How to Delete History On Chromebook – Before You Start
Chromebooks are devices powered by Google’s Chrome OS, which is meant for on-the-go individuals who are always online.
So maybe you want to lend your Chromebook to someone or sell it to them; you should delete your history. After all, browsing history definitely qualifies as personal information.
Other times you might want to delete history on your Chromebook because it’s lagging. If you’ve done a system cleanup on your device, you might have noticed that browsing data takes up most storage space on Chromebooks, and so much so if you are an extensive web browser.
That said, in this review, we will look at the step-by-step process of deleting history on a Chromebook. Do note there are several methods you can either do it manually through the browser settings or use a browser extension.
What Does the History Page Contain?
The history page on your Chromebook shows all websites that you’ve visited in the last 90 days. Unfortunately, the history page doesn’t contain pages you’ve removed from your browsing history, pages you’ve visited in incognito mode, and settings history.
If you’ve signed into Chrome browser and synced your history, then the history page will show all websites you’ve visited on all synced devices for much longer. In addition, if you’re signed out of Chrome, the history page won’t show web pages from your other devices.
The Process of Deleting History On Chromebook Is as Follows
Find Chromebook History
- Launch the Chrome browser on your Chromebook and open a new tab.
- Next, click on the triple-dot menu in the top-right corner of your screen. You can also click (CTRL+H) on your keyboard to open the ‘History’ menu.
- In the drop-down menu that appears, scroll down and click on ‘History.’
- The tab that will appear is the ‘Chrome history’ tab, and it will display all Google Chrome browsing history on the Chromebook you’re currently using.
- You can click on ‘Tabs from other devices’ just under ‘Chrome history’ to see the history on all other devices synced to your Chromebook. This is crucial because it will help you decide how to delete history; you might want to keep history on other devices.
Delete All Chromebook History at Once
Chrome allows you to clear all history at once if there is nothing specific you need to hold on to. The steps of doing this are as follows:
- Click on ‘Clear browsing data,’ a pop-up window will appear.
- On the ‘Basic’ tab, uncheck everything apart from ‘Browsing history.’
- Click on the ‘Clear data’ button in the bottom-right corner of the pop-up window.
- You’ll now see the pop-up window empty, meaning browser history has been cleared.
Delete Chromebook History by Website
If you don’t want to delete all the browsing history you have on your Chromebook, you can opt only to delete specific web pages. The steps of doing this are as follows:
- Uncheck the checkboxes of all the pages you want to keep. You’ll notice that the checkboxes on the pages you’ve not unchecked remain blue.
- Now move your cursor to the ‘Delete’ button in the upper right corner of the screen and click on it. This should delete the webpage you don’t want to keep.
- Google has embedded a safety measure in the browser to prevent accidental clearances. Therefore, a pop-up window will appear asking you if you want to delete the checked web pages. Click on ‘Remove’ to delete them.
Delete Chromebook History by Date
Suppose all you’re trying to do is delete history from a certain date. In that case, it’s possible. The steps for doing this are as follows:
- Click on ‘Clear browsing data,’ and a pop-up window will appear.
- Click on the ‘Advanced’ tab to see the drop-down menu that includes time options. Now you can uncheck anything in this menu you’d like to keep.
- You can click on ‘Time range’ then ‘All time’ to choose how far back you’d like to delete your browser history. There are several options available down to the last hour.
Note: If you browse the web quite a lot on your Chromebook, your cookies, history, passwords and images can make your device sluggish. Remember, Chromebooks usually don’t have plenty of storage space, so it’s important to clean non-vital data from time to time.
Final Thought
To sum it all up, a Google Chromebook is very handy when it comes to erasing your browsing history because it allows you to delete history on the device itself and other devices that are synced to it. What’s more, you can delete all the browsing history on your Chromebook at once, by date or by website, thereby allowing you only to retain history that’s crucial to you.
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