Why and how to delete your browsing history
Clearing your internet history removes the record of websites you have visited from your browser. When you clear history, the browser stops showing those sites in your address bar suggestions, and it deletes the list you see when you open your history menu. This does not affect websites themselves or your accounts on those sites — you will still be logged in, and the sites will still have their own records of your visits.
Most people clear history for privacy: so household members cannot see where you have been online, or so your device does not store a record of sites you visited on a shared computer. Some people clear it before selling or giving away a device. Others do it regularly as routine maintenance.
The steps differ slightly depending on which browser you use — Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Edge — but the process takes less than a minute on any of them.
Key Takeaways
- Clearing history removes the record of websites you visited, but does not log you out of accounts or erase what websites know about you.
- Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge all have a keyboard shortcut to open the clear history menu: Ctrl+Shift+Delete on Windows, or Command+Shift+Delete on Mac.
- You can choose to clear only the last hour, day, week, or all time — you do not have to delete everything.
- Clearing cookies and cached images at the same time removes more data, but may log you out of some websites.
- If you want history cleared automatically every time you close the browser, you can turn on private browsing mode or change your browser settings.
Clear history in Chrome
Open Chrome and press Ctrl+Shift+Delete on Windows, or Command+Shift+Delete on Mac. A window will open showing what you can delete.
At the top, you will see a dropdown that says "All time" or "Last hour" or similar. Click it and choose how far back you want to go. If you only want to delete the last day, select "Last 24 hours." If you want everything gone, leave it on "All time."
Below that, you will see checkboxes. "Browsing history" is already checked — that is what you want. You can also check "Cookies and other site data" if you want to remove login information and tracking data, but this will log you out of most websites. Leave the other boxes unchecked unless you have a specific reason to delete them.
Click the blue "Clear data" button. Chrome will delete your history immediately.
Clear history in Firefox
Open Firefox and press Ctrl+Shift+Delete on Windows, or Command+Shift+Delete on Mac. The history clearing window will appear.
At the top, click the dropdown next to "Time range to clear" and choose your range — "Last Hour," "Last 24 Hours," "Last 7 Days," "Last 4 Weeks," or "Everything." Then make sure "Browsing & Download History" is checked.
If you also want to remove cookies and site data, check those boxes too. When you are ready, click the red "Clear Now" button.
Clear history in Safari
Open Safari. At the top of the screen, click History in the menu bar, then click Clear History.
A small window will pop up asking "Clear history from:" with a dropdown menu. Choose "the last hour," "today," "today and yesterday," or "all history." Select what you want and click Clear History.
Safari does not give you as many options as Chrome or Firefox — you cannot choose to keep cookies while deleting history, or vice versa. When you clear history in Safari, it clears both at once.
Clear history in Edge
Open Microsoft Edge and press Ctrl+Shift+Delete on Windows. The clearing window will open.
At the top, click the dropdown next to "Time range" and select your range. Make sure "Browsing history" is checked. You can also check "Cookies and other site data" to remove login information.
Click the blue "Clear now" button. Edge will delete your history right away.
Automatically clear history when you close your browser
If you want your browser to delete history every time you close it, you can turn on this setting instead of clearing manually each time.
In Chrome: Click the three-line menu at the top right, go to Settings, then Privacy and Security. Turn on "Clear cookies and site data when you quit Chrome." You can also click "See all cookies and site data" to choose exactly what gets deleted.
In Firefox: Click the three-line menu at the top right, go to Settings, then Privacy & Security. Under "History," click the dropdown next to "Firefox will" and select "Use custom settings for history." Check the box that says "Clear history when Firefox closes." You can click "Settings" next to it to choose what gets deleted.
In Safari: Click Safari in the menu bar, then Preferences. Go to the Privacy tab. Check the box that says "Remove history items" and choose "after one day" or another timeframe from the dropdown.
In Edge: Click the three-dot menu at the top right, go to Settings, then Privacy, search, and services. Turn on "Clear browsing data." You can choose whether to clear it when you close the browser or at a different time.
What clearing history does and does not do
Clearing your browser history removes the list of sites you visited from your device. It does not remove your browsing activity from your internet service provider's records, from your employer's network logs if you were on a work network, or from the websites themselves.
It also does not prevent websites from tracking you going forward. If you visit a website after clearing history, that site will still be able to see your visit and collect data about your behavior. Clearing history is about removing the local record on your device, not about hiding your activity from websites or networks.
If you want to browse without creating a history record in the first place, use your browser's private or incognito mode. In Chrome and Edge, press Ctrl+Shift+N on Windows or Command+Shift+N on Mac. In Firefox, press Ctrl+Shift+P on Windows or Command+Shift+P on Mac. In Safari, click File, then "New Private Window." When you close a private window, that session is not saved to your history.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will clearing history log me out of my accounts?
Not usually. Clearing browsing history alone leaves you logged in to most websites. However, if you also clear cookies and site data at the same time, you will be logged out of accounts on those sites. You will need to log back in the next time you visit.
Can I clear history for only certain websites?
Not with the standard clear history tool. You can delete individual entries by opening your history menu and right-clicking a site to remove it, but this is slow if you have many sites to delete. Your faster option is to use private browsing mode for sites you do not want recorded.
Does clearing history delete my saved passwords?
No. Passwords are stored separately from history and cookies. Clearing history will not affect your saved passwords. If you want to delete a saved password, you have to do that through your browser's password manager, not through the history clearing tool.
What is the difference between clearing history and clearing cache?
History is the list of websites you visited. Cache is the temporary files your browser stores — images, scripts, and other parts of websites — so pages load faster the next time you visit. Clearing cache frees up storage space but does not remove the record of where you have been. Most people clear both at the same time.
If I clear history on my phone, does it clear it on my computer too?
Only if you use the same browser account on both devices and have sync turned on. If you use Chrome with a Google account on both your phone and computer, and sync is enabled, clearing history on one device will clear it on the other. If you use different browsers or do not have sync on, clearing history on one device does not affect the other.