Clear Recent History
Wipe the last 15 minutes. Stay signed in.
A free Chrome extension that deletes your recent browsing history in one click, without signing you out of anything.
Why it exists
Chrome's own "Delete browsing data" window is easy to get wrong: tick the wrong box and you're logged out of every website. Clear Recent History only ever deletes history, so your sign-ins stay put.
It's handy before screen sharing, demos, recordings and user testing, or any time you want the browser to look fresh without logging back in to everything.
What it does
- Clear the last 15 minutes. Deletes browsing history from the last 15 minutes.
- Clear the last hour. The same, for the last 60 minutes.
- Fix purple links on this page. Visited links show in purple. This finds the links on the page you're viewing and removes just those from your history, however long ago you visited them, so they show as unvisited again.
- Clear data for this site only. Optional. Deletes cookies and saved data for the one website in your current tab, after you confirm, and can also clear form and search-box entries typed in the last 15 minutes. Every other site stays signed in.
- Searches saved in your account. On Google, YouTube and Bing, searches saved in your online account can't be deleted by an extension, so it shows a button to that site's own delete page.
What it never does
- It never deletes cookies, passwords or cached files when you clear history.
- It never runs in the background. It only acts when you click a button.
- It never collects or sends any data. There are no servers, analytics or ads.
Support
Why do my Google searches still show?
If you're signed in, Google saves your searches in your Google account, not in your browser, so no extension can delete them. On Google, YouTube and Bing pages, Clear Recent History shows a button to that site's own delete page. On Google's, click Delete, then Last hour.
Why is a link still purple?
The clear buttons only cover the last 15 minutes or the last hour. For older visits, open the page with the purple link and click Fix purple links on this page. Reload the page if it still looks purple.
Will it sign me out of anything?
No. The history buttons never touch cookies, passwords or cached files. Only Clear data for this site only signs you out, of that one site, and only after you confirm.
Why can't I use it in a Guest or incognito window?
Chrome doesn't run extensions in Guest windows. In incognito, it runs only if you allow it: go to chrome://extensions, click Details under Clear Recent History, and turn on Allow in Incognito.
How do I remove it?
Right-click its icon in Chrome's toolbar and choose Remove from Chrome.
Still stuck?
Email david@davidfugate.com. Tell me which version you have (it's on the extension's card at chrome://extensions) and what you clicked.
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