Safari: How to Clear the Google Search Box History
Posted by AlexTheBeast in Apple Mac, Google
Clear the Google Search box history in Safari to prevent people from seeing your prior searches. This tutorial has been updated to show how to erase your google history in Safari version 5 and above. I have also clarified some other questions that people frequently ask regarding google search histories. Thanks for the comments regarding the updates!
Updated!
Thanks to the multiple comments, I’ve updated this post to show how to clear safari’s google search history in the latest version of Safari.
1. Click the magnifying glass to the left of the google search box
2. Select Clear Recent Searches
When searching for information on clearing the google searches, people often actually mean a couple of other things.
Reset Safari:
This just doesn’t erase just your google data, it erases your cookies, autofills, cache, history list, usernames, and passwords. This is like the nuclear bomb of removing your google information from safari.
1. Goto the Safari menu
2. Click Safari
3. Select Reset Safari
Clearing Just Your Web Google History:
If you want to clear the autofill information that appears when you search on the actual google website, you should follow these steps.
1. Goto the Safari Menu
2. Select Preferences
3. Select Autofill tab
4. Select the Edit button from the Other Forms Line
5. From the AutoFill list of sites select Google.com
6. Select Remove
7. Select Done
The Conversation
Follow the reactions below and share your own thoughts.
October 20, 2008 at 4:00 am, Jacquie said:
This doesn’t permanently keep new searches from being stored.
(I find it annoying, for some reason, to be reminded of past searches.)
If you follow these instructions under “Clearing Just Your Google History,” this gets you half way there. After that, you also have to uncheck the Autofill box.
That’s working for me so far.
November 11, 2008 at 7:15 pm, Sam said:
At item #6 there appears nothing to remove. I’m unable to select “remove.” My problem is that Safari reset command, has been somehow disabled. It work correctly for a period of time. Now, it doesn’t work at all.
November 25, 2008 at 11:54 am, abby said:
thanks really helpfull!
November 30, 2008 at 5:41 pm, Alan said:
Very helpful. Thanks.
January 06, 2009 at 3:44 pm, mechu said:
thank you!!!!! those damn autofill get really annoying
January 30, 2009 at 9:43 pm, Silvia said:
Thank you so much i learned some new from you my friend . again thank you so muchhhhh ! ! ! !
February 14, 2009 at 1:38 pm, hack_4_hires said:
your solution is close to perfect but when you only want google to be deleted it doesn’t permanently deletes recent searches, and for a second look it just disabled auto fill. but this tip is quite helpful tough. now its for me to find my own solution for permanent deleting program.. anyway thanks its nearly a help.
March 15, 2009 at 2:19 am, fiasco frenzy ferocious said:
Thank you so much for this! I really needed this in case my parents ever wanted to Google search something on my laptop. Thanks!
April 20, 2009 at 8:55 pm, frazzle said:
yes you’re heaven sent! i barely have enough time to clean up my act before anyone starts sharing with me my laptop. it is inevitable because we type patient records and all that. thanks so much!!!
May 01, 2009 at 4:01 am, clueless mac user said:
THANK YOU SO MUCH!
i’ve been wondering how to do this for a while
thank you :]
May 31, 2009 at 9:52 am, jasmine miller said:
THANKYOU
June 03, 2009 at 6:07 am, naweed said:
were is the safri menu on google
September 27, 2009 at 8:07 pm, Jean Loew said:
getting rid of Google.com in Auto Fill does not work in Safari 4.03….now what?
December 12, 2009 at 8:03 pm, Anonymous said:
Just click the down arrow next to the magnifying glass in safari’s search box to the right of the address bar. Make sure nothing is typed in the box. You will then see a list of recent searches, with a “Clear Recent Search History” option at the bottom. Just click that and you’re done.
October 15, 2009 at 5:09 pm, Hank said:
To delete search items you need to edit the preference file for Safari ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Safari.plist. Look for the RecentSearchStrings tag in the xml and you can delete any/all items.
November 03, 2009 at 9:05 am, Anonymous said:
Hank, there IS no Safari.plist.
I go from … com.apple.RegLogicStudio.plist
… to … com.apple.security.systemidentities.plist
Even if Safari.plist WAS there, no amateur [like me] would DARE fiddle with it.
I am new to Apple, and am very disappointed at the lack of a delete facility in the search box. Very short sighted.
December 29, 2009 at 10:42 pm, Dave said:
I unselected the other forms option but it still keeps autofill and if I follow those steps listed there is nothing in the other forms
January 09, 2010 at 8:36 pm, Anonymous said:
Clearing just your google search history in the autofill menu does not work. I deleted everything in the “other forms” menu as I could not locate google.com there. The past history is still there, although the clear recent searches did clear those that I did today. I have Snow Leopard as my operating system with Safari 4.0.4.
March 20, 2010 at 2:20 am, Name said:
The second method does not work
May 29, 2010 at 8:31 pm, Jaime Ball said:
Four years later there’s an even easier way: Click on the magnifying glass to the left of the word Google and select “Clear Recent Searches”
October 19, 2010 at 2:43 pm, Sttapley said:
hilarious. thank you for the laugh and duh!
January 22, 2011 at 7:27 pm, Anonymous said:
Thanks, Jaime! I’ve updated the original post. AlexTheBeast hasn’t been around much lately and let his article get out of date. It’s greatly appreciated.
July 29, 2010 at 2:56 am, Tyler said:
didn’t work
February 20, 2011 at 4:09 pm, Cjfogo said:
OMG i looked on so many websites and they all said go to system preferences! THEY WHERE SO WRONG!!!!! Thanks
May 23, 2011 at 7:53 pm, Kk Rox said:
I NEED TO ERASE PORN THNXS
May 31, 2011 at 5:49 pm, Dvsccoach said:
None of these “tips” work!!! I still see EVERYTHING I have ever searched for try to autocomplete as soon as I start typing in the Google search box
July 11, 2011 at 8:49 pm, 99 said:
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ All porn addicts ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
August 06, 2011 at 4:46 am, yourmother said:
if you change the little drop down menu in the search bar to bing, then back to google, it should delete your search history
April 18, 2012 at 4:50 am, ezza said:
Gracias,,,,, it works ,,,,
April 21, 2012 at 12:30 am, Poster said:
In Safari 5.1.5 there is no such link …
April 21, 2012 at 11:06 am, David Kirk said:
@Poster
The “Clear Recent Searches” link is there on 5.1.5. I just tested it.