88

In Firefox, I can use Shift+Delete to delete a single item from the URL history (the URL suggestions).

How can I delete a specific mistyped URL item (only one) from the history in Google Chrome, so it won't show up as a suggestion?

Improve this question
3

7 Answers 7

Reset to default
125

To delete a single autosuggested URL, start typing the address as you normally would—Google.com in my example. Then, when the unwanted autocomplete suggestion appears, use your keyboard's arrow keys to highlight the suggestion in the drop-down menu below the address bar.

Finally, press Shift+Delete and poof! The suggestion disappears.

On a Mac, you may have to press Shift+Fn+Delete.

Screencast:

How to delete page from Chrome Suggestion

Improve this answer
9
  • 19
    I don't know why this was downvoted. I just tried this on my Mac and it worked. Only difference is I have to press Shift+Fn+Backspace because thats how you press delete on a macbook pro. I am on Chrome Version 45.0.2454.85.
    – Thomas Antony
    Sep 10, 2015 at 4:15
  • 2
    Working ok in 2016! Related answer superuser.com/questions/273278/…
    – Patricio
    Dec 17, 2016 at 12:49
  • 2
    Make sure that the mouse cursor is not over any of the suggested rows and you only use the keyboard. Another option is to hover the line with mouse cursor and a "X" button appears at the end of the line if Chrome supports removing that suggestion.
    – Mikko Rantalainen
    Jan 11, 2021 at 15:09
  • 7
    None of the above suggestions worked for me. No X buttons ever appearing. No effect with backspace, either with FN pressed or not. Turned out the page was bookmarked (wrongly; as 99% of my bookmarks) and I needed to first remove the bookmark ⭐️, in order to have the shortcut work (or the X button appear).
    – Kamafeather
    Jun 24, 2021 at 17:36
  • 3
    You can't delete if it is also bookmarked. DELETE any bookmarks FIRST.. then you can use this technique.
    – panofish
    Mar 24 at 17:10
21

It works the same way in Chrome.

enter image description here

But, basically, only the items with the globe in front can be deleted.

If you're now going "Yeah, I know that, I want to remove the history items which I can remove just fine from the history by using chrome://history/, but from the address bar! " then you seem to be out of luck.

Improve this answer
4
  • What about the items with the clock icon?
    – takeshin
    Mar 11, 2012 at 12:21
  • What if it does have a file icon on it. How do I remove it? Is very annoygin dropbox.com/s/d08iomuhx5q587x/… -- Clearly * Modifier+Delete does not work on OS X 10.10.
    – sorin
    Feb 11, 2015 at 9:58
  • 1
    @sorin it does, but on OS X delete = fn + backspace, so to delete an url you have to push: Shift + fn + Backspace
    – mutantacule
    Sep 28, 2015 at 10:44
  • 1
    @takeshin Items with the Star icon can be removed or edited in the Bookmark Manager. This was useful to me because I bookmarked the wrong URL and would be annoyed when I'd select the bookmark and the non-existent page would load
    – Graham P Heath
    May 11, 2016 at 20:50
6

For Chrome URL suggestions that you seem to be unable to clear with Shift+Del or in Chrome's settings, navigate to this directory:

Windows

C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default

Mac

~/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/Default

Linux

~/.config/google-chrome/Default

Remove the History and Web Data files. Removing only the History file seems like it works at first, but for me the URLs always come back. After removing both files, these unwanted URL suggestions have never come back for me.

Improve this answer
1
  • +1 for the C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default folder location, however, for me the mistyped URL suggestions are stored in: Shortcuts and Shortcuts-journal
    – therobyouknow
    Oct 8, 2012 at 11:14
5

I see that in Chrome v86 (may be elier too; MacOs) when you type letters on url bar and move mouse on suggestion then "x" button appear for "Remove Suggestion"

enter image description here

Improve this answer
1
  • This was the only way that worked for me, thanks!
    – Jon Deaton
    Oct 21, 2021 at 17:30
2

If all other answers to this question fail to solve the problem:

Bookmarked urls also show up in the suggestion box. So if at some point you added a bookmark to a page that is no longer relevant and you don't want it to show up as suggestion, then you should also remove it from your bookmarks.

You can do this by navigating to chrome://bookmarks, and searching for the url that you want to delete.

Improve this answer
0

+1 for @Ian's answer locating the folder - but actually removing files Shortcuts and Shortcuts-journal worked for me: all mistyped-URLs suggestions are now removed.

To investigate which files in this folder were storing the suggestions, I installed the MobaXTerm Unix-like shell tool for windows, and went to C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default and did a grep url * where I typed the actual URL in place of url suggestion e.g. grep facebook.cm * - the grep showed where Chrome was storing the suggestion - in Shortcut and Shortcut-journal

(I used MobaXterm to be able to use grep on Windows - Windows search does not find everything)

But, of course, you shouldn't need to install MobaXTerm- this was used to help my investigation to find where the incorrect URLs were stored. So...

All you need to know to delete ALL mistyped URL suggestions in Chrome on Windows 7 is:

To remove mis-typed URL suggestions in Chrome, go to: C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default and remove files Shortcuts and Shortcuts-journal

(As a footnote, I think it is bad that Chrome's clear browsing history: chrome://chrome/settings/clearBrowserData and chrome://chrome/settings/cookies do not remove mis-typed incorrect URLs as suggestions.)

Improve this answer
0

There is also a Google Chrome extension that can help you do that same

Click&Clean

After installing the extension, click the button in your browser toolbar, hover your mouse over 'Clear private data' and click the settings icon.

In the Chrome section, you can click the trash can icon next to any data type to remove it immediately, but you can also configure Click&Clean for faster use in future. Tick the boxes next to anything you would like to be able to quickly and easily delete from your browsing history, and click the 'Run cleaner' button to remove them.

If you want to tailor the time frame for deletion, use the 'Obliterate' drop-down menu to choose choose how far back you would like to wipe. In future, you can simply click the Click&Clean button in the Chrome toolbar and then click 'Clear private data' to wipe out everything you have selection in one fell swoop.

Check the screenshot below

click and clean

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .