Clear your search history in Chrome in three steps
Open Chrome and press Ctrl + H on Windows or Command + Y on Mac. This opens your History page. On the left side, click Clear browsing data. A box will appear asking what time period you want to clear — select All time if you want everything gone, or pick a specific range like "Last 24 hours" or "Last 7 days". Make sure the checkbox next to Cookies and other site data is checked, then click the blue Clear data button at the bottom right.
That single action clears three things at once: your search history, the websites you visited, and the data those sites stored on your computer. Chrome will not ask you to confirm — the data disappears when ready. If you close Chrome and reopen it, your history will be gone.
If you want Chrome to delete your history automatically every time you close the browser, you can turn on a setting called Delete cookies and site data when you quit Chrome. This is found in Chrome's Settings under Privacy and security, but it only works if you actually close Chrome completely — minimizing it to the taskbar does not trigger the deletion.
Key Takeaways
- Press Ctrl + H (Windows) or Command + Y (Mac) to open your History page, then click Clear browsing data on the left side.
- Choose the time period you want to clear — "All time" removes everything, or you can pick the last hour, day, week, or month.
- Make sure Cookies and other site data is checked so Chrome removes both your history and the data websites stored about you.
- You can set Chrome to automatically delete your history every time you close the browser by turning on the Delete cookies and site data when you quit Chrome setting.
What gets deleted when you clear your history
When you click Clear data, Chrome removes several things. Your search history — every search you typed into Google or another search engine — disappears. The list of websites you visited also vanishes. Any passwords Chrome offered to save are deleted if you checked that box. Cookies, which are small files websites use to remember you, get removed too.
What does not get deleted is anything you saved on purpose. If you bookmarked a page, it stays. If you downloaded a file, the file itself stays on your computer — only the record that you downloaded it disappears. If you were signed into a Google account, you stay signed in, but the history tied to that account gets cleared from your device.
One thing to know: clearing your history on your computer does not clear it from Google's servers if you use a Google account. Google keeps a separate record of your activity across all your devices. To clear that, you need to visit myactivity.google.com and delete it there — that is a different process covered separately.
Clear history from a specific website only
If you only want to delete history from one website, not everything, Chrome has a faster way. Go to that website. Press Ctrl + Shift + Delete on Windows or Command + Shift + Delete on Mac to open the Clear browsing data box. In the top dropdown that says "All time", keep it as is. Then look for a field that says Cookies and other site data — click inside it and type the website name, like "amazon.com" or "facebook.com".
When you type the site name, Chrome will show you a dropdown list of matching sites. Click the one you want. Then click Clear data. Only the history and cookies from that one site will be removed — everything else stays.
Use Incognito mode to avoid creating history in the first place
If you want to browse without Chrome recording your history, use Incognito mode. Press Ctrl + Shift + N on Windows or Command + Shift + N on Mac. A new window opens with a dark theme and a spy icon in the corner. Anything you search for or visit in this window is not saved to your history.
Incognito mode does not make you invisible to websites or your internet provider — they can still see what you visit. It only stops Chrome from saving the history on your device. When you close an Incognito window, all the history from that session is deleted automatically. Cookies are also deleted when you close the window, so websites will not remember you the next time you visit in Incognito mode.
Incognito is useful if you share a computer with someone else and do not want them to see what you searched for, or if you want to shop for a gift without websites showing you ads about it later.
Why Chrome might not delete everything
Sometimes you clear your history and then notice Chrome still shows some old searches or websites. This usually happens for one of two reasons. First, if you use a Google account and have sync turned on, Chrome syncs your history across all your devices. Clearing history on one device does not clear it on another — you have to clear it on each device separately, or go to myactivity.google.com to clear it from Google's servers.
Second, some websites store information in ways that survive a history clear. For example, if a website uses local storage instead of cookies, it might not be deleted when you clear browsing data. This is rare, but it can happen. If you want to be thorough, you can go to Chrome Settings, click Privacy and security, then Site settings, and manually delete data for specific sites.
Clear history on a shared computer
If you share a computer with family or roommates, clearing your history only removes it from your own Chrome profile. Each person who uses Chrome should have their own profile — you can see whose profile is active by looking at the circle icon in the top right corner of Chrome. If someone else uses a different profile, their history is separate from yours.
If you want to clear history from all profiles on the computer, you need to be signed in as the computer's administrator. Open Chrome Settings, go to Privacy and security, click Clear browsing data, and make sure you are clearing from the right time period. But this only works if you have admin access to the computer itself.
If you do not have admin access and someone else's profile is storing history you want gone, you cannot delete it — only that person can clear their own history. This is by design, to prevent one user from tampering with another user's data.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does clearing my history delete my passwords?
Only if you check the box for Passwords and other sign-in data when you clear browsing data. By default, this box is unchecked, so your saved passwords stay even after you clear everything else. If you want to delete a specific password, go to Chrome Settings, click Passwords, find the site, and click the three dots next to it to delete just that one.
Can I undo clearing my history?
No. Once you click Clear data, it is gone from Chrome. If you cleared history by accident, you cannot get it back from Chrome itself. However, if you use a Google account with sync turned on, the history may still exist on Google's servers at myactivity.google.com — you can view it there, but you cannot restore it to Chrome.
Will clearing my history speed up Chrome?
Slightly, but not much. Clearing history frees up a small amount of storage space on your computer, which might make Chrome run marginally faster if your device is very low on space. The main reason to clear history is privacy, not performance. If Chrome is running slowly, the problem is usually too many open tabs or extensions, not your history.
What is the difference between clearing history and clearing cache?
History is the list of websites you visited and searches you made. Cache is the temporary files Chrome stores to make websites load faster next time you visit. When you clear browsing data, both are deleted by default. You can uncheck the cache option if you want to keep those temporary files, but most people delete both at the same time.
Does clearing history on Chrome clear it from Google Search?
No. Clearing history in Chrome only removes it from your computer. Google Search keeps its own record of your searches if you are signed into a Google account. To delete that, go to myactivity.google.com, sign in, and delete your activity there. That is separate from clearing Chrome's history.