How to clear browser history, cookies and recent items on a Mac

Q: How do I clear history in Safari?

Choose History › Clear History…, pick all history and click Clear History. Safari removes the sites you visited and the cookies and website data that came with them. With iCloud, it clears them on your other devices too.

Q: How do I clear history and cookies in Chrome, Edge or Brave?

Press Shift-Command-Delete, choose All time, tick Browsing history and Cookies and other site data, and click Delete. Each profile has its own history, so repeat it in every profile you use. Arc, Vivaldi and Opera have the same option in their settings. The files behind it, for Chrome's first profile, with the browser quit: ~/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/Default/History ~/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/Default/Cookies Newer versions keep cookies in Default/Network/Cookies. Other profiles are in Profile 1, Profile 2 and so on.

Q: How do I clear Recent Items and the record of downloads?

Recent Items: Apple menu › Recent Items › Clear Menu. Each app's recent documents: in the app, File › Open Recent › Clear Menu. Record of downloads: macOS keeps a list of the files you downloaded and the sites they came from, in ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.LaunchServices.QuarantineEventsV2. To see how many entries it holds, and to clear it: sqlite3 ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.LaunchServices.QuarantineEventsV2 "SELECT count(*) FROM LSQuarantineEvent" sqlite3 ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.LaunchServices.QuarantineEventsV2 "DELETE FROM LSQuarantineEvent" The downloaded files themselves stay where they are.

Updated November 4, 2026

Browsers remember every site you visit, and macOS remembers the documents and apps you opened and where each download came from. Each keeps its own list, so clearing them takes a few steps.

The short answer: in Safari, choose History › Clear History. In Chrome, Edge and Brave, press Shift-Command-Delete and pick All time. In Firefox, use Settings › Privacy & Security. For macOS, choose Apple menu › Recent Items › Clear Menu. The record of downloads is a separate file, below.

How do I clear history in Safari?

Choose History › Clear History…, pick all history and click Clear History. Safari removes the sites you visited and the cookies and website data that came with them. With iCloud, it clears them on your other devices too.

How do I clear history and cookies in Chrome, Edge or Brave?

Press Shift-Command-Delete, choose All time, tick Browsing history and Cookies and other site data, and click Delete. Each profile has its own history, so repeat it in every profile you use. Arc, Vivaldi and Opera have the same option in their settings.

The files behind it, for Chrome's first profile, with the browser quit:

~/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/Default/History
~/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/Default/Cookies

Newer versions keep cookies in Default/Network/Cookies. Other profiles are in Profile 1, Profile 2 and so on.

How do I clear history in Firefox?

Open Settings › Privacy & Security. Under Cookies and Site Data, click Clear Data; under History, click Clear History. Don't delete Firefox's files by hand: its history shares one file with your bookmarks.

How do I clear Recent Items and the record of downloads?

Recent Items: Apple menu › Recent Items › Clear Menu.
Each app's recent documents: in the app, File › Open Recent › Clear Menu.
Record of downloads: macOS keeps a list of the files you downloaded and the sites they came from, in ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.LaunchServices.QuarantineEventsV2. To see how many entries it holds, and to clear it:

sqlite3 ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.LaunchServices.QuarantineEventsV2 "SELECT count(*) FROM LSQuarantineEvent"
sqlite3 ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.LaunchServices.QuarantineEventsV2 "DELETE FROM LSQuarantineEvent"

The downloaded files themselves stay where they are.

Will clearing cookies sign me out?

Yes: cookies are how websites remember that you signed in. Saved passwords stay in the browser or in Passwords, so signing in again is quick. If a browser syncs with an account, the history online can come back: clear it in the browser's account settings too.