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