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How to Clear Private Data in Mozilla Firefox

It's easy to remove all or some of your browsing history

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Updated on February 12, 2021

What to Know

To clear History, select Library > History > Clear Recent History > select item to clear > OK.
To clear History automatically, about:preferences#privacy > Cookies and Site Data > Delete [...] when Firefox is closed.

This article explains how to clear private data in Mozilla Firefox. Instructions apply to Firefox build 78.0.1 and newer.

Firefox updates frequently. The procedures we outline below were tested on Firefox build 78.0.1 (64-bit).

What's in Your Firefox History?

Firefox remembers a lot of information to make your browsing experience pleasant and productive. This information is called your history, and it consists of several items:

Cookies store information about the websites you visit.
Browsing history is a list of sites you visited.
Download history is a list of the files you downloaded.
Form history contains information you entered into online forms.
Search history includes all the terms you entered into the Firefox search bar.
Cache stores temporary files that Firefox downloads from the internet to speed up your browsing experience.
Offline Website Data consists of the files that a website stores on your computer that allow you to use it even when you aren't connected to the internet.
Site Preferences are site-specific preferences, including permissions for a site such as a pop-up blocker exception.
Active Logins occur when you log in at a website that uses HTTP authentication.

How to Clear Your Firefox History

Here's how to clear the Firefox history, including all or some of the items listed above:

Select Library. It resembles books on a shelf.
Choose History.
From the History menu, select Clear Recent History.
Select the items to clear, along with a specific time duration. Firefox supports selective deletion based on specific time ranges (the last one, two, or four hours; today; or everything) and types of information.
Select OK after you configure your preferences.

How to Set Firefox to Clear the History Automatically

Firefox can automatically clear your browser history when you exit the application, so you don't have to do it manually. Here's how:

Go to the address bar, type about:preferences#privacy, and press Enter.
Scroll down to the Cookies and Site Data section.
The Delete cookies and site data when Firefox is closed option, if active, clears cookies and temporary files when the browser application closes. Put a check mark in the box to enable this activity, or leave it blank to continue with manual maintenance.
Close the window when you're done configuring your settings. It auto-saves, so there's nothing to confirm.

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