How to Clear Your Search Bar History

Hide your tracks by clearing your browser search bar

By
Jon Martindale
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Jon Martindale
Writer
Jon Martindale has been a feature tech writer for more than 10 years. He's written for publications such as Digital Trends, KitGuru, and ITProPortal.
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Updated on June 15, 2022
Reviewed by
Michael Barton Heine Jr
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Reviewed by Michael Barton Heine Jr
Michael Heine is a CompTIA-certified writer, editor, and Network Engineer with 25+ years' experience working in the television, defense, ISP, telecommunications, and education industries.
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What to know

  • In most browsers, delete a single item by typing in the address bar and deleting the item from the results that appear.
  • Alternatively, clearing the browser history also clears the entire search bar history.

This article explains how to clear search bar history in Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge, Opera, and Safari.

Google search with search history showing in the search bar

Clear the Search Bar History in Firefox

Mozilla's flagship browser has quick methods for deleting your search bar history. Delete sites on a case-by-case basis from the search bar, or delete your entire search history at once. Delete your search history from Firefox on the desktop or the Firefox mobile app.

Delete Sites on a Case-by-Case Basis on the Desktop

Use this method to delete URLs from your search history one at a time.

  1. Open a Firefox window and type in the address bar.

    Open Firefox window with typing in the address bar.

  2. Use the keyboard's down and up arrows to navigate to the URL you want to delete.

    The URL will disappear from the search bar history.

  3. With the URL highlighted, press Shift+Delete. The URL disappears from the search bar history.

    Use your keyboard's down and up arrows to navigate to the URL you want to delete.

Delete Your Entire Search History in Firefox on the Desktop

Use this method to wipe your search history clean.

  1. Open a Firefox window and select Library (it looks like four books on a shelf) from the top menu bar.

    Open a Firefox window and select Library

  2. Select History.

    Select History.

  3. Select Clear Recent History.

    Select Clear Recent History.

  4. Select the Time range to clear drop-down menu, and choose Everything.

    Select Everything from the drop-down menu.

    Select the Form & Search History check box. Deselect anything you don't want to be cleared.

  5. Select OK. You've cleared your search history.

Delete Search History in the Firefox Mobile App

No feature deletes a URL from the Firefox mobile app's search bar, but it's easy to delete your search history in the Firefox settings.

  1. Tap Menu in the lower-right corner.

  2. Tap Your Library.

  3. Tap History from the bottom menu.

    Tap Menu, Your Library, and History to delete Firefox search history

  4. Tap Clear Recent History.

  5. Tap Everything to delete your entire search history, or choose The Last Hour, Today, or Today and Yesterday.

  6. If you selected Everything, your search history is erased.

    Tap Clear Recent History and Everything to clear your entire Firefox search history

Delete a Site From the Chrome Search Bar

As you type a search or URL into the Chrome search bar, Chrome offers suggestions based on your search history. Here's how to remove a previously visited URL from Chrome's search suggestions.

  1. Open a Chrome tab and type in the search bar.

    Open a Chrome tab and begin typing in the search bar.

  2. Use the keyboard's arrow keys or the mouse cursor to navigate to the URL you want to delete.

  3. With the URL highlighted, select the X on the far right.

    With the URL highlighted, select the X on the far right.

  4. The URL is deleted from your search bar history.

    Learn more about clearing the Chrome search history in our article on managing Google search history and data.

Clear the Search History in Microsoft Edge

Edge doesn't let you delete search bar entries individually, but it's easy to clear search entries all at once.

  1. Open an Edge window and select Settings and more (the three dots) in the upper-right corner.

    Open an Edge window and select Settings and more (three dots) from the top right.

  2. Select Settings.

    Select Settings.

  3. Select Privacy, Search, and Services.

    Select Privacy, Search, and Services.

  4. Under Clear browsing data, select Choose What to Clear.

    Under Clear browsing data, select Choose What to Clear.

  5. Select the Browsing history check box and then select Clear Now. You've deleted your search history.

    Place a check next to Browsing history and then select Clear Now.

