In Windows and MacBook, Microsoft Edge lets you view, manage and delete your browsing history. In this article, I will tell you how to clear your browsing history in Microsoft Edge. It applies to both MacBook and Windows.
Browser history & data refers to the information web browsers store on the computer and synced on the cloud. It includes information you’ve entered in forms, passwords, Cookies, and Cache, as well as the sites you’ve visited. You may need to clear out your storage space as these items begin to pile up.
Why Should We Delete Browsing History?
Browsers are used daily to access many online services, including Facebook, online banking, and online shopping. It is possible that you have an issue with a particular website as Edge keeps loading the cached data, or you want to delete it for privacy.
Hence, it is always a good idea to clear out your cache or browser history and clear cookies regularly. The clean-up will improve your browser’s performance and protect your privacy. However, a drawback of this feature is you will need to reenter your saved usernames and passwords.
How to Clear Your Browsing History In Microsoft Edge
When you are browsing the Internet with Microsoft Edge, your PC stores the sites you visit. The Web pages you visit are cached so that they will load faster the next time you visit. And cookies are stored to save login info and site preferences.
Here’s how to remove cookies from your computer, your browsing history, and more from Microsoft Edge. Follow these steps to clear it out:
- Launch Microsoft Edge
- Go to Edge settings (three-dot menu in the upper right of the screen), or you can press the keyboard shortcut key Alt + F.
- Go to Settings > Click on Privacy, search, and services from the left side pane > Navigate to Clear browsing data.
- Check what to clear from browsing data.
- Select Clear Now.
Alternatively, you can enter the following path in the address bar and hit Enter.
edge://settings/clearBrowsingDataOnClose
Here you will have several options that you can choose to clear every time you close Microsoft Edge:
- Browsing History
- Download History
- Cookies and other site data
- Cached images and files
- Passwords
- Autofill form data (forms and cards)
- Site Permissions
- Hosted app data.
Check the box next to each of the items you want to clear, including cookies and browsing history. Select the desired time range from the drop-down menu and then click Delete. You can select from the last hour, 24 hours, seven days, four weeks, or all time. There will be more deleted items as you go back in time. Select the Clear now button once you’ve made your selections.
When you confirm the action, all of your synced devices signed with the particular email address will have their data cleared. If you want to remove browsing data from a single device, turn off syncing.
How to Delete Browsing History in Microsoft Edge Automatically
Edge can also automatically clear cookies and browsing history every time you close the browser. You need to follow the steps given below to set this:
- Launch Microsoft Edge
- Go to Edge settings (three-dot menu in the upper right of the screen), or you can press the keyboard shortcut key Alt + F.
- Go to Settings > Click on Privacy, search, and services from the left side pane > Navigate to Clear browsing data.
- Click on the Choose what to clear every time you close the browser.
- Choose the items you wish to remove each time Edge is closed.
Now all your data will be cleared automatically.
Is There a Way to Delete Synced Data and Start Fresh?
With Microsoft Edge, you can now clear the information you synced to all your devices using Microsoft Account from Microsoft servers with the Reset Sync setting in the Edge browser. Follow these steps to do so:
- Click on Settings and more > Select Settings
- Go to Profiles > Sync
- Click the Reset Sync button at the bottom of the Reset Sync section
- Click on
By deleting the Edge Sync data from Microsoft servers, you stop sync and sign out of all your devices. Turn on Edge Sync again on all of your devices and start fresh.
Edge Keeps Clearing the “Do Not Clear” Cookie List on the Exit
Microsoft Edge Chromium lets you choose what data you want to delete from your Browsing history, Download History, and History of recent searches when you close it.
Edge automatically removes cookies each time you close the browser during a session, so you need to enter your login credentials every time you visit the websites.
The new Edge “Do not clear” option informs the user that You have permitted these sites to save and read cookie data on your device. The cookies for these sites won’t be cleared when you close the browser.
How Long Does Microsoft Edge Keep History Offline and Online?
Edge and Internet Explorer can store the history of the websites accessed for up to 999 days. To configure the settings, follow these steps:
- Click on Start > Type Internet Options > Press Enter.
- Click on Settings under Browsing History.
- Go to the History
- Adjust the number of days if necessary.
I hope this post will help you clear your browsing history in Microsoft Edge.
How to Clear Your Browser History of Specific Websites without Clearing the Whole History?
You can do that by pressing CTRL + H. This will open a tab that will show you all the recently visited websites in a list, and you can click on the cross next to them to delete them from your history
What is the file location of Microsoft Edge browsing history?
You can find your Microsoft Edge user data in this location.
C:\Users\”Your User Name”\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Edge\User Data\Default\Cache