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How do I remove autocompleted address from address bar (NOT SHIFT-DEL)

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  • 27 have this problem
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  • Last reply by cor-el

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How do I remove an auto-completed address entry from the address bar in firefox.

Every time I start typing, firefox auto-completes a url address I do not want.

Please take note, this is NOT the same as removing a history entry from the address bar (start typing -> select entry -> SHIFT-DEL). I know how to do that.

I do not want to delete all my history if possible.

Thanks in advance.

How do I remove an auto-completed address entry from the address bar in firefox. Every time I start typing, firefox auto-completes a url address I do not want. Please take note, this is NOT the same as removing a history entry from the address bar (start typing -> select entry -> SHIFT-DEL). I know how to do that. I do not want to delete all my history if possible. Thanks in advance.

All Replies (6)

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Hello,

I think your best option is to clear all items for the single site that you don't want to appear. See the instructions here:

Clearing all items for a single site

For the future you may want to try Private Browsing mode. No information is saved about sites you visit in Private Browsing mode so they will not appear in autocomplete etc.

I hope that helps. Let me know if not.

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I tried your suggestion before I posted the question. It's not what I'm looking for.

My problem is the inline auto-complete which keeps completing the address I don't want. The particular address is from a site I have visited in the past, but turned out to be quite useless. I don't use it anymore, but it keeps inline auto-completing :-(

Also, I don't really understand how Private Browsing would be a solution. This isn't about privacy, or about visiting sites I don't want anyone else to see I'm visiting. It's just regular day-to-day use.

Anyway, thanks for the effort.

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If you have searched through your library and asked Firefox to forget every entry then it shouldn't appear in the suggestions or inline auto-complete.

Could it be that you have an old bookmark that has not been deleted? That would explain it appearing when it has been deleted from your history.

Bare in mind that some websites may have different urls for example:

Just searching for "listen" and removing all entries from history would not be enough, in this case, to remove all mentions of grooveshark.

You need to ensure that all mentions of the site are removed.


If this doesn't work then please see the support request here:

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/937290

This appears to be a similar problem that was solved using Dsmith01's instructions. If you follow these instructions please also read the post underneath from jscher2000. As he suggests it may be worth taking a backup before you begin to modify the places.sqlite file.

Modified by Ed

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You can remove all data stored in Firefox from a specific domain via "Forget About This Site" in the right-click context menu of an history entry ("History > Show All History" or "View > Sidebar > History") or via the about:permissions page.

Using "Forget About This Site" will remove all data stored in Firefox from that domain like bookmarks, cookies, passwords, cache, history, and exceptions, so be cautious and if you have a password or other data from that domain that you do not want to lose then make a note of those passwords and bookmarks.

You can't recover from this 'forget' unless you have a backup of the involved files.

It doesn't have any lasting effect, so if you revisit such a 'forgotten' website then data from that website will be saved once again.

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Firefox 14 turned on the URL bar autofill feature, where Firefox suggests a URL in the address bar itself (also known as inline autocomplete). If you want to turn just that off, see the steps in https://support.mozilla.org/questions/937290#answer-368649.

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See also "Prevent Firefox from automatically completing URLs":