Clear, allow and 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 that 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 two types of cookies:

• First-party cookies: Created by the site that you visit. The site is shown in the address bar.
• Third-party cookies: Created by other sites. A site that 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 personalise 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 Settings .
3. Click Privacy and security  Cookies and other site data.
4. Click See all site data and permissions  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 Settings .
3. Click Privacy and security 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 .
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 tools Clear browsing data.
3. At the top, next to 'Time range', click the drop-down.
4. Choose a time period, such as the past hour or the past day.
5. Tick Cookies and other site data.
6. Untick 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 that 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 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 acme-music.example and acme-video.example.

If third-party cookies allowed: Allows related sites to access your activity to personalise content or keep you signed in across sites.

If you block third-party cookies: It often prevents this kind of connection between sites. You can block third-party cookies while you allow sites in the same group to improve your experience.

You can find the full list of companies who define groups of related sites on Github. Learn more about related sites and third-party cookies.

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 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 Settings.
3. Under 'Privacy and security', click Cookies and other site data See all site data and permissions.
4. Choose a site.
5. Click More Show sites in same group.

Tip: To find related sites, next to the address bar, click Lock Cookies and site data 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 Settings.
3. Click Privacy and security  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 that you don't want any more, to the right of the website, click More 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 Settings.
3. Click Privacy and security  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 close your Chrome browsing session.

Related resources

• Change site settings permissions
• Clear browsing data
• Clear cache and cookies
• Manage your ads privacy in Chrome