Want to delete your browsing history from the Google Chrome browser completely? Learn how to do it in a few simple steps.
Like any other web browser, Google Chrome, by default, keeps track of every website you visit and saves it to your browsing history. Generally, this is a handy feature as it allows you to see and access your past activity. Chrome even autofills URLs from your browsing history as you type in the address bar. For example, let’s say you want to visit a specific web page that you opened earlier, but don’t know the exact URL. In that case, you can simply open the history page, find the URL you want to open, and click on it. It’s that simple.
While the browsing history feature is pretty helpful, there might be situations where you want to delete it. For example, maybe you are sharing your browser with other users and don’t want them to see your browsing history, for privacy reasons, or as part of the browser optimization or cleanup process.
Whatever your specific reasons, if you want to, you can delete browsing history in Chrome with just a few clicks. In this quick and detailed guide, I will show how to clear the Chrome browsing history in simple steps. Let’s get started.
Steps to Delete Browsing History in Google Chrome
- Click the “Windows” icon on the taskbar.
- Search for “Chrome” and click “Open“.
- Click the “Menu” icon in the top-right corner.
- Select the “Settings” option.
- Go to the “Privacy and Security” tab on the sidebar.
- Click the “Delete browsing data” option.
- Select “All time” from the “Time Range” dropdown.
- Select the “Browsing history” checkbox.
- (Optional) Uncheck other checkboxes.
- Click the “Delete data” button.
- With that, you’ve deleted the browsing history in Chrome.
- You can close the Chrome browser.
Detailed Steps (With Screenshots)
If Chrome is not already open, you must open it first. To do that, open the Start menu by clicking the “Windows” icon on the taskbar. Next, search for “Chrome” and click the “Open” option.
Once the browser opens, click the “Menu” icon (three vertical dots) in the top right corner and then select the “Settings” option. This opens the Chrome settings tab. As an alternative, you can also type “chrome://settings” in the address bar and press “Enter”.
Go to the “Privacy & Security” tab on the sidebar and then click the “Delete browsing data” option.
Note: “Clear browsing data” option has been renamed to “Delete browsing data” in newer versions of Chrome.
The above action opens a new dialog. Here, select “All time” from the “Time Range” drop-down menu. Choosing this option will clear all the data. If you want to, you can also choose another appropriate time range.
After that, select the “Browsing history” checkbox. Since we only want to clear the browsing history, uncheck all the other checkboxes. Finally, click the “Delete data” button.
As soon as you click the button, Chrome will delete the browsing history according to the selected time range. If you’ve chosen “All Time”, your entire browsing history will be deleted.
To verify, open the history page by typing “chrome://history” URL in the address bar and pressing “Enter”. It should be empty (provided you’ve selected “All Time” in the “Time Range” dropdown menu).
That is all. It is that simple to clear browsing history in Chrome. One thing to keep in mind is that you are only clearing the browsing history in this specific browser. If you are logged into Chrome on other devices, that browsing history will not be deleted. You have to do it manually on all devices.
If you have any questions or need help, comment below. I’ll be happy to assist.
