Safari can't download files

TidBITS Talk
1

I’m running Big Sur 11.6.5 with Safari 15.3. I have two problems:

  1. Cannot download files (such as updates from MacUpdate) or email attachments (Gmail). These downloads work from Chrome and Firefox.
  2. Safari → Preferences → Advanced. “Show Develop menu bar” (at the bottom) is greyed out.
2

That’s quite troubling and suggests that you might want to reinstall Safari, assuming you’ve already done all the usual checks (restart, check in another user account, etc). But that’s not an easy thing to do (since, as I understand things, Safari relies on a lot of WebKit frameworks that are shared throughout macOS) and may require a full macOS reinstall.

3

Will the standalone installer do the job? Safari 15.3 Standalone Installer Download Links - Jamf Nation Community - 257082

1 Like
4

Check Safari Preferences/Downloads. I had trouble downloading an Adobe product and found thee preference for download was set to Deny.

5

Thanks for the suggestion, but that’s not it.

6

That resolved it!!!
Thank you for providing the link.

1 Like