How to Clear Browsing History on Internet Explorer

There are many ways to clear Internet Explorer browsing history on desktop and mobile apps. You can even delete specific domains or pages from your browser history. Depending on your current version of Internet Explorer, you can clear your desktop browsing history from the “Safety” or “Internet Options” menu. To clear your mobile browser history, access the “Settings” menu by swiping across the screen.

Table of Contents

On mobile app (Internet Explorer 10 & 11)

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Open the Internet Explorer application. Tap the app on the home screen or the app list and launch it as you normally would when surfing the web. ^{[1] X Research Source}

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Go to “Settings”. Swipe in from the right edge of the screen, then tap “Settings” on the menu that appears.

If you’re using a mouse, move your mouse pointer to the bottom-right corner of the screen and select “Settings” from the menu that appears.

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Go to the “History” section. Click “Options”, then click “Select” located below the “History” section.

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Delete browsing history. First, check the box next to the “Browsing history” option. Once you’re satisfied with your selections, tap or click “Delete” . The record of the pages you have visited will be deleted.

On the Safety menu (Internet Explorer 8-11)

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Open Internet Explorer. Click the Internet Explorer icon to launch the program.

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Access the Tops menu. This menu item is shaped like a gear and is located in the upper right corner of the screen. Click to access the Tops menu. ^{[2] X Research Source}

On Internet Explorer 8, the Tops menu is in the menu bar, and you don’t have to select the gear icon.

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Start clearing browsing history. After selecting “Tops”, you click the “Safety” button.

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Click “Delete browsing history”. A dialog box will appear for you to specify the type of data you need to delete.

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Select the data you want to delete. To clear your browsing history, you need to make sure that the box next to the “Browsing history” (or “History”) option is checked.

Note that you can also delete stored data including cached temporary photos and Internet files, cookies, download history, saved form data, saved passwords, “Tracking Protection, ActiveX Filtering, and Do Not Track data” (information automatically shared when we visit a website) and favorites.
On Internet Explorer 8 and later versions there is also an option “Preserve Favorites website data”. You need to make sure this box is checked if you don’t want to delete cookies and the associated Favorites file.

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Click “Delete” to clear browsing data.

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Select “OK” to exit. This will delete a record of the pages you have visited.

On the Internet Options menu (Internet Explorer 7-11)

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Open Internet Explorer. Click the Internet Explorer icon to launch the program.

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Go to “Internet Options” in the menu bar below the “Tops” option. i ^{[3] X Research Sources}

On Internet Explorer 9, the gear icon is in the upper-right corner of the screen.
You can also access “Internet Options” from the “Contrp Panel”. Here, select the “Network and Internet” category and then click “Internet Options”. ^{[4] X Research Sources}

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Go to the “General” tab in the “Internet Options” menu. This is the first card on the left hand side.

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Click the “Delete…” button located under the “Browsing history” section of the “General” tab.

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Select the data you want to delete. Just tick the data items you want to delete. To clear your browsing data, don’t forget to check the box next to the “Browsing history” (or “History”) heading.

Note that you can also delete stored data including cached temporary photos and Internet files, cookies, download history, saved form data, saved passwords, “Tracking Protection, ActiveX” Filtering, and Do Not Track data” (information automatically shared when we visit the website) and favorites.
Starting in Internet Explorer 8, you will see an option “Preserve Favorites website data”. You need to make sure this box is checked if you don’t want to delete cookies and related Favorites files.

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Click “Delete”. If the system asks for confirmation, click “Yes.”

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Select “OK” to exit. This will delete a record of the pages you have visited.

Clear history of specific pages (Internet Explorer 10 & 11)

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Open Internet Explorer. Click the Internet Explorer icon to launch the program.

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Go to “Favorites”. Tap or click the star-shaped “Favorites” icon in the upper right of the screen. ^{[5] X Research Sources}

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Go to the “History” section. Tap or click the “History” tab in the “Favorites” pane.

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Select the “History” view. Click the drop-down menu under the “History” tab and specify how you want the browser data to be filtered. You can choose “View By Date”, “View By Site”, “View By Most Visited” or “View By Order Visited Today” (View in order visited today).

Note that if you view browsing history by domain, you may need to right-click on a specific domain to expand it and see the pages you’ve visited within that domain. ^{[6] X Research Sources}

Advice

Internet Explorer is being replaced by Microsoft Edge since Windows 10 operating system. Windows 10 users can still find Internet Explorer by entering the keyword “Internet Explorer” in the Cortana/Search search bar. ^{[7] X Research Sources}
When using Internet Explorer 11, you can automatically access the “Delete Browsing History” dialog box by pressing Ctrl + ⇧ Shift + Del .
When using Internet Explorer 11, you can set up your browsing history to be automatically deleted. Go to “Internet Options” and select the “General” tab. Then, check the box next to the “Delete browsing history on exit” option.
To delete additional files associated with using Internet Explorer 11 (saved images and copied web pages), go to “Internet Options”, select the “Advanced” tab and check the box next to the option ” Empty Temporary Internet Files fpder when browser is closed” (Deletes temporary Internet files folder when browser is closed). ^{[8] X Research Sources}

Steps

On mobile app (Internet Explorer 10 & 11)

On the Safety menu (Internet Explorer 8-11)

On the Internet Options menu (Internet Explorer 7-11)

Clear history of specific pages (Internet Explorer 10 & 11)

Advice

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