Google Chrome is designed and set up with the intention of making the user experience as simple as possible. This means making it easy to access important tools and configuration options, and making those options easy to understand. It also means keeping records of sites that you have visited and files that you have downloaded so that you can locate them again in the future. However, if you have downloaded a lot of files, or if you use a shared computer and do not want other users to see where and what you have been downloading, then you can clear the history list of downloaded files in Google Chrome.
Clear all of Google Chrome’s Download History
Every modern Web browser has its’ own way of handling downloaded files and tracking those files, and Chrome is no exception. There is a Downloads menu that is separate from everything else in the browser, and that window shows the name of files that you have downloaded, where they were downloaded from, the date on which they were downloaded and a link to show the downloaded file. This is a lot of information that someone viewing your Downloads folder would be able to ascertain. Fortunately the process of removing this information is easy.
See also
- How to turn off hardware acceleration in Google Chrome
- How to see recent downloads in Google Chrome
- Set Google Chrome as default browser in Windows 7
- How to start Google Chrome automatically
- How to change the startup page in Google Chrome
Begin by opening the Chrome browser.
Click the Wrench icon at the top-right corner of the window, then click Downloads. You can also open this menu by opening a new tab, then pressing Ctrl + J on your keyboard.
Click the Clear all link at the top-right corner of the window to clear all of the files from your download history. Note that there will not be any pop-up window or prompt to confirm that you want to perform this action so, once you click the link, your download history will be gone.
If you only want to remove specific files form your download history, you can click the Remove from list link under the files that you want to clear from this history.
Matthew Burleigh has been writing tech tutorials since 2008. His writing has appeared on dozens of different websites and been read over 50 million times.
After receiving his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Computer Science he spent several years working in IT management for small businesses. However, he now works full time writing content online and creating websites.
His main writing topics include iPhones, Microsoft Office, Google Apps, Android, and Photoshop, but he has also written about many other tech topics as well.
