Delete your Firefox history in three steps

Open Firefox and press Ctrl+H on Windows or Command+Y on Mac. A sidebar will open showing your browsing history. At the top of that sidebar, click the trash icon or the three-dot menu, then select "Clear Recent History". A window will pop up asking what time range you want to clear — choose "Everything" if you want your entire history gone, or pick a specific range like "Last Hour" or "Last 24 Hours". Check the boxes next to "Browsing & read History" and any other data you want removed, then click "Clear Now".

That is the fastest way. If you want to delete history without opening the sidebar, you can also go to the menu button (three horizontal lines in the top right), select "Settings", click "Privacy & Security" on the left, scroll down to "History", and click "Clear Your Recent History" under the Cookies and Site Data section. Both paths lead to the same clearing window.

Firefox will not ask you to confirm again after you click "Clear Now" — the history disappears when ready. If you close Firefox and reopen it, those deleted pages will not appear in your history or suggestions when you start typing in the address bar.

Key Takeaways

  • Press Ctrl+H (Windows) or Command+Y (Mac) to open your history sidebar, then click the trash icon and select "Clear Recent History".
  • You can choose to clear everything or just the last hour, day, or week — the window lets you pick the time range before you confirm.
  • Clearing history removes pages from your browsing record but does not delete the actual websites or close your open tabs.
  • If you want history to clear automatically every time you close Firefox, you can turn on "Always use private browsing mode" in Settings under Privacy & Security.

What gets deleted when you clear history

When you clear your browsing history, Firefox removes the list of pages you visited and the dates you visited them. This is the record that appears when you click the history button or press Ctrl+H. It also removes those pages from the dropdown suggestions that appear when you start typing in the address bar.

Clearing history does not delete your saved passwords, bookmarks, or autofill information unless you specifically check those boxes in the clearing window. It also does not close any tabs you currently have open or delete the actual websites themselves — it only removes your local record that you visited them. If you want to delete passwords or autofill data at the same time, check those boxes before you click "Clear Now".

Clear history automatically when you close Firefox

If you want Firefox to delete your history every time you close the browser, go to the menu button (three lines), select "Settings", then click "Privacy & Security" on the left side. Scroll down to the "History" section and look for the dropdown that says "Firefox will". Click it and select "Use custom settings for history".

A new set of options will appear. Check the box that says "Clear history when Firefox closes". Below that, click "Settings" to choose what gets cleared — make sure "Browsing & read History" is checked. From now on, every time you close Firefox completely, your history will be wiped. This does not affect your bookmarks or passwords unless you also check those boxes.

If you want to keep some sites' history but not others, this automatic clearing will not help — it clears everything. For that, you would need to delete individual pages from your history manually by right-clicking them in the history sidebar and selecting "Forget About This Site".

Delete a single page from your history

Open your history by pressing Ctrl+H (Windows) or Command+Y (Mac). Find the page you want to remove, right-click it, and select "Forget About This Site". Firefox will delete that page and any other pages from the same website that are in your history. This is useful if you visited a site by accident or want to remove one specific visit without clearing your entire history.

Be aware that "Forget About This Site" removes all history from that domain, not just the one page. If you visited example.com ten times and you forget about it, all ten visits disappear. Firefox will also clear any saved passwords, cookies, and site preferences for that website, so you may need to log in again the next time you visit.

Private browsing mode as an alternative

If you do not want Firefox to keep a history of certain browsing sessions at all, you can open a private window instead of a regular one. Press Ctrl+Shift+P on Windows or Command+Shift+P on Mac to open a new private window. Anything you do in that window — pages you visit, searches you make, files you read — will not be saved to your history when you close it.

Private windows are useful for one-off visits or sensitive browsing. They work alongside your regular windows, so you can have both open at the same time. Pages you visit in private mode will not appear in your history sidebar, and Firefox will not suggest them when you type in the address bar. However, any files you read in private mode will still be saved to your Downloads folder.

Clearing cache and cookies separately from history

Your browsing history is different from your cache and cookies. History is the list of pages you visited. Cache is temporary files that websites store on your computer to load faster next time. Cookies are small data files that websites use to remember you. You can clear these separately if you want to keep your history but remove cached files or cookies.

To clear cache and cookies without touching your history, go to Settings, click "Privacy & Security", scroll to "Cookies and Site Data", and click "Clear Data". A window will pop up with two checkboxes — "Cookies and Site Data" and "Cached Web Content". Check whichever ones you want to remove and click "Clear". This will not affect your browsing history or your saved passwords.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does clearing history delete my saved passwords?

No, unless you specifically check the "Passwords" box in the clearing window. By default, clearing history only removes your browsing record. If you want to keep your passwords but clear history, leave that box unchecked.

Can I recover history after I delete it?

No. Once you click "Clear Now", Firefox permanently removes that history from your computer. There is no undo button or recovery option. If you think you might need to remember a page you visited, bookmark it before you clear your history.

Will clearing history on my computer clear it on my phone?

Only if you use Firefox Sync, which syncs your history across devices. If you have Sync turned on and you clear history on your computer, it will also clear on your phone. You can turn off Sync in Settings under "Sync" if you want to manage history separately on each device.

What is the difference between clearing history and private browsing?

Clearing history removes pages you already visited from your record. Private browsing prevents Firefox from recording your visits in the first place. Private mode is better if you want to avoid creating a history record from the start. Clearing history is better if you want to remove visits after the fact.

Does clearing Firefox history clear my Google search history?

No. Clearing Firefox history only removes the record stored on your computer. Your Google account keeps its own separate search history on Google's servers. To clear that, you need to go to myactivity.google.com and delete it there.