How to remove one or all auto-complete text entries in Chrome?

Question

Ok... so this is embarrassing.

I typed in "boobs" on EncyclopediaDramatica's search because, well, it's a really funny page.

But now I've got a problem... EVERY TIME I click a search field in Chrome now, it shows "boobs" as the first suggestion in the drop down!

This is not really socially acceptable as this laptop goes with me everywhere and Chrome is my primary browser.

Is there a way I can isolate and remove just that one entry?

BTW, Chrome has incognito mode for these kinds of searches... :-P — opyate, Apr 27 '12 at 11:19
Kayle, I bet when you wrote this you didnt think you would show up as the first result when googling "chrome delete autocomplete". Congratulations on forever being the boob autocomplete guy! — Jeff, Mar 05 '13 at 15:23
@Jeff This brought me to tears. You can delete auto-complete but you can never stop being the boob auto-complete guy. — George Reith, Apr 05 '14 at 12:08
Hah! I really don't mind. I meant to be humorous when I pushed this. I had no idea it would become such a popular question though! — Garrett, Apr 05 '14 at 17:38
This has been marked as duplicate but the original is not linked. @heavyd please provide this link, as I cannot post the correct answer to this question — William Entriken, Jul 28 '15 at 16:07
On my macbook fn+shift+delete does the job of removing a single entry from the drop down. — Dirk Schumacher, Apr 30 '17 at 19:48
This has been marked as a duplicate, but the linked question is for something that is different, though related question. — jvriesem, Jan 29 '19 at 18:48

score 714 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 23 '20 at 15:37

714

Linux and Windows

Highlight the item in the dropdown list (using the arrow keys, or your mouse cursor).
Press delete on your keyboard.

Note that you may have to press shift+delete in some cases, like if the autocomplete is in the address bar (URL) field.

Mac

Start typing so that the unwanted autocomplete URL comes up.
The macOS keyboard shortcut uses Forward Delete:
- Shift+Delete ⌦
On keyboards without a dedicated Forward Delete key, use Fn + "backspace" to type the needed ⌦. The label on your keyboard may vary:
- Shift+Fn+delete
- Shift+Fn+backspace
- Shift+Fn+⌫

If it still doesn't work:

Close the page and reload it; it should now be removed from autocomplete;
Check if the unwanted URL is in your bookmarks; once removed from bookmarks, it will disappear from autocomplete.

edited Apr 23 '20 at 15:37

pkamb

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answered Aug 12 '10 at 20:15

paradroid

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Please don't confuse `delete` and `backspace`. No keyboard I know contains both `fn` and `delete`. `fn`-`backspace` means `delete`. – rjmunro Jul 04 '12 at 10:52
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@rjmunro Maybe the terminology is mixed up, but just wanted to point out that [the keyboard on my MacBook Air](http://f.cl.ly/items/1v0E07000H3Z0w2x0e2k/2012-10-03%2015.51.43.jpg) definitely has both a `fn` and a `delete` key. – brandonjp Oct 03 '12 at 19:58
@brandonjp Does it have a backspace key? What country is your keyboard from? – rjmunro Oct 04 '12 at 10:26
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@rjmunro No key is explicitly labelled as `backspace`, that's why I think it's a 'terminology' issue or Mac/PC variance... My MacBook Air (13-inch, Late 2010) and my [Apple Bluetooth Keyboard](http://f.cl.ly/items/2J0N1k2j3P401F0Z0z0E/Image%202012.10.04%2012:08:52%20PM.png) perform a backspace/backward-delete when the `delete` key is pressed. Pressing `fn` + `delete` performs a forward-delete. Also, both are from the U.S. – brandonjp Oct 04 '12 at 16:18
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@brandonjp Your terminology is mixed up. The key marked with an arrow like this <-- is backspace, not delete. Delete actually has the word "Delete" written on it (or sometimes just Del on non apple keyboards). Backspace deletes backwards. Delete deletes forwards. Where no delete key is available, Fn-backspace does delete. – rjmunro Oct 05 '12 at 16:12
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@rjmunro Right, fully understand what you're saying, but on the US Apple keyboard (see pictures linked previously) there is no key labelled "backspace" or "<--" However, there is a key that actually has the word "delete" on it and, when pressed, performs a backspace (so in this case... Delete deletes backwards). – brandonjp Oct 19 '12 at 01:39
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@brandonjp: Jonathan Ive probably thinks that the world 'delete' for more aesthetically pleasing than 'backspace', so decided to break with convention. He seems to value aesthetics above functionality, ergonomics or practicality. – paradroid Oct 19 '12 at 01:52
Wow that is seriously screwed up. These are the UK keyboards: [large](http://www.markinns.com/images/article_images/apple-keyboard-british.png), [small](http://www.brianmicklethwait.com/images/uploads/KeyboardAppleMac.jpg). What does a US large keyboard call the real delete key? – rjmunro Oct 19 '12 at 11:02
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@rjmunro You're dating yourself - MacBook Pros have both the "delete" key and the "fn" key. – D Mac Dec 26 '12 at 22:12
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@DMac Macbook pros do not have a `delete` key. They have a `backspace` key, but in the US version only, the word "delete" is written on it. It still works as a `backspace` key, and you still have to use the `fn` key to get it to work as a `delete` key. – rjmunro Dec 31 '12 at 00:22
15

