS and migrate all back. This will update to 15.7 but not Safari 26. I did this on 3 Macs and no issue. Just be sure to not update Safari after the fact or you will have the same issue again.

if on Tahoe, it's apparently not too hard to set it up so that rearranging bookmarks (drag and drop) is still possible using the sidebar.

but those of us that cannot upgrade to Tahoe have been left behind. the only way apple will hear us is to send feedback to them. if they don't hear from us, how will they know there is an issue?

please see Feedback - Safari - Apple.

I re-installed macOS Sequoia from the app store on top of the running macOS Sequoia 15.7, this process replaced Safari 26.0.1 with Safari 18.6 and keeps Sequoia 15.7. So far no issues.

UPDATE:

please see 6x6's reply in this discussion. if you are comfortable using terminal, their suggestion fixes things for those of us on sequoia with safari 26.0.1.

This is a disaster for me. I have hundreds of bookmarks carefully arranged for my work flow and I spent close to 30 minutes trying to delete the description - I say try because many times it took several attempts to delete the description because the bookmarks were refreshing or something idiotic along that lines.

AND When I try to arrange new bookmarks they arrange by the date it was bookmarked and I am unable to rearrange the order. This is a mess and as 25+ year Apple/Mac customer I am most unhappy.

I didn't really think that downloading macOS Sequoia 15.7.1 from the App Store would be any different from the updating process via my mac's System Software Update, but it IS, thank goodness! The Sequoia 15.7.1 download from the App Store contains Safari 18.6 (not Safari 26.0.1). I'm so relieved! I hate Apple for doing this to us. So rotten and evil. Thank you so much FitzItEng for figuring this out for us and letting us know about it! Apple should put this information on their Support page, so the many people out there who depend on the sidebar bookmarks don't have to waste a huge amount of time and get a giant headache like I did, trying to find a solution for the mess they caused.

OK, well, I found this too but after editing and rearranging the order nothing changed in the (awful) new Safari bookmark list. And it's such a retrograde way to compensate for the loss of drag and drop to rearrange. Now removed for no beneficial reason.

Other problem with this safari change is no longer being able to drag a url directly into the list. Both these losses clash directly with OSX history and convention.

Apart from no longer having control to place a bookmark where you want it, or move it, its barely possible to add one at all. The only view that now opens to place one (using many keystrokes instead of by simply dragging) no longer has folder heirarchy. Forcing you to scroll/drag it over a thousand destinations manually and inevitably fail on page four of the window.

Terrible. just saying...... !

Thanks. . . very helpful. At the same time, Apple eliminated the simple list and right-click Add Folder option. The sidebar is not cluttered and difficult to modify. Hope they eventually simplify or return to the previous style.

1) Why would the sidebar and dropdown bookmark experiences be extremely different (the sidebar being difficult to use and navigate), IMO not good UX.

2) the new folder-style sidebar bookmarking might be ok for minimal bookmarks... but with 1000's of bookmarks, and intentional user organizational efforts.. the new sidebar bookmarks setup is near impossible to use, keep organized... Btw, why add a bookmark title + url + description? That's a lot of pixel real estate. The favicon and a few visible title words are enough to spot the bookmark a user is looking for. Now I'm required to scroll quite a bit to find something, not only that the cognitive strains to have to sort through title + url + description per bookmark is awful.

Awful experience overall with the new sidebar bookmark style.

for Safari 26:

Found solution. If you click on the "..." in upper right corner and select compact and uncheck show folders on top the bookmarks remain after closing and reopening Safari.

Actually one get pretty much the same in safari, Clicking on "bookmarks" gives the undecorated list.