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How can I clear the URL suggestion history?

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  • Last reply by T1234

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How can I clear the suggestion history that appears when I start entering a URL?

I have cleared all history and these sites keep getting suggested. This is annoying since I have not bookmarked or visited some sites in years. But firefox still keeps suggesting them

How can I clear the suggestion history that appears when I start entering a URL? I have cleared all history and these sites keep getting suggested. This is annoying since I have not bookmarked or visited some sites in years. But firefox still keeps suggesting them

All Replies (5)

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When you clear history, the list that drops down from the address bar should no longer show sites from history, only from bookmarks. However, the suggestions inside the address bar itself may continue to be shown, as these are stored in a different table that might require some other steps to clear. I can't think of a built-in feature for that off the top of my head.


Here are some options that I will describe in more detail below:

(1) Hide the suggestions: you can turn off the autofill feature using a preference (2) Remove the places.sqlite database that stores history and bookmarks: Firefox will create a new one from your last automatic bookmark backup (3) Use a SQLite database editor to remove the unwanted list of sites

For #1:

(1) In a new tab, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter/Return. Click the button promising to be careful.

(2) In the search box above the list, type or paste URLB and pause while the list is filtered

(3) Double-click the browser.urlbar.autoFill preference to switch it from true to false

Those sites should no longer bother you, but the data still exists...


For #2:

Please make a manual bookmark backup just in case, in two formats:

Then remove the existing places.sqlite database file as follows:

Open your current Firefox settings (AKA Firefox profile) folder using either

  • "3-bar" menu button > "?" button > Troubleshooting Information
  • (menu bar) Help > Troubleshooting Information
  • type or paste about:support in the address bar and press Enter

In the first table on the page, click the "Show Folder" button. This should launch a new window listing various files and folders in Windows Explorer.

Leaving that window open, switch back to Firefox and Exit, either:

  • "3-bar" menu button > "power" button
  • (menu bar) File > Exit

Pause while Firefox finishes its cleanup, then rename places.sqlite to something like places.old. If you see places.sqlite-shm or places.sqlite-wal, delete those.

Start Firefox back up and it should generate a new places.sqlite. Please check that it has your full complement of bookmarks. Success?


For #3:

Please my reply here: https://support.mozilla.org/questions/1109416#answer-843068

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Use these steps to remove saved (form) data from a drop-down list:

  1. click the (empty) input field on the web page to open the drop-down list
  2. highlight an entry in the drop-down list with the mouse or cursor Down key
    do not click the mouse or press the Enter key
  3. press the Delete key (on Mac: Shift+Delete) to delete the highlighted entry

You can check for problems with the places.sqlite database (bookmarks and history) in the Firefox profile folder.

See also:

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cor-el said

Use these steps to remove saved (form) data from a drop-down list:
  1. click the (empty) input field on the web page to open the drop-down list
  2. highlight an entry in the drop-down list with the mouse or cursor Down key
    do not click the mouse or press the Enter key
  3. press the Delete key (on Mac: Shift+Delete) to delete the highlighted entry

I have tried the delete method and it does not work. I will look at other post which seems to be working

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Option 1 does work. I will try the bookmark backup option next since that appears to give me the option to still have the suggestions at a later time.

I will also look into the sql editing option when I have more time

Thanks

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jscher2000 said

(3) Use a SQLite database editor to remove the unwanted list of site

For #3: Please my reply here: https://support.mozilla.org/questions/1109416#answer-843068

I deleted those old sites in the hosts sql table and it worked perfectly!! Thank you so much