Control whether Firefox automatically fills in forms
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- Revision id: 10664
- Created:
- Creator: scoobidiver
- Comment: removed fx3, changed history clearing procedure for fx4, fixed nested lists, added article description, summary & keywords
- Reviewed: Yes
- Reviewed:
- Reviewed by: AliceWyman
- Is approved? Yes
- Is current revision? No
- Ready for localization: Yes
- Readied for localization:
- Readied for localization by: AliceWyman
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Firefox can remember what you've entered in forms on web pages, also known as text fields. After you've entered something into a form on a web page (such as a search box), the next time you visit that page, your previous entry will be available to re-use. This article describes how to use the auto form fill and how to clear or prevent from storing form entries.
Table of Contents
Using Auto Form Fill
To use your previous entry in a form:
- Type the first few letters of the entry into the form field. Firefox will display a drop-down menu with what you've typed into the form before.
- You may see a list of all the entries stored for a particular form field by pressing the down arrow key when the field is empty.
- Press the down arrow key to select the entry you want to re-use. Press EnterReturn when the appropriate entry is highlighted. The text of the entry will appear in the form field. You may also use the mouse to click on the entry.
Deleting individual form entries
If you want to remove one of your previous form entries from Firefox's history:
- Click on the form field and press the down arrow key to display all the saved entries. You may type the first few letters of the entry to limit the number of entries displayed.
- Use the down arrow key or the mouse pointer to highlight the entry you wish to delete.
- Press Shift+Delete. The entry will be removed.
You may repeat the process for any number of entries for a particular form field.
Clearing form history
If you want Firefox to forget all of your previous form entries:
- At the top of the Firefox window, click on the
For Windows XP: At the top of the Firefox window, click on the menu and select . button, go over to the menu and select .On the menu bar, click on the menu, and select .At the top of the Firefox window, click on the menu, and select .At the top of the Firefox window, click on the menu, and select .On the menu bar, click on the menu, and select . - In the Time Range to clear: drop-down, select Everything.
- Click the arrow next to Details to display the list of items that can be cleared.
- Make sure only Form & Search History is check marked.
- Click . The dialog box will disappear and your form history will be erased.
Prevent Firefox from storing form entries
If you don't want Firefox to remember what you've entered into form fields, you can turn off the auto form fill feature:
- In the Menu bar at the top of the screen, click and then select or , depending on your macOS version.Click the menu button and select .
- Select the panel.
- Set Firefox will: to Use custom settings for history.
- Remove the check mark from the box that says Remember search and form history.
- Close the page. Any changes you've made will automatically be saved. .
Disabling form history also prevents Firefox from storing search history for the Search bar - add, change and manage search engines on Firefox in the Navigation Toolbar.
Troubleshooting
If you find that Firefox does not save your form entries and you cannot re-use them, please read the article Firefox doesn't save web form entries.
Based on information from Deleting autocomplete entries (mozillaZine KB)