The Safari 26 sidebar view of Favorites has changed significantly, and for me at least, it no longer allows a click & drag to reposition an item up or down the list nor into a different folder. I also can’t see how to re-title or edit the URL.
Is this a glitch on my system or is now “the way it works, so shut up and get used to it”?
From Safari Help:
Go to the Safari app 
on your Mac.
Click Bookmarks in the sidebar.
If the sidebar isn’t shown, click 
in the toolbar.
If you don’t see Bookmarks at the top or bottom of the sidebar, click 
at the top of the sidebar.
Click 
, then do any of the following:
See recently saved bookmarks: Scroll through the small images at the top of the sidebar. Click an image to open the bookmark.
See larger icons and include bookmark descriptions: Select Large.
See smaller icons and exclude bookmark descriptions: Select Compact.
Rearrange bookmarks: Deselect Show Folders on Top, click 
next to a folder to show subfolders, then drag bookmarks and folders to new locations.
To copy a bookmark, Option-drag it.
Sort bookmarks: Choose Show Folders on Top, click , click Sort By, then choose a sort order.
Create a folder: Choose New Folder.
Deselecting “Show Folders on Top” is the magic incantation that allows manual rearrangement to work. At least it did for me…
Thanks for posting this Safari Help content! I answers my key question, but unfortunately does not resolve my situation. I presume your OS is 26.x with the matching Safari 26.x.
It appears my challenge arises due to my OS being 15.7.2 Sequoia (end of the road on this Mac) with Safari 26.1. On this OS and Safari combination Apple overlooked including one or more UI elements. I do not have this:
My sidebar is locked into the view with folders always sorted above single bookmarks, and bookmarks having descriptions. This precludes being able to manually sort or edit bookmarks in the sidebar. There do not seem to be any commands in the top-of-screen menus to match those made available by the in OS 26 version of Safari.
I can do the sorting and edits by accessing Bookmarks menu=>Edit Bookmarks. But using bookmarks from the Safari sidebar is now a user-hostile experience for this non-upgradable Mac unless Apple deigns to add a full set of UI controls.
If you edit the Bookmarks in the standard Bookmarks editor (Bookmarks menu / Edit), does it also change in the Bookmarks sidebar? It does on Safari on my Sequoia Mac mini.
Yes and No. The basic edits such as tweaking the URL or title of the link will apply, but sorting is entirely out of my control. All folders/subfolders sort to the top with individual bookmarks at the bottom. Beyond that the individual bookmarks are sorting in a non-intuitive way —not clearly newest to oldest or alpha A to Z, rather some kind of mixture.
Below is a capture of the Sidebar next to the Edit window with both focused on a collection of Apple links. In the sidebar the “Use MagSafe Charger…” bookmark is the most recent, while below it the “Apple” bookmark is likely the oldest. In the Edit window and when clicking the drop-down of the Apple folder from the Favorites Bar that “Use MagSafe Charger…” bookmark is at the bottom of the lists as usual.
Yes, I am running macOS 26.1 and Safari 26.1. I can fire up a VM that I have with Sequoia and see if I can reproduce and find a solution.
It looks like Sequioa doesn’t allow that.
Thanks @Technogeezer and @ddmiller for confirming that I haven’t simply lost the plot.
Fortunately the drop-down lists from the Favorites Bar are not rearranged and do reflect manual sorting implemented in the Edit Bookmarks window. I’ll ignore the Sidebar for now and hope that Apple adds the button and the controls hidden under it and the “Show Folders on Top” toggle to an update of Safari for Sequoia.
Does toggling Sort to None help?
Apple did not provide a Sort control for the Sidebar when viewing Bookmarks. This problem is unique to Safari 26x for MacOS 15 Sequoia. Take a peek at my screenshot posted earlier in this discussion—no controls.
Sorry, yes, I see that now. I’m finding Safari increasingly confusing and frustrating.
It was exactly because of this awful change to Safari that I downgraded to Safari 18.6 for Sonoma on my Mac Studio running Sequoia 15.7.2.
Amazed at how simple it was to do, and how snappy this previous version is compared to 26.
Next time I contemplate an update of Safari- or any point update of the OS for that matter- I’ll be much more cautious..
Follow-up to my original post.
Good News, Safari 26.2 on Sequoia now includes the button that was missing from the sidebar in version 26.1. This button re-establishes access to the longstanding set of controls for the sidebar contents, including all the sorting options! Thank you Apple for correcting this quickly and not allowing it to become a perma-bug.
This new Tahoe presentation of the sidebar is still somewhat diminished imho, due to the icons added to every item—as covered in this article and discussion—which increase vertical space between list items, slowing the user’s ability to visually scan while also increasing the amount of scrolling required.
