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Safari not clearing history when closing private window

Not all the time and not every web site or private window, but often enough to be annoying. I first noticed the behavior in 12.4; it continued in 12.5 and now in 12.5.1. There was even one occasion when the history could not be deleted manually (History -> Clear History). That time, after a restart, the history items were (automatically) deleted. Logging off and back on has no affect.


Any ideas?

Posted on Aug 23, 2022 6:56 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Aug 23, 2022 9:50 AM

So the user ( you ) are saying even using the Safari >> Setting >> Privacy tab >> Manage Website Data and then " Remove All " does not work ?


Sometimes, one needs to Remove All and close the Preferences and re-Open Preferences and repeat the already step above more than Once




Similar questions

8 replies

Aug 23, 2022 10:19 AM in response to confuciousDayzd

Give this a try: boot into Safe Mode according to How to use safe mode on your Mac and test to see if the problem persists. Reboot normally and test again.


NOTE: Safe Mode boot can take up to 3 - 5 minutes as it's doing the following; 

• Verifies your startup disk and attempts to repair directory issues, if needed

• Loads only required kernel extensions (prevents 3rd party kernel/extensions from loading)

• Prevents Startup Items and Login Items from opening automatically

• Disables user-installed fonts 

• Deletes font caches, kernel cache, and other system cache files


Aug 23, 2022 7:08 AM in response to confuciousDayzd

Evercookie Removal and check on Wikipedia for more on Every Cookies


1 - Close Safari first

2 - On desktop go to GO and then GO TO FOLDER

3 - Copy and paste this ~/Library/Safari/Databases

4 - A  folder called _indexedDB

5 - Open _indexedDB

6 - See another folder called v1 and open it

7 - The folder inside the v1 can be Drag and Drop to Trash ( Not the v1 folder itself )

8 - Launch Safari again and check if all is ok

Aug 23, 2022 12:36 PM in response to PRP_53

Yes, using the Safari -> Preferences -> Privacy -> Manage Web Site Data method, I can remove the cookies. Actually, most of the time, simply using History -> Clear History can be used to clear all history.


The issue is that when (sometimes, but not always) I close a private window or close all windows or simply quit Safari, the history is not cleared or removed.


Am I misunderstanding that in private mode browsing, when I (or Safari?) close a private window, Safari won't remember the pages that I visited, my search history, or my AutoFill information? Does that not include cookies?

Aug 23, 2022 1:28 PM in response to confuciousDayzd

Guess it depends on your expectations and exactly how Safari is configured ?


I know, having Safari to delete history after one week will work as expected and data is removed.


I know, having Safari to delete history after one day will also worked expected.


I also know that just closing Safari will close Safari and depending on where it is in the cycle of Delete History is at that time, may or may not delete history


I do know that manually removing data as prescribed in earlier posting will perform as expected.

Safari not clearing history when closing private window

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