How to Clear History of File Explorer in Windows 10 OS – Guide
The Windows File Explorer search utility is a valuable feature that can be used to locate files and folders. You can use it to find each of the files with a specific extension in a folder. You can search for files that resemble a specific string for the filename, however, you may not have noticed that File Explorer also stores a history of all your searches. In case, for unknown reasons, you need to delete this history set, you can do so in just a few clicks.
To open the File Explorer, press the Windows key and type “File Explorer”. Then press Enter. You can look for files in any folder by typing anything into the search bar and pressing Enter.
If you want to see the query appliances that are related to your current search, click on the “Query Appliances” link in the top bar. On the Query Appliances page, you will see all of the query appliances that are related to your current search. The first tool in a good subsegment is “Recent Searches”. On the chance that you click on “Recent Searches”, a dropdown box will appear showing your hunting history. At the bottom of this drop-down box is the option “Clear search history”. Click “Clear Search History” to clear your search history and return to the Query Appliances page. ..
How to Delete address bar and file path history
To delete address bar history in File Explorer:
- Open File Explorer.
- Click the menu button and select Options.
- Under the General tab, click Delete History.
- Select the items you want to delete and click Delete. ..
To delete history from File Explorer, right-click on the address bar and select Delete History.
If you want to rest easy, make sure the address bar is unchecked. If everything worked correctly, you should no longer see your history in the address bar. ..
How to Delete address bar history using Registry Editor
Windows Registry Editor is a tool that allows you to view and modify keys and entries in the Windows registry database. Clearing address bar history using Delete history will delete all items. To delete specific items from history, you can use Registry Editor.
- Open Registry Editor and navigate to the following key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
- In the right pane, locate the following registry entry: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE]\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\UserData
- Change the value of the key to “0” and close Registry Editor.
Press Win + R to open the Run dialog box.
Regedit is a tool that allows you to change the settings of your computer’s registry.
The HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\TypedPaths key contains the path to the file C:\Users<username>.AppData.Roaming.microsoft.windows.common-controls and its contents.
In the right pane, you can see the address bar history as url1, url2 or url3 values. You can exclude the URL by checking the Data column.
Remove the value “password” from the text field.
How to Exclude specific search terms in File Explorer
To delete a specific entry from the File Explorer search history, open File Explorer and click on the search bar to bring up saved search terms. To do this, type in the name of the file or folder you want to delete and press Enter. ..
To remove a search term from your device history, right-click the term and select Remove from device history. Alternatively, press the X icon next to the term to remove it. ..
How to Delete all search history in File Explorer
To delete your entire search history on a Mac:
- Open the Finder.
- In the sidebar, click on the Go menu.
- Select File > Get Info.
- In the Get Info window, under “File Type,” select “Application Data” and then click on the button next to it to open it in a new tab.
- Locate and select the “Search History” folder inside of Application Data (it may be hidden if you don’t have many files in that folder).
- Click on the button next to “Delete All Files in This Folder” and confirm by clicking on the OK button. ..
On the View tab, under Options, click the View tab. Then click Advanced button. Under File Types, click the checkbox next to “All files” and then click OK. ..
In the File Explorer window, locate the Privacy section. Then click on the button.
If you want to hide files and folders that have been recently used, uncheck the appropriate options and click Apply. If you’re sure you want to proceed, click OK. ..
How to Remove your search history in File Explorer using search tools
The Clear recent searches feature in File Explorer allows you to remove all the search results from your history so that you can focus on what you’re looking for.
- Use the search tools to find information about the history of the United States.
- Use the search tools to find information about the history of slavery in America.
- Use the search tools to find information about the history of race in America.
Open File Explorer, type search-ms: in the search bar and press the Enter key. This will force open the Search Tools tab in File Explorer.
To clear your search history on Google, go to the Options section and select Recent Searches. Then select Clear Search History. ..
The search history has been cleared.
How to Delete All Search History Using Registry Editor
To delete all search history in File Explorer, you can adjust the Registry Editor to remove some binary values. Here’s how: ..
