Don’t like to see a URL in the autocomplete list? Here’s how to delete a URL from the autocomplete list in Chrome and Firefox browsers.
Every time you visit a web page, Chrome and Firefox add it to your browsing history. Visit a specific URL enough times and the browser will display it in the autocomplete list in the address bar. The point of the autocomplete list is to reduce typing the same thing over and over and make it easy to open the website you visit frequently.
However, there might be times when you don’t want a specific URL in the autocomplete history. In those cases, you can delete that URL in the autocomplete list. One way to do it is to delete the browsing history. However, it is not helpful if you don’t want to lose the entire browsing history just to delete a single URL. The other way is to just delete the specific URL from the autocomplete list. That way, you don’t have to lose your browsing history.
The good thing is, both the Google Chrome and Firefox browsers support removing URLs from the autocomplete list without deleting the entire browsing history.
In this quick guide, let me show you the steps to delete URL from the autocomplete list in the Chrome and Firefox browsers.
Delete autocomplete URL in Chrome
To delete the autocomplete URL in Chrome, follow the steps given below.
1. First, launch Chrome and type the URL you want to delete. As you type the URL it will appear in autocomplete.
2. When you see the URL you want to delete, click on the “X” icon at the end of the URL row. Alternatively, highlight the URL with arrow keys and press the Shift + Delete shortcut on your keyboard. In my case, I’m trying to delete an Amazon URL from autocomplete.
As soon as you click on the “X” button or press the keyboard shortcut, Chrome will delete that specific URL from the autocomplete list.
Delete autocomplete URL in Firefox
To remove the autocomplete URL in Firefox, these are the steps you should follow.
1. Open the Firefox browser.
2. Type the URL you want to delete. As you type, the URL should appear in the autocomplete. Highlight the autocomplete URL with arrow keys on your keyboard and press the Shift + Delete shortcut.
As soon as you press the shortcut, Firefox will delete that specific URL from the autocomplete list.
That’s all there is to do. It is that simple to delete a URL from autocomplete in Chrome and Firefox browsers.
One thing to keep in mind that when you remove a URL from the autocomplete list, it will also be removed from your browsing history. Add to that, when you visit the URL again, it will be added to the autocomplete list if you visit it enough times.
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 limit Chrome cache size and how to add timeline support for Chrome and Firefox.
As soon as I open a new tab, the URL I deleted is back.
mine too… I’ve been trying for yrs to ‘delete’ them. Just tried going into about:config and changing the URL to false
Didn’t work for me until I realized that I bookmarked a sub-URL. After removing that and a few more retries, it finally went away 😀
See also this thread: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1226557