I am trying Fn+Shift+Delete on a US MBP and it does nothing to the suggested item. I tried removing it from the full history after searching for it, but it is still there (ie., if I search again it still shows up in the search results). – haridsv Feb 19 '13 at 06:27
Will this delete all autocomplete entries on all sites, or will it only delete some of them? – Anderson Green Apr 12 '13 at 03:28
@AndersonGreen It is per site per textbox. – seekerOfKnowledge Aug 14 '13 at 12:04
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It's `shift+delete` on Ubuntu Linux as well – Mladen Danic Jun 05 '14 at 11:04
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I am having the same problem as @haridsv. Has this changed recently? – Guillochon Jun 17 '14 at 16:16
On my MacBook Air (with fn and a key marked 'delete' which works as backspace and removes the character to the left of the cursor) I got it to work by pressing fn+shift+delete. Hooray! – LarsR Sep 06 '14 at 17:13
48

This doesn't work anymore. – Jason Jan 15 '15 at 22:30
1

+1 for `shift` + `delete` on Ubuntu linux to remove username autocomplete. – rogeriolino Sep 30 '15 at 13:50
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For German keyboards: `shift` + `entf` – Luca Steeb Dec 18 '15 at 22:36
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`shift` + `delete` also works on Windows! A tiny step towards getting my sanity back. – GaTechThomas Dec 31 '15 at 15:58
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+1 for `fn`+`shift`+`delete` on Macbook Pros! – Kelseydh May 31 '16 at 23:06
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This still works! However, my problem is that my bookmarks are coming up in the dropdown, so that might also be the problem for people who thought that this doesn't work anymore. – silvenon Aug 05 '16 at 09:09
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To me it does not work. Entries either can not be deleted or they keep coming up again like @silvenon mentions. – Langhard Sep 14 '16 at 14:47
I thought all hope was lost for me on my MacBook using Chrome. I just could not get it to remove a specific autofill suggestion. I had tried all manor of key combination above with no success, UNTIL I tried FN-SHIFT-DELETE from my MacBook Pro keyboard directly (instead of using my bluetooth keyboard) and guess what, it worked. What sweet relief! So, for MacBook users...make sure you are using the FN-SHIFT-DELETE on the built-in keyboard. – John Mark Mitchell Dec 05 '16 at 20:39
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If this doesn't work for you, the auto-complete suggestion may be coming from your history. Clear it there too. http://superuser.com/a/676704/387571 – reergymerej Dec 29 '16 at 14:46
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Note! On a Mac this has to be `shift`-*forward* `delete` (i.e. `delete ⌦`). `fn`-`delete` (i.e. `fn`-`backspace`) is how you type a forward delete on a laptop/small keyboard, hence `fn`-`shift`-`delete` on those keyboards. The mixed up terminology is confusing, especially since both keys are labeled "delete" on the Mac. – devios1 Feb 02 '17 at 19:29
About Shift+Del not working, I didn't noticed the autocompleted result I was attempting to delete was bookmarked -__- Yes I feel silly, I didn't noticed the star icon! (A corporate website changed it's IP and I wanted to delete the old IP from results) Verify if this applies to you. – Metafaniel Apr 20 '17 at 17:23
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For mac users struggling with this on login forms with autocomplete, `fn`+`shift`+`delete` won't work. You need to go to chrome://settings/passwords and remove it manually for the site. – Seth Jeffery Jul 21 '17 at 13:47
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For mac users, don't bother with that `delete` or whatever key combinations anymore. As @SethJeffery suggested, just go to `chrome://settings/passwords` and remove from there. No other way now in 2017 as far as i tried. – 夏期劇場 Oct 16 '17 at 08:13
Somewhat relevant: If you want to "append" keywords and jump to the end of the autocomplete suggestions, press Ctrl-e or Ctrl-a to prepend keywords and jump the cursor to the beginning of your keyword search terms on the Omnibar URL box. The usual scroll through word by word using Alt/Option-Shift-Arrow also works on my Mac too. – Tony Barganski Oct 01 '18 at 20:38
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FYI: `fn`+`shift`+`delete` worked on my 2014 MBA with latest Chrome today. – Jonathan Cross Oct 28 '18 at 14:02
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I can confirm that fn + shift + backspace works on MacBook Pro 2017 on Chrome 71 - it successfully deletes the suggested url. – Liran H Dec 20 '18 at 16:59
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For those saying that it doesn't work, make sure that it is not buried in your bookmarks folder somehow. This did not appear to work for me (MBP 2013, using Chrome 71) until I discovered that they were in my bookmarks folder. As soon as I removed them (just now!), the shift+delete step worked like a charm. – jvriesem Jan 29 '19 at 18:54
Sometimes works, other times just makes my touch bar do a little dance, but not delete. – Ray Mar 01 '19 at 14:11
Actually, some urls will be deleted, others won't. Can't seem to determine a path to repeat either consistently. – Ray Mar 01 '19 at 14:18
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DOES NOT WORK ON MAC ANY MORE! – e_x_p Mar 10 '19 at 19:36
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does not work on mac os 10.14.5 and chrome 75.0.3770.100 today. – Henning Jul 09 '19 at 13:29
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Does not work on Windows 10 using Chrome Version 76.0.3809.132 (Official Build) (64-bit) on a computer with physical Delete and Backspace keys. – George Sep 08 '19 at 20:23
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NB: you can't delete suggestions that are bookmarks. Remove the bookmark instead. – tekumara Dec 02 '19 at 05:53
Taking a hint from above, in Mac, fn + shift + delete still works if the suggestion is _not_ a bookmark. – f01 Apr 06 '20 at 03:09
IT DOES WORK, but not with active google sync . https://superuser.com/a/1465159/230091 You can turn off the sync and delete, but the moment you reactivate the sync it will come back – Yehuda Apr 22 '20 at 07:19

How to remove one or all auto-complete text entries in Chrome?

1 Answers1

Linux and Windows

Mac

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