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Cannot clear an item from my search history, so it gets suggested even after clearing my data

  • 3 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 6 views
  • Last reply by cor-el

rachaelly
rachaelly
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Once upon a time when trying to create a blank tab, I accidentally typed "about:blank/" and this command doesn't work if the backslash is there.

Now anytime I want to create a blank tab and I type "about:blank" it automatically includes the backslash.

Because this phrase/command doesn't show up in my search history, even after clearing all of my data, Firefox keeps "helpfully" popping that backslash into the field whenever I start to type the command.

How can I make Firefox forget I ever made this stupid typo?! (Would clearing "Site Preferences" and/or "Offline Web Site Data" work? I admit I haven't cleared those two things.)

Once upon a time when trying to create a blank tab, I accidentally typed "about:blank/" and this command doesn't work if the backslash is there. Now anytime I want to create a blank tab and I type "about:blank" it automatically includes the backslash. Because this phrase/command doesn't show up in my search history, even after clearing all of my data, Firefox keeps "helpfully" popping that backslash into the field whenever I start to type the command. How can I make Firefox forget I ever made this stupid typo?! (Would clearing "Site Preferences" and/or "Offline Web Site Data" work? I admit I haven't cleared those two things.)

All Replies (3)

cor-el
cor-el
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Does this item show as a suggestion in the location bar drop-down list, so you can use "Shift+Delete" ?

You can possibly temporarily set browser.urlbar.autoFill = false tp prevent Firefox autofilling the wrong value.

I tested this in a new profile and can't replicate this with the current release. The 'about:blank/' entry isn't stored either in places.sqlite., so you may have done this with a very old Firefox version that supported the 'typed' property for an entry.

You can possibly rename/remove places.sqlite to let Firefox create a new database. Note that you lose all history, but Firefox should rebuild the history from a JSON backup.

rachaelly
rachaelly Question owner
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Thanks for your reply! Sadly the item is not in the drop-down menu.

It's likely I may have done it with an older version of Firefox, but my computer is only a year and a half old, so I'm not sure if whatever version I was using then would now qualify as "very old."

I recently created a new profile, though, and found that I don't get that suggestion in the profile--so it seems that the suggestion is tied to this profile and creating a new one would certainly fix the problem.

If for some reason that does not work then I will give your suggestion a try! Thanks again.

cor-el
cor-el
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Removing places.sqlite and letting Firefox create a new database should quite likely fix this issue in the old profile. If you use Sync then best is to disconnect Sync temporarily during troubleshooting.

See:

You can use the button on the "Help -> Troubleshooting Information" (about:support) page to go to the current Firefox profile folder or use the about:profiles page.