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re gmail sign in, don't want my address to show, don't want to stay signed in

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When I click on my gmail icon, the screen shows my email address; I don't want it to. And when I am in my gmail I don't want to "stay signed in"; I don't want to have to manually sign out. Recently all I had to do was "x" out, and I was automatically signed out. I want this again!

When I click on my gmail icon, the screen shows my email address; I don't want it to. And when I am in my gmail I don't want to "stay signed in"; I don't want to have to manually sign out. Recently all I had to do was "x" out, and I was automatically signed out. I want this again!

Chosen solution

When you say you would "x" out, do you mean completely closing Firefox?

By default, Firefox will save cookies for as long as a site specifies. However, you can override that so Firefox discards cookies when you shut it down. You would do that here:

"3-bar" menu button (or Tools menu) > Options > Privacy

If the middle of the box says, "Firefox will: Remember history" change that to "Firefox will: Use custom settings for history". That will reveal a set of detailed controls.

Under "Accept cookies from sites" change "Keep until" to "I close Firefox".

To get rid of the existing Google cookies with longer lifetimes, click the "Show Cookies" button to the right and in the search box at the top type goog. This should zero in on your Google cookies and you can remove them individually here.

The next time you visit Google, Firefox should set the expiration of the cookies to the end of the current session.

Does that do what you want to do?

Alternates:

If you MOSTLY want only session cookies but there are SOME SITES that should recognize you longer, you can give those sites permission to set persistent cookies.

If you MOSTLY want persistent cookies and only want SOME SITES' cookies to evaporate at the end of the session, you can keep the normal setting in Privacy but change the permission for the short memory sites.

To adjust cookie permissions for a particular site, use the Page Info dialog. Either:

  • right-click and choose View Page Info > Permissions
  • (menu bar) Tools > Page Info > Permissions
  • click the padlock or globe in the address bar > More Information > Permissions

Under "Set Cookies" uncheck the Use Default box and set the permission for the site:

  • Allow = persistent cookies
  • Allow for Session = session cookies
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All Replies (4)

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In order to change this for gmail, removing cookies from the cache will log the account out.

However in order to remove an account click on the "Remove account" and log out to log back in. On the initial login page you can uncheck "stay signed in"

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There is no "remove account" button; only an "add account" button. And on the initial login page there is no "stay signed in" to uncheck.

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HI cmes3526, From any app where it lists the email account that is selected you can select an account and sign out.

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Chosen Solution

When you say you would "x" out, do you mean completely closing Firefox?

By default, Firefox will save cookies for as long as a site specifies. However, you can override that so Firefox discards cookies when you shut it down. You would do that here:

"3-bar" menu button (or Tools menu) > Options > Privacy

If the middle of the box says, "Firefox will: Remember history" change that to "Firefox will: Use custom settings for history". That will reveal a set of detailed controls.

Under "Accept cookies from sites" change "Keep until" to "I close Firefox".

To get rid of the existing Google cookies with longer lifetimes, click the "Show Cookies" button to the right and in the search box at the top type goog. This should zero in on your Google cookies and you can remove them individually here.

The next time you visit Google, Firefox should set the expiration of the cookies to the end of the current session.

Does that do what you want to do?

Alternates:

If you MOSTLY want only session cookies but there are SOME SITES that should recognize you longer, you can give those sites permission to set persistent cookies.

If you MOSTLY want persistent cookies and only want SOME SITES' cookies to evaporate at the end of the session, you can keep the normal setting in Privacy but change the permission for the short memory sites.

To adjust cookie permissions for a particular site, use the Page Info dialog. Either:

  • right-click and choose View Page Info > Permissions
  • (menu bar) Tools > Page Info > Permissions
  • click the padlock or globe in the address bar > More Information > Permissions

Under "Set Cookies" uncheck the Use Default box and set the permission for the site:

  • Allow = persistent cookies
  • Allow for Session = session cookies