    Optionally, select Download history, Cookies and other site data, or Cached images and files to delete these items.

Turn off Address Bar Search Suggestions in Edge

If you'd rather Edge didn't offer site suggestions when you type a URL or a query, here's how to turn off this feature. When you deactivate this feature, you receive search suggestions only from your favorites and search history.

  1. Open an Edge window and select Settings and more (the three dots) in the upper-right corner.

    Open an Edge window and select Settings and more (three dots) from the top right.

  2. Select Settings.

    Select Settings.

  3. Select Privacy, Search, and Services.

    Select Privacy, Search, and Services.

  4. Scroll down to Services, and select Address bar and search.

    Select Address bar and search

  5. Next to Show me search and site suggestions using my typed characters, toggle the switch to off. You won't see search engine suggestions based on what you type.

    Toggle off search suggestions in edge

Clear the Search Bar History in Opera

Opera offers two methods for deleting your search bar history. Do it one at a time with individual addresses, or wipe them all clean.

For Individual Links

  1. Open an Opera window and type the first few letters of the URL you want to remove from the search bar.

    Open an Opera window and type in the first few letters of the URL you want to remove from the search bar.

  2. Select the URL you want to remove.

    Select the URL you want to remove.

  3. Select the X at the end of the bar to delete it.

    Select the X at the end of the bar to delete it.

Remove All Search Bar History From Opera   

  1. Open an Opera window and select Settings (the gear icon) from the menu on the left.

    Open an Opera window and select Settings (gear) from the menu on the left.

  2. Select the arrow next to Advanced to expand the list, and then select Privacy & Security.

    Select the arrow next to Advanced, and then select Privacy & Security from the drop-down menu.

  3. Select Clear browsing data.     

    Select Clear browsing data.

  4. Select Browsing history, and then select Clear data.

    Select Browsing history, and then select Clear data.

    Optionally, select the Cookies and other site data check box and the Cached images and files check box to delete these items.

Clear Browser Data From the Opera Mobile App

If you use the Opera mobile app, it's easy to delete your browsing history.

  1. Select the More menu (three horizontal lines) in the lower-right corner.

  2. Select Settings.

  3. Tap Clear Browser Data.

    More, Settings, and Clear Browser Data in Opera for iOS

  4. Select Browsing History.

  5. Select Clear.

  6. You'll see a message that your data was cleared.

    Clearing the browsing history in the Opera mobile app

Clear the Search Bar History in Safari for macOS

On macOS, Safari allows you to delete your browsing history one URL at a time or clear your entire search history.

Remove Individual URLs in Safari for macOS

  1. Open Safari and select History > Show All History.

    Open Safari and select History > Show All History.

  2. In the search field, enter the website you want to remove from your search bar history.

    In the search field, enter the website you want to remove from your search bar history.

  3. Select the website you want to remove.

    Select the website you want to remove.

  4. Press Delete. The URL is removed from your search history.

Delete Your Entire Search Bar History

  1. Open Safari and select History > Clear History.

    Open Safari and select History > Clear History.

  2. Select the Clear drop-down menu and choose all history to delete your entire search history.

    choose all history to delete your entire search history.

    Optionally, choose the last hour, today, or today and yesterday to delete history during those timeframes.

  3. Select Clear History. Safari deletes your entire search history.

    Select Clear History.

Clear the Search Bar History in Safari for iOS

Removing the browsing history on Safari for iOS is a little different from its macOS counterpart.

Clear Your Search Bar History for Individual Addresses

  1. Open Safari and tap the Bookmarks icon (it looks like an open book).

  2. Tap the History tab (the clock icon) and find any addresses you want to remove.

  3. Swipe left on an individual URL, then tap Delete to remove it from your search bar history.

    Delete Safari search history in the mobile app

Clear Your Entire Search History

  1. Open the Settings app, then tap Safari.   

  2. Tap Clear History and Website Data.   

  3. Tap Clear History and Data to confirm your decision.

    Clear History and webite data in Safari for iOS
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