How to Delete Chrome Remembered URLs from Address Bar

Oct 22, 2021 - 14 Comments

How to remove Chrome remembered URL and link suggestions

The Google Chrome browser address bar doubles as a search bar, and as you’ve probably noticed by now it will keep a history of your visited links, URLs, and searches. These URLs and searches then come up as suggestions when you access the Chrome search/address bar again, particularly when you type anything that is close to a match to a previously visited link. But what if you want to remove an entry from the Chrome link / URL history suggestions? That’s what we’ll cover here, and it’s pretty easy to do.

This is handled separately from clearing out Chrome history and other browsing data, but if you’re familiar with deleting Chrome autofill suggestions for other text input boxes in the browser, this may be a familiar process to you. We’ll cover how this works on the Mac, Windows PC, and Chromebook.

How to Remove Past Link/URL from Google Chrome Address Bar

Here is how you can delete any past suggested link or URL that shows up when typing in the Chrome address bar:

  1. Open the Chrome browser and start typing the URL or link that you wish to remove, for example “myURL.com”
  2. Use the keyboard to navigate to the URL/link you’d like to remove from the pop-up suggestion list
  3. How to remove Chrome remembered URL and link suggestions

  4. With the link/URL highlighted, use e keystroke to delete that URL/link from the suggestion list
    • Mac: Shift+FN+Delete
    • Windows: Shift + Delete
    • Chromebook: Alt + Shift + Delete
  5. The highlighted URL/link will immediately be deleted
  6. URL/link suggestion removed from Chrome address bar

  7. Repeat with other URL/link suggestions as desired

On the latest versions of Chrome, you can also use the keyboard to navigate to the URL/link to delete from the suggestion list, then click the “X” button that appears to the far right of the search bar next to the entry. This method works in all Chrome browsers whether on Mac, Windows, Chromebook, or Linux.

Now you can clear out any unwanted links or URLs from your Chrome search suggestions using this approach. No more accidental links showing up was recommended constantly, embarrassing URLs, typo links, unwanted suggestions, exposed secrets, or whatever else you wish to remove out.

Note if you use Chrome in Incognito Mode when browsing sites, then visited URLs and links will not be stored or suggested this way. Using Chrome in standard browsing mode will always remember the links visited, unless removed this way or by clearing all data from the browser.

Visiting a URL in Chrome will add it to your address bar suggestions and history

As mentioned before, a similar trick can be used to remove autofill suggestions in Chrome if you find any erroneous or unwanted suggestions coming up within other input boxes while using the browser.

Finally, you can always clear the Chrome cache, history, and browsing data from the desktop browser if you wish to as well.

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Posted by: Paul Horowitz in Tips & Tricks

14 Comments

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  1. kira says:

    THANK YOU!

  2. Saad Malik says:

    Hi

    Thanks, it worked.

    Saad Malik

  3. Jake says:

    This worked great, thanks so much I could not figure this out on my own

  4. It doesn’t work. I can’t erase an autocomplete suggestion from the list using shift+delete in Chrome. Nothing works, not even clearing the cache.

  5. John says:

    #4 on a mac is patently untrue. the keystroke Shift+fn+delete is doing diddlysquat

    • Duzaa says:

      I just used shift+fn+delete to remove a remembered URL and a suggested search from Chrome on a Mac.

      It’s working for everyone but you John, that usually suggests a PEBKAC issue

    • Andrew says:

      If you’re seeing within Chrome that Shift+Fn+Delete isn’t working, it may be that you have a bookmark for that link. You have to delete the bookmark to remove it from the suggestion list.

      This worked for me!

      • Ze says:

        You are RIGHT!!! Thank you!!!!! You are a GENIUS

      • Sven says:

        This is the answer only to find here – THANK YOU!!!

        standard removal is described everywhere, but to condisider a stored boomark did prevent removal for me (no shift + del, no ‘x’, etc.).

        page is now removed from suggested pages in Chromne address dropdown list!

  6. Fhall1 says:

    Where is the FN key on an Apple keyboard?

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