How to Clear Timeline History in Windows 10 for Privacy

If you are not actively using the new Timeline feature, follow these steps to clear timeline history in Windows 10 to protect your privacy.

Windows 10 records all your regular activity and shows them in chronological order in the Timeline. These activities are synced across devices. When you want to open a previous activity, all you have to do is open the timeline and click on the relevant activity. You can access the Windows 10 Timeline by clicking on the TaskView button on the taskbar or by pressing the “Windows Key + Tab” keyboard shortcut.

Though the timeline feature is useful in many ways, there might be activities that you don’t want to be listed in the Timeline. Put simply, under certain circumstances, Windows 10 Timeline can be a privacy issue. If that’s the case, you can clear Timeline history in Windows 10 to protect your privacy. Let me show you how.

Steps to Clear All Timeline History in Windows 10

Below are the steps you should follow to clear timeline history in windows 10.

1. Press “Windows Key + I” to open the Settings app.
2. In the Settings app, go to the “Privacy → Activity History” page.
3. On the right page, scroll down and click on the “Clear” button under the “Clear Activity History” section.
   
4. Click on the “Ok” button in the pop-up message.
   

That is it. As soon as you click on the Ok button, all the activities are instantly cleared. You can verify that by opening the Timeline. Press Win + Tab shortcut to open the Timeline.

Note: Once the timeline activity is deleted, you cannot restore it.

Related: Enable timeline sync in the Chrome browser

Remove a Specific Timeline Activity

Alternatively, you can remove a specific activity or activities of a specific date. Here’s how.

1. Press “Windows Key + Tab” to open the Timeline.
2. Here, find the timeline activity you want to remove.
3. Right-click on the activity and select “Remove“.
   
4. To remove activities of a specific date, select the “Clear all from date” option.
   

That is it. As soon as you select the option, Windows will remove the activity(s) from the timeline history.

Note: Once a timeline activity(s) is deleted, you cannot restore it.

Disable Windows 10 Timeline Feature

If you are not using the Timeline feature than it is good to disable it.

These are the steps to disable Timeline in Windows 10.

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Go to the “Privacy → Activity history” page.
3. On the right page, uncheck “Store my activity on this device” option.
4. Uncheck the “Send my activity history to Microsoft” option.
   
5. Close the Settings app.

With the above action, you’ve disabled the Timeline feature in the Windows 10 device. If you have multiple Windows 10 devices then you have to follow the same steps in those devices too. Don’t forget to clear the timeline activity before deactivating the timeline feature.

That is all. I hope that helps. If you are stuck or need some help, comment below and I will try to help as much as possible. If you like this article, check out how to remove intrusive tips in the Settings app.