Clear, allow & manage cookies in Chrome

You can choose to delete existing cookies, allow or block all cookies, and set preferences for certain websites.

What cookies are

Cookies are files created by websites you visit. By saving information about your visit, they make your online experience easier. For example, sites can keep you signed in, remember your site preferences, and give you locally relevant content.

There are 2 types of cookies:

  • First-party cookies: Created by the site you visit. The site is shown in the address bar.
  • Third-party cookies: Created by other sites. A site you visit can embed content from other sites, for example images, ads, and text. Any of these sites can save cookies and other data to personalize your experience.

Clear all cookies

Important: If you delete cookies, you might get signed out of sites that remember you, and your saved preferences could be deleted. This applies any time a cookie is deleted.

  1. On your computer, open Chrome.
  2. At the top right, click More More and then Settings Settings.
  3. Click Privacy and security and then Cookies and other site data.
  4. Click See all site data and permissions and then Clear all data.
  5. To confirm, click Clear.

Delete specific cookies

Delete cookies from a site
  1. On your computer, open Chrome.
  2. At the top right, click More More and then Settings Settings.
  3. Click Privacy and security and then Cookies and other site data.
  4. Click See all site data and permissions.
  5. At the top right, search for the website's name.
  6. To the right of the site, click Remove Remove.
  7. To confirm, click Clear.
Delete cookies from a period of time
  1. On your computer, open Chrome.
  2. At the top right, click More More and then More tools and then Clear browsing data.
  3. At the top, next to "Time range," click the dropdown.
  4. Choose a time period, such as the past hour or the past day.
  5. Check Cookies and other site data.
  6. Uncheck all the other items.
  7. Click Clear data.

Change your cookie settings

Important: If you don't allow sites to save cookies, most sites that require you to sign in won't work, and your saved preferences may not be saved.

You can allow or block cookies for any site.

Allow or block cookies

You can allow or block all cookies by default. You can also allow cookies from a site you visit, but block third-party cookies in ads or images on that web page.

  1. On your computer, open Chrome.
  2. At the top right, click More More and then Settings Settings.
  3. Under "Privacy and security," click Cookies and other site data.
  4. Select an option:
    • Allow all cookies.
    • Block all cookies (not recommended).
    • Block third party cookies in Incognito.
    • Block third-party cookies.
      • If you block third-party cookies, all cookies and site data from other sites are blocked, even if the site is allowed on your exceptions list.
Allow related sites to access your activity
A company can define a group of sites that are related to each other. For example, a company might want to keep you signed in as you move between www.music.entertainment-company.com and www.videos.entertainment-company.com. When you block third-party cookies, it often prevents this kind of connection between sites, but if you allow related sites to access your activity, you can block third-party cookies while you allow sites in the same group to improve your experience. For example, to personalize content or keep you signed in across sites. You can find the full list of companies who define groups of related sites on Github.
Important: If you select “Allow all cookies,” then a group of related sites can share your activity in the group by default.

To allow related sites to see your activity within the group:

  1. On your computer, open Chrome.
  2. At the top right, click More More and then Settings.
  3. Under "Privacy and security," click Cookies and other site data.
  4. Select Block third-party cookies.
  5. Turn Allow related sites to see your activity in the group on or off.

To show related sites in the same group:

  1. On your computer, open Chrome.
  2. At the top right, click More More and then Settings.
  3. Under "Privacy and security," click Cookies and other site data and then See all site data and permissions.
  4. Choose a site.
  5. Click More More and then Show sites in same group.

Tip: To find related sites, next to the address bar, click Lock Lock and then Cookies and site data and then See related sites.

Allow or block cookies for a specific site

Important: If you’re using your Chromebook at work or school, you might not be able to change this setting. For more help, contact your administrator.

If you allow cookies by default, you can still block them for a certain site.

  1. On your computer, open Chrome.
  2. At the top right, click More More and then Settings.
  3. Click Privacy and security and then Cookies and other site data. 
  4. Next to "Sites that can always use cookies," "Always clear cookies when windows are closed," or "Sites that never use cookies," click Add. 
  5. Enter the web address.
    • To create an exception for an entire domain, insert [*.] before the domain name. For example, [*.]google.com will match drive.google.com and calendar.google.com.
    • You can also put an IP address or a web address that doesn't start with http://.
  6. Select Add.

To remove an exception you don't want any more, to the right of the website, click More More and then Remove.

Delete cookies after you close Chrome

You can let sites remember information during your browsing session, but automatically delete the cookies when you close Chrome.

  1. On your computer, open Chrome.
  2. At the top right, click More More and then Settings.
  3. Click Privacy and security and then Cookies and other site data.
  4. Turn on Clear cookies and site data when you close all windows.
    • If you're synced to Chrome, sync will pause when you quit your Chrome browsing session.

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