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I want to not save (or auto-clear) history, but still keep cookies, logins, open tabs after restarting, and recently closed tabs

  • 1 reply
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  • Last reply by cor-el

August3180
August3180
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I haven't yet found the correct configuration to do this.

What I want is: 1. History should either not be saved, or alternatively auto-deleted after a certain time (e.g. only keep history of the past hour), or as a last resort get deleted when closing the browser. 2. I want to keep the ability to restore recently closed tabs. I realize this is a bit in conflict to not having a history, but just remembering the last few closed tabs would be enough, or all tabs closed in the last few minutes. 3. When I restart the browser, I want it to restore my previously open tabs 4. I want to keep cookies and logins (i.e. not get logged out everywhere, and have the cookie dialogues after restarting the browser). 5. Not super important, but ideally I want to keep my saved favicons/website logos in the bookmarks and on the new tab page.

So basically I just want to way for the history to be empty or automatically pruned, without sanitizing any other data on exit or browsing in a kind of permanent private mode.

Thank you in advance!

I haven't yet found the correct configuration to do this. What I want is: 1. History should either not be saved, or alternatively auto-deleted after a certain time (e.g. only keep history of the past hour), or as a last resort get deleted when closing the browser. 2. I want to keep the ability to restore recently closed tabs. I realize this is a bit in conflict to not having a history, but just remembering the last few closed tabs would be enough, or all tabs closed in the last few minutes. 3. When I restart the browser, I want it to restore my previously open tabs 4. I want to keep cookies and logins (i.e. not get logged out everywhere, and have the cookie dialogues after restarting the browser). 5. Not super important, but ideally I want to keep my saved favicons/website logos in the bookmarks and on the new tab page. So basically I just want to way for the history to be empty or automatically pruned, without sanitizing any other data on exit or browsing in a kind of permanent private mode. Thank you in advance!

All Replies (1)

cor-el
cor-el
  • Moderator
  • Top 10 Contributor
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If you use "Clear history when Firefox closes" to clear the history then this prevails and Session Restore won't reopen your tabs.

You can use these steps to make a website recognize and remember you.

  • create a cookie allow exception with the proper protocol (https:// or http://) to make a website remember you

You can check that you aren't clearing important cookies.

  • using "Delete Cookies and Site Data when Firefox is closed" to clear cookies keeps cookies with an allow exception
    toggling this setting makes changes to the "Clear history when Firefox closes" settings and those settings prevail
  • using "Clear history when Firefox closes" in Firefox 102+ honors exceptions and keeps cookies with an allow exception, previous versions removed all cookies

Make sure to keep the "Site settings".

  • clearing "Site settings" clears exceptions for cookies, images, pop-up windows, and software installation and exceptions for passwords and other website specific data
  • Settings -> Privacy & Security
    Cookies and Site Data: "Manage Exceptions"
  • Settings -> Privacy & Security
    Firefox will: "Use custom settings for history":
    [X] "Clear history when Firefox closes" -> Settings