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Tips and tricks for using Private Browsing on Mac

Private Browsing is a useful mode on Mac with Safari. It means websites you visit aren’t saved in your history, with iCloud, Smart Search, and more. Follow along for a look at how to use Private Browsing, the keyboard shortcut to quickly open a new private Safari window, setting it as your launch default, and more.

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Keyboard shortcut for private browsing on mac, set private browsing as your default safari startup page, going further.

Using a Private Browsing window includes a number of privacy features. In a support document , Apple details how a Private Browsing window works as of macOS Big Sur and Safari 14.

• Browsing initiated in one tab is isolated from browsing initiated in another tab, so websites you visit can’t track your browsing across multiple sessions.
• Webpages you visit and your AutoFill information aren’t saved.
• Your open webpages aren’t stored in iCloud, so they aren’t shown when you view all your open tabs from other devices.
• Your recent searches aren’t included in the results list when you use the Smart Search field.
• Items you download aren’t included in the downloads list. (The items do remain on your computer.)
• If you  use Handoff , Private Browsing windows are not passed to your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or other Mac computers.
• Changes to your  cookies and website data  aren’t saved.

Below we’ll look at how to use Private Browsing on Mac but also a few extra tips and tricks to make it faster and easier to use.

• Mac: How to clear the cache, history, and cookies in Safari, Chrome, and Firefox
• Private Browsing on iPhone and iPad here .

How to use Private Browsing on Mac

• To open a new Private window, click Safari in the menu bar > New Private Window
• There’s also an alert near the top that you’ve enabled Private Browsing (disappears when you start browsing)

Here’s how it looks:

• You’re probably used to the command + N shortcut for a new Safari window
• Just add shift to that to get a new Private window – command + shift + N
• If you like to use Private Browsing regularly, you can make it your default when Safari launches
• Click Safari > Preferences in the menu bar
• Select the General tab at the top
• Next to Safari open with click the dropdown and choose A new private window

• If you want to tweak the default settings for normal Safari windows, check out the options at the bottom of the Safari > Preferences > General
• At the bottom of the window, you can adjust the settings for when history and downloads are removed and more
• Also, head to Safari > Preferences > Security or Privacy to tweak your fraudulent website warnings, and settings for cookies, website data, and more.
• To clear your Mac’s cache, history, and cookies head to Safari > Clear History (read more in our full guide on that here )

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How to turn on private browsing on a Mac computer in Safari

• You can turn on private browsing on your Mac computer in a Safari browser to use the internet without having your activity catalogued by your browser. 
• Private browsing is a good option to keep sensitive information from living in your web history or being saved to your iCloud account. 
• Here's how to turn on private browsing on a Mac computer by opening a new private window or using a keyboard shortcut. 
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories .

A private browser is a useful way to navigate the internet with minimal tracking, although the exact functions may vary slightly depending on which browser you are using. 

On Safari, private browsing means that websites won't be able to track your activity across sites, your visited websites aren't saved or stored on in iCloud, and your recent searches won't appear in the Smart Search field. 

You also won't have access to any saved AutoFill information when you visit websites, so keep that in mind if you need to log into a site.

With that in mind, here's how to open a private window on a Mac using the Safari web browser: 

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Macbook pro (from $1,299.99 at best buy), how to turn on private browsing on a mac in safari.

1. Open your Safari browser.

2. In the top toolbar, click "File."

3. Select "New Private Window."

The smart search field will show up with a dark background, which will signal that you are in private browsing mode. 

Alternatively, you could use the keyboard shortcut to open a private window in your Safari browser. To do that, you'd open a window in the browser, then press the shift, command and "N" keys.

Related coverage from  How To Do Everything: Tech :

How to update the safari browser on your mac computer by installing the latest version of macos, how to enable adobe flash player on a mac computer using safari, how to block pop-ups on a mac computer's safari browser, and avoid fraudulent websites, how to add websites to your favorites list on a mac's safari browser, making them easily accessible at any moment, how to save and delete webpages on the reading list in your mac computer's safari browser.

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