Delete Cookies on a Mac

Nov 10, 2009 - 20 Comments

web Deleting cookies on the Mac depends on the specific web browser in use, thus if you want to delete all cookies, you’ll want to accomplish this for every browser app. Considering the web browsers most commonly used in Mac OS X are Safari, Chrome, and Firefox, we will show how to delete cookies in each of these browsers.

Delete Cookies in Safari on Mac

  • Go to the “Safari” menu choose click “Preferences”
  • Now choose the “Privacy” tab
  • Click on the “Remove All Website Data” button, it will be next to “Cookies and other website data”
  • Confirm the removal to delete all the cookies from the Safari browser

Your cookies have been deleted in Safari, this means site logins and so forth are often forgotten too, until they have been set again, or unless they were stored in Keychain. Note that new versions of Safari for OS X are handled slightly different as described here.

Delete Cookies in Firefox on Mac

* Click on the ‘Firefox’ menu
* Navigate down to ‘Preferences’ and click
* Click on ‘Privacy’
* Click ‘Show Cookies’ or ‘Remove Individual Cookies’ button, depending on Firefox version
* Click ‘Remove All Cookies’

Now your cookies are deleted in Firefox!

Delete Cookies in Chrome on a Mac

  • Go to the “Chrome” menu and choose “Preferences”
  • Under the “Settings” section, click on ‘Advanced’
  • Choose “Clear browsing data”

You can also get more specific cookie details in Chrome and eliminate them on a one-off basis through this advanced section.

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Related articles:

Posted by: Manish Patel in Firefox, How to, Mac Apps, Mac OS, Tips & Tricks

20 Comments

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  1. chad says:

    I’ve looked under everything in privacy and security and see nothing that says coockies!

  2. Max Janowsky says:

    For all you people wondering where the show cookies button is, its in the privacy tab, not the security tab. Hope this helps

  3. 85ZingoGTR says:

    I think this is wrong. I have OSX snow leopard and I have no “Show Cookies” button under the security tab. I had to go to the privacy tab and delete them there.

    • boogie mna says:

      Assuming you mean for Firefox.

      The above left out:

      While under the tab ‘privacy’, sub-section ‘History’ you should see “Firefox will:”. In the drop down menu click on ‘Use custom settings for history’, “show cookies” shall appear.

  4. Tony attard says:

    Hi. I tried to follow your instructions of how to delete cookies in Safari, but when I clicked the security button, I did not see the “show cookies” listed in the menu. Are they be blocked already. Thanks in advance.

    Tony

    • asad says:

      in the newer version, cookies are not under ‘security’ but under ‘privacy’ which is a few tabs over. you will see the cookies option there

  5. Hidden files? says:

    What about “HIDDEN FILES”? I just found cookies from iqt.org on a PC, and it won’t be deleted. This is the spy group from the CIA… how to remove??????

  6. stanley nalls says:

    when i went under safari and then preference then clicked on the lock symbol the show cookies button did not pop up. what next

  7. Ruby says:

    Its not security, its privacy tab.

  8. Jim Price says:

    Hello, this is 2011! There is no “Show Cookies” button in Preferences/Security.

  9. Gort's Rage says:

    I use Safari Cookies from Sweet Productions. It’s the best cookie manager I have ever used for Safari. Plus, it’s free! Check it out here:

    http://sweetpproductions.com/safaricookies/

  10. macwind says:

    oops that last post is about flash cookies, that’s from the flush website

  11. macwind says:

    In Mac OS X they are stored in the following location:
    /User’s Home Folder/Library/Preferences/Macromedia/Flash Player/#SharedObjects

    The settings for the Flash cookies are stored in:
    /User’s Home Folder/Library/Preferences/Macromedia/Flash Player/macromedia.com/support/flashplayer/sys

    In OS X Local Shared Objects, or Flash Cookies, are appended with a .sol suffix. Flush deletes the Flash cookies (.sol) and their settings.

  12. macwind says:

    Flash cookies for websites are in ~/Library/Preferences/Macromedia/FlashPlayer.

    Flash cookies for AIR Applications, ~/Library/Preferences/[id] and ~/Library/Preferences/Macromedia/FlashPlayer/macromedia.com/Support/flashplayer/sys

  13. Luke says:

    for Flash Cookies you could download and use Flush or if you use FireFox only you could download and use BetterPrivacy.

  14. anon says:

    Would love to learn an easy way to delete “flash cookies” – any advice?

  15. CookieMonster says:

    great I can finally send this to my dad who is always trying to hide ‘certain’ web sites from my stepmom

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