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What do I need to do to stay signed into my Gmail account ?

10/5/2018: I'm using Win 7 Pro and Firefox as my default browser. Since a recent Firefox update I can no longer stay signed into my Gmail account and have to sign in every day. Has anyone found a solution to this situation ? It's maddening and I've tried every 'fix' I can find online with no success. HELP !

10/5/2018: I'm using Win 7 Pro and Firefox as my default browser. Since a recent Firefox update I can no longer stay signed into my Gmail account and have to sign in every day. Has anyone found a solution to this situation ? It's maddening and I've tried every 'fix' I can find online with no success. HELP !

All Replies (1)

The feature of staying signed in uses a "persistent" cookie, meaning a cookies whose expiration date is in the future and it does not expire at the end of the current session.

There are a number of ways that a cookie might be lost between sessions, including:

  • Using a private window for Google/Gmail
  • Setting Firefox to allow only session cookies ( without making an exception for Google )
  • Setting Firefox to clear history when it closes and selected Cookies as one of the categories to clear ( this feature does not honor exceptions )
  • Using an extension that cleans up cookies
  • Using external software that cleans up browser data

Do you recall customizing any privacy, history, or cookie settings on the Options page? You can check that here:

  • Windows: "3-bar" menu button (or Tools menu) > Options
  • Mac: "3-bar" menu button (or Firefox menu) > Preferences
  • Linux: "3-bar" menu button (or Edit menu) > Preferences
  • Any system: type or paste about:preferences into the address bar and press Enter/Return to load it

In the left column, click Privacy & Security

On the right side, in the History section, you can verify:

  • Firefox will: Remember history => Good
  • Firefox will: Never remember history => FLUSHES COOKIES
  • Firefox will: Use custom settings for history => check for:

    "Clear history when Firefox closes" is either:
    • Not checked (not turned on)
    • Checked (turned on) but when you click the Settings button on the right, Cookies are not checked (not set to be cleared)

On the right side, in the Cookies and Site Data section, can you verify:

"Accept cookies and site data from websites (recommended)" is selected and either:

  • "Keep until" is set to They expire, or
  • "Keep until" is set to Firefox closes AND when you click the Exceptions button, https://google.com is set to ALLOW

Does all that check out?