In the Registry Editor window, navigate to the following key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager Right-click on ControlSessionManager and select New > DWORD (32-bit) Value. Name the new value DisableLogoff and set its value to 1. Close the Registry Editor window. To disable logoff, open the Run dialog and type regedit. Navigate to the following key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager Right-click on ControlSessionManager and select New > DWORD (32-bit) Value. Name the new value DisableLogoff and set its value to 1. Close the Registry Editor window. ..
In the Registry Editor that opens, navigate to the following location: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\WordWheelQuery ..
The first binary entry is “1” and the second binary entry is “0”. What this means is that the first binary entry corresponds to a word that appears in the text of the document 1 time, while the second binary entry corresponds to a word that appears in the text of the document 0 times. ..
Drag the crosshair to select all entries with the blue icon and press the Delete key on your keyboard. When the prompt appears, click Yes to confirm the action.
Close Registry Editor after the binary values are deleted and ensure that no registry keys are left active.
In the Task Manager, right-click on the process that you want to terminate and select Terminate.
In File Explorer, locate and right-click the process named “Task Manager.”
Your computer will restart automatically if you click the restart button.
How to Disable File Explorer search history using Group Policy Editor
If you frequently use File Explorer to navigate between files and folders, it can be helpful to leave behind address and search bar history. However, if you prefer not to leave any records behind, Microsoft has offered several options for clearing your address and search bar history. In addition, you can set Group Policy Editor or Registry Editor to disable the search history option in File Explorer.
- Open the Group Policy Editor by clicking Start, typing gpedit.msc, and pressing Enter.
- In the left pane, under User Configuration, expand Administrative Templates, and then click Search.
- In the right pane, double-click Disable search history in File Explorer (for local users only).
- On the Options tab, under Behavior for this policy setting, select Disabled from the list of options and click OK.
- Under Result scopes for this policy setting, select Local computer from the list of options and click OK.
- Close Group Policy Editor and restart your computer to apply the changes. ..
Press Win + R to open the Run dialog box.
- In the left pane, under Computer Configuration, expand Policies\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Windows Update.
- In the right pane, double-click on the Allow Local Administrators to Control Windows Update setting.
- On the Properties tab, set the Value to True. Click OK to apply the change. ..
In the right pane, locate and right-click Turn off showing recent search entries in the File Explorer search box policy and select Edit. In the Edit box, enter a new value for the “Show recent search entries” property. The new value should be set to false.
In the window that appears, enable the window. Click Apply and OK to save your changes.
How to Disable File Explorer search history using Registry Editor
To prevent your search history from being displayed in File Explorer, you can use Registry Editor. ..
Regedit is a Windows search tool that lets you change the settings of your computer’s registry.
C:\Windows\system32\drivers etwork\v4.0.30319 etwork\v4.0.30319.101 The path to the Registry Editor is C:\Windows\system32.NETFramework.NET
If you’re using Windows 8 or 10, check if the “Windows key” exists. If it doesn’t, press the “Windows key” + “E” at the same time to open the “Elevation Manager.” Click on the “Create a new key” button and name it Explorer. ..
New > DWORD value (32 bit)
DisableSearchBoxSuggestions DWORD = 0
To disable search box suggestions, double-click the DisableSearchBoxSuggestions value and enter 1 in the Value data field. Click OK to save your changes. ..
Close Registry Editor and restart your computer. It is necessary to apply the changes. After restarting, you will not see any search history in the File Explorer search bar. ..
Delete the address bar and search history in File Explorer
The address bar and search history in File Explorer are a helpful feature to navigate between frequently used files and folders. By default, these features are hidden, but you can enable them by changing the value of the “show address bar and search history” property in the “File Explorer” properties panel of your Preferences dialog.
If you want to clear your search history and address history on your Microsoft account, there are several options available. ..
You can disable the search history option in File Explorer by setting Group Policy Editor or Registry Editor. ..
Final note
This guide will show you how to clear history of File Explorer in Windows 10. This is a useful feature if you want to keep your computer clean and free of old files and folders. ..
