How to Clear Browsing Data in Google Chrome

Google Chrome, like many other Web browsers, stores a lot of data when you browse the Internet. Typically this is done to improve your experience with the browser, and make it easier for you to access your files and Web pages again in the future.

But it also makes it easier for anyone with access to your computer to see this information, too, so you might decide that you want to delete your stored browsing data. Our tutorial below will show you where to find this menu in Google Chrome so that you can delete the data that you no longer wish to keep.

 

How to Delete History in the Desktop Version of Google Chrome

The steps in this article were performed in the desktop version of the Google Chrome Web browser. This guide is going to show you how to get to a menu in Google Chrome where you can elect to delete certain types of saved data from the browser.

Step 1: Open Google Chrome.

 

Step 2: Select the Customize and control Google Chrome button at the top-right of the window.

customize and control google chrome

Step 3: Choose the More tools option, then click the Clear browsing data option.

google chrome clear browsing data

Step 4: Check the box to the left of each type of data that you want to delete, then click the Clear data button at the bottom-right of the window. Note that you can click the dropdown menu to the right of Time range if you don’t want to delete the entire history.

how clear browsing data google chrome

 

 

If you would like even more control over the types of data you delete, you can also choose the Advanced tab at the top of the window, then scroll down and specify the types of data to remove.

delete google chrome browsing history

 

 

Do you dislike how the PDFs that you click on Web pages will open in Chrome instead of the default PDF viewer on your computer? Find out how to change PDF handling in Chrome if you would like to move away from the current behavior.