Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

questions about: history and add a site to new tabs page

more options

i am trying to make room for a new site on the new tab page. i have supposedly cleared my history, but sites keep showing up and all the spaces in all four rows are taken up. i have clicked on "remove from history" for the sites that endlessly pop up. finally got a clear space--after manually deleting every site that came up--note--some would not delete. i find this curios. alas, the site i am trying to add via "three dots: add site" is not working. so, how do i actually delete more than 24 hours of browsing history? i can pull up the list of sites, but see no option to delete them. and, when you tell me how, is it possible to delete everything except what i have bookmarked/pinned to new tab? and why can i not add a site when there is now an empty space? really confused by this--but actually not as confused as to how long it took me to actually find how to ask a question. i am literally exhausted. thank you.

i am trying to make room for a new site on the new tab page. i have supposedly cleared my history, but sites keep showing up and all the spaces in all four rows are taken up. i have clicked on "remove from history" for the sites that endlessly pop up. finally got a clear space--after manually deleting every site that came up--note--some would not delete. i find this curios. alas, the site i am trying to add via "three dots: add site" is not working. so, how do i actually delete more than 24 hours of browsing history? i can pull up the list of sites, but see no option to delete them. and, when you tell me how, is it possible to delete everything except what i have bookmarked/pinned to new tab? and why can i not add a site when there is now an empty space? really confused by this--but actually not as confused as to how long it took me to actually find how to ask a question. i am literally exhausted. thank you.

All Replies (11)

more options

NOT a reply, but do not see an option to edit OP. funny--i can edit this reply, but not the original post. NEVER MIND. i found how to do that. not initially obvious. wanted to delete THIS, but cannot find how to do that, so i guess i have to leave it here, and therefore will not add to the OP. i believe the sites i cannot delete from new tab page must be the ones that are bookmarked. is this indeed correct? why can they not be removed from new tab page, though? is there a secret i don't know? also, i discovered how to add a new page, and it has nothing to do with the three dots on the top right of the new tabs section. that simply does not work. the three dots on the upper right of the area the site will be put in does work. one has to click on "edit" (the pencil). why must everything be so difficult?

Modified by circe801

more options

Hi circe801, you should be able to "unpin" or "dismiss" any site in the Top Sites section.

If I understand --

i discovered how to add a new page, and it has nothing to do with the three dots on the top right of the new tabs section. that simply does not work. the three dots on the upper right of the area the site will be put in does work. one has to click on "edit" (the pencil).
why must everything be so difficult?

These float-over ••• menu buttons are a bit hard to discover. I guess there's a balance between reducing clutter and knowing where the invisible menu button is that isn't just right yet.

more options

hi, jscher2000. those "float-over" ••• menu buttons were what i used to dismiss or delete from history. i am telling you that some will neither dismiss nor delete, irrespective of what you might think.

Modified by circe801

more options

I'm sure if it wasn't working there must be some reason, but I haven't run into the problem myself so haven't had an opportunity to investigate. If you notice any pattern to it, I can try to replicate the problem.

more options

jscher2000 said

I'm sure if it wasn't working there must be some reason, but I haven't run into the problem myself so haven't had an opportunity to investigate. If you notice any pattern to it, I can try to replicate the problem.

I've been having this problem forever myself. There is no pattern. I can delete a site and it either stays or shows up again. I have to do multiple deletes and dismisses to get rid of the site. Then it shows up again. I can only reason that there are multiple instances of the site, but "dismiss" is supposed to get rid of ALL instances of the site, isn't it?

more options

circe801 said

hi, jscher2000. those "float-over" ••• menu buttons were what i used to dismiss or delete from history. i am telling you that some will neither dismiss nor delete, irrespective of what you might think.

You are not alone! I have the same problem. Unfortunately, like you, I've found nothing! It's come up in every version of FF that I've had. Even before Quantum. I've spent too many hours searching for a solution both on the web and FF help pages. Your post is the only thing I've found during my numerous searches. There must be a solution somewhere, but I don't know where else to look.

more options

You should be able to edit any tile, pinned or not pinned, via the three dot menu of a tile and change Title and URL and change Pin/Unpin state to suit your needs.

more options

cor-el said

You should be able to edit any tile, pinned or not pinned, via the three dot menu of a tile and change Title and URL and change Pin/Unpin state to suit your needs.

I have done that many times. I have to select both "dismiss" and "delete," for a given tile of the site. Even after doing both, another tile for the site appears from later in the "queue". It seems as though all tiles/instances of a given site are not deleted or dismissed. The tiles that I'm talking about are not pinned. They are visited sites that get added after my pinned tiles. There are many, many tiles in that queue, many of them being duplicates. Way too many to delete manually. According to documentation, all of the tiles for a given site should be deleted when "delete" is selected. Could each tile for a given site be pointing to a different web address of the site?

I've had this problem on many versions of FF, even before FQ. I've searched the web and FF, but I've found only one post with this problem. The comments/solutions only discuss using bookmarks instead, which I don't want to do. Is there something in about:config that I can modify, or a way to see the entire last visited sites and delete the unwanted sites all at once?

I have professional experience writing web applications, so you can get technical if that helps.

Thank you

more options

Delete only removes this specific URL AFAIK. You need to use "Forget About This Site" on a history item to remove all history from this domain like I posted above. You can pin a website to each tile to prevent Firefox from filling them with history, otherwise Firefox will use older history to fill a tile if you click dismiss or delete.

Did you look at browser.newtabpage.blocked on the about:config page to check its size?

You can open the about:config page via the location/address bar. You can accept the warning and click "I accept the risk!" to continue.

more options

Hi Your Highness, if dismissing sites is a hassle, you might consider some other options for your Top Sites section:

(A) Pin sites you actually want to see

(B) Reduce the number of rows in the section

(C) If you don't find the section useful, set Firefox not to show it.

For (B) and (C), this article describes where to make changes on the Options/Preferences page: Customize your New Tab page to hide or display content.

more options

jscher2000,

Thank you for your information and/or solutions for my question. Your replies verify that I cannot do what I really want to do.

Having been a Electrical/Software Engineer for over 20 years, it seems like a simple thing to do. Of course, experience tells me that what seems easy on the outside isn't that easy on the inside: "Can't you just add a button to do that on this screen?" Yeah right. Been there, done that. I don't want to pursue it anymore because I'm now retired and wouldn't get paid!

Thanks again,

Carol