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I'd like to remove cookies when I close Chrome, but only for a certain site. Chrome can do this, or says it can, but it doesn't work. When I restart Chrome the cookie for the site is still there. I thought maybe a chrome process was sticking around and keeping the cookie alive, but I checked in the task manager and there were no Chrome processes left.

  1. Settings->Advanced->Privacy and Security->Content Settings->Cookies->Clear on Exit

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However if I visit the site, then close Chrome and restart, there is still a cookie there from the site. You can see the cookie in "See all cookies and site data" (Settings->Advanced->Privacy and Security->Content Settings->Cookies->See all cookies and site data).

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UPDATE after disabling all extensions, the 1 cookie still remains.

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11
  • Any pinned tabs, or bookmarks to the sites? Extensions, apps, add-ons? If you disconnect from the internet, then start Chrome, are the cookies still there?
    – Xen2050
    Feb 25, 2018 at 1:34
  • I do have an extension that's specific to that site, yes. I'm not sure what a pinned tab is. I don't have a bookmark that I know of, but there may be one buried in some folder for all I know.
    – felwithe
    Feb 25, 2018 at 2:37
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    The extension could be downloading info/cookies immediately upon startup, if you don't have an internet connection then nothing should be re-downloading the cookies before you can look at them. Similar for a bookmark, firefox used to try downloading a site "thumbnail" even without visiting a site, but that might not have been a cookie specifically, but just another idea to check. You'd have to search for "pinned tab" for more info, I don't use them personally, but it's in Chrome's right-click a tab menu - basically keeps a tab open all the time.
    – Xen2050
    Feb 25, 2018 at 2:43
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    It is a bug. Please STAR this issue at: bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=750452
    – user996568
    Feb 10, 2019 at 18:28
  • 1
    I'm having the same issue. Year 2020.
    – DxTx
    Apr 10, 2020 at 19:22

5 Answers 5

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5

I see that you first posted this issue around 12 months ago (FEB 18). Fast forward 12 months later to FEB 19 and it is still an issue. This feature to 'Clear on exit' in the Chrome/Privacy and security/Content settings/Cookies area is not working. Cookies are still retained for any added sites after Chrome restarts.

I have a feeling that this has something to do with not interfering with subscription paywalls, but I digress...

There is a manual workaround for this. While not fully automated (or ideal!), it barely takes a few seconds to do.

One-off step In the Chrome browser URL bar, directly input the path 'chrome://settings/siteData' then save a bookmark to it. If - like me - you don't mind having the Chrome bookmarks bar always visible, it gives you instant access to manually clear cookies by site.

At the start of every session (only if you will be visiting the site in question)

  1. Click on the bookmark
  2. Search for the cookie(s) in question
  3. Click on the trash icon to clear them

Note: you don't need to restart the browser after the above steps.

Hope this helps.

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3

I think this may be because your cookie says www.reddit.com but your rule says reddit.com. When adding a site, the example shows [*.] at the start:

sample

Try changing it to [*.]reddit.com.

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  • Does not work. Added a site, closed the browser, killed all processes, restarted browser, cookies are still present.
    – iheanyi
    Nov 19, 2019 at 20:03
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This is definitely a bug, I noticed it recently, imagine my horror when I had thousands of cookies, even though I had set chrome to clear cookies on exit several months ago. Didn't have any such issue on Firefox.

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2
  • 3
    A bug?? Very trusting man ...
    – Diagon
    Sep 17, 2018 at 22:45
  • If it is a but, then even 2 years later, they haven't fixed it.
    – DxTx
    Apr 10, 2020 at 19:23
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According to http://crbug.com/750452, this was fixed on Feb 18, 2019.
That would mean this issue should not occur in Chrome Version 73 and newer.

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2
  • Nope. Still having the same issue. Version 80.
    – DxTx
    Apr 10, 2020 at 19:24
  • Is it fixed as of Chrome 87?
    – luckman212
    Dec 8, 2020 at 19:16
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This feature is kind of a bug in itself.

Microsoft solved this in Edge by having a separate exclude list per site to bypass "Clear on exit".

Until we see that, this won't get fixed.

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