Firefox: menu to remove Firefox Suggest address bar entries is coming

Mozilla is working on a new usability feature in the Firefox web browser that improves the removal of Firefox Suggest entries in the address bar.

When Firefox users type in the address bar, Firefox displays a list of suggestions automatically. These come from a variety of sources, including the browsing history and bookmarks, but also from the default search engine, provided that it supports suggestions.

Sometimes, Firefox users may want to remove certain suggestions, especially if they come up regularly. While there is no option to remove search engine suggestions, other than turning off the feature, it is different when it comes to Firefox Suggest entries.

Experienced Firefox users know that they may remove these entries using the arrow-keys on the keyboard and the keyboard shortcut Ctrl-Delete (on Mac, Cmd-Delete). Executing the shortcut removes the selected Firefox Suggest entry from the history. It is deleted from history and won't be returned anymore after the removal.

The keyboard shortcut is not highlighted by Firefox and most Firefox users are probably unaware of it. Mozilla plans to change that by adding a new icon to entries that are pulled from the browsing history of the browser.

Hovering the mouse cursor over such an entry displays a three-dots icon. A click on that icon displays the "remove from history" option, which Firefox users may then activate using the mouse button.

The new option improves the visibility of the removal option and makes the feature accessible to more Firefox users as a consequence.

Managing the history in Firefox

Firefox users may also open the history manager of the browser to remove individual browsing history records. This is done with a click on the main menu, selecting History and then Manage History from the menu that opens.

Firefox opens a new window that lists history records. A search is provided, and filters are provided to display only records of the day, month or other periods.

A right-click on an entry displays a larger context menu with two delete options. The first, delete page, removes the individual entry from the browsing history. The second, forget about this site, removes any record of the site from the browsing history. Selection of the second option displays a confirmation prompt. Unlike the removal of individual entries, it will also remove cookies, cache and content preferences linked to the selected site in question.

Selecting forget proceeds with the deletion. Firefox notes that passwords and bookmarks of the site remain, but that the other data is removed when forget is selected by the user.

Closing words

The new removal menu is available in Firefox Nightly only at this point. If things go well, it could land in Firefox 111 at the earliest, which will be released in March.

Now You: have you removed browsing history entries in the past? (via Sören Hentzschel)

Firefox: menu to remove Firefox Suggest address bar entries is coming