How to clear the address bar history

Updated: 03/10/2024 by Computer Hope
Address bar completion in Chrome on Windows 10

By default, web browsers give you suggestions when you begin typing in the address bar, automatically completing the text for you. They may suggest site URLs from your browsing history or bookmarks/favorites, popular search results, or sites you have open in other tabs.

The following sections show you how to clear your address bar history and then disable it if you choose. To proceed, select your browser from the list below and follow the instructions.

Chrome

Chrome logo

To clear your address bar history, use Google's My Activity tool. After that, you can disable omnibox suggestions to prevent them from showing in the future.

How to clear the address bar history

  1. Open Google Chrome.
  2. Go to the My Google Activity page.
  3. On the left side of the screen, click the Delete activity by selector.

Delete activity by selector.

  1. In the Delete Activity prompt, click All time.

All time selector

  1. In the upper-right corner of the next prompt, check the box next to Select All, and click the Next button.

Select all history in My Activity.

  1. On the confirmation screen, in the lower-right corner, click the Google Delete button. button.

How to disable omnibox suggestions

Once you've cleared your address bar history, you can turn off further tracking by disabling the Google omnibox suggestions.

  1. Open Google Chrome.
  2. Go to the My Google Activity page.
  3. On the left side of the screen, click the Activity controls selector.

Activity controls selector.

  1. On the Activity controls page, click the Turn off button under the Web & App Activity section.

My Activity toggle

  1. When you click the Turn off button, you see the Pause Web & App Activity prompt. Click the Google Pause button. button in the bottom-right corner.

Firefox

Firefox logo

Firefox has a few options when to clear the address bar history. You can clear history from a specific site or all sites. The following sections show you how to do each and then disable the feature that tracks address bar history.

How to clear all address bar history

To clear all your address bar history in Firefox, clear your browser history. To learn how, see: How to clear Firefox history.

How to clear address bar history for one site

  1. Open the Mozilla Firefox browser.
  2. Click the Library icon Firefox menu in the upper-right corner of the browser window.
  1. Select History in the next menu.

History selector

  1. Scroll to the bottom of the new menu and click the Show All History button.

Show All History

  1. Right-click one of the sites in your history, and select Forget About This Site.

Forget About This Site button.

How to disable address bar history

If you don't want to see any address bar suggestions in Firefox, you can disable them through the Privacy & Security options.

Microsoft Edge

Microsoft Edge logo

In Microsoft Edge, there are a few steps to clear the address bar history. Edge always generates suggestions in the address bar based on your search history and favorites. So, to clear your address bar history and keep it that way, you must turn off address bar suggestions, force Edge to clear the history each time it closes, and remove favorites.

How to clear address bar history

One of the ways the address bar suggestions are populated is via your search history. To erase the search history, clear your browser's history. To learn how, see: How to clear Edge history.

How to clear browser history on exit

After you've cleared your history, toggle a setting that makes the browser clear history again each time you close the browser.

How to remove your favorites

Edge always keeps the address bar history for your favorites, even if you clear them. To remove those suggestions from the address bar, remove your favorites.

How to disable address bar history

If you don't want to see any address bar suggestions in Edge as you type, you can turn off the AutoComplete feature.

Microsoft Edge Legacy

Edge Legacy logo

To clear your address history in Microsoft Edge Legacy, clear your browsing history. Then, if you don't want to see future suggestions, disable the search and site suggestions feature.

How to clear address bar history

Address bar site suggestions are populated from your search history. To erase them, clear your browser history.

How to disable search and site suggestions

Toggling the AutoComplete feature to "off" keeps Edge Legacy from making suggestions as you type in search queries or web addresses.

Microsoft Internet Explorer

Internet Explorer logo

To clear your address history in Microsoft Internet Explorer, clear your browsing history. Then, if you don't want to see future suggestions, disable search and site suggestions.

How to clear address bar history

Address bar site suggestions are populated from your search history. To erase them, clear your browser history. To learn how, see: How to clear Internet Explorer history.

How to disable search and site suggestions

Toggling the AutoComplete feature to "off" keeps Internet Explorer from making suggestions as you type in search queries or web addresses.

Safari

Safari logo

To clear your address bar history in Safari, clear your browsing history. Then, if you don't want to see future suggestions, disable the suggestions feature. However, realize that Safari always makes address bar suggestions for sites you bookmarked.

How to clear address bar history

Address bar site suggestions are populated from your search history. To erase them, clear your browser history. To learn how, see: How to clear Safari history.

How to disable search and site suggestions

Disabling the "Include Safari Suggestions" option prevents Safari from making suggestions as you type search queries or web addresses.

Opera

Opera logo

To clear your address history in Opera, clear your browsing history. Then, if you don't want to see future suggestions, disable Opera's prediction service.

How to clear address bar history

Address bar site suggestions are populated from your search history. To erase them, clear your browser history. To learn how, see: How to clear Opera history.

How to disable search and site suggestions

Toggling the prediction service in Opera to "off" keeps it from making suggestions as you type search queries or web addresses.