How to run Greasemonkey scripts in Safari

by Ross McKillop on November 14, 2007

Firefox Mac Safari

If you’re a die-hard Safari user, you may want to check out one of Firefox’s best features – Greasemonkey. Using the free software SIMBL and GreaseKit, you can run most of the scripts created for Greasemonkey – in Safari. And Mailplane. And all WebKit apps. So now you can use the genius that is Folders4Gmail while using Safari.

  1. First up – download SIMBL and install it (installation consists of clicking ‘next’ a bunch of times).
  2. Exit Safari if you’re using it.
  3. Next, download GreaseKit. To install it, drag the GreaseKit.bundle file to ~/Library/Application Support/SIMBL/Plugins

    note: if you don’t have a SIMBL/Plugins/ folder, just create it, then drop GreaseKit.bundle into it.

    4. GreaseKit
    click to enlarge

  4. Now re-open Safari. You should see a GreaseKit entry in the Safari menu bar.

    5. GreaseKit

  5. Head on over to http://userscripts.org and find a Greasemonkey script to try out. Again, I’ll recommend Folders4Gmail. When you find one you want to install, click the Install this script button.

    6. GreaseKit

  6. You’ll see a bunch of javascript fill up your browser window, and a Safari dialog box will appear asking you to confirm the installation. Click Install.

    7. GreaseKit
    click to enlarge

  7. Your GreaseKit menu will now include the installed script.

    8. GreaseKit

  8. Check to make sure the script works in Safari by actually using it. In this case, I installed Folders4Gmail, and it works exactly as it should. Note: I installed 5 random Greasemonkey scripts using GreaseKit and all of them worked perfectly – if you find one that doesn’t, please feel free to leave a comment here.

    9. GreaseKit