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I cannot delete my profile on my macbook to remove bad websites in the url bar. Tried all the tips nothing works

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I have tired for some time to get either a total refresh of firefox, my preferred browser, or to delete some bad url suggestions from the bar and nothing works. they all stay no matter what method I have used from your tips and tricks. Most of the tips are for windows users and are not helpful with MAC structure.

I have tired for some time to get either a total refresh of firefox, my preferred browser, or to delete some bad url suggestions from the bar and nothing works. they all stay no matter what method I have used from your tips and tricks. Most of the tips are for windows users and are not helpful with MAC structure.

All Replies (5)

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If you want to delete your profile you can start firefox with -p flag If you want to delete a website from your history you can do so from the library or press shift+delete in the address (awesome) bar with the url selected

If this is not enough then the issue is maybe not with firefox but with osx saving your history somewhere

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Firefox stores bookmarks and history in the places.sqlite database.

You can remove all places.sqlite file(s) in the Firefox profile folder to make Firefox rebuild the places.sqlite database from the most recent JSON backup in the bookmarkbackups folder.

  • keep a backup copy of places.sqlite in case a new places.sqlite database has to be created

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.

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I tried all that and it is all still there. Finder does not search enough I guess to locate all Firefox files. Somehow there has to be a Delete all to start over.

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kimberterry said

I tried all that and it is all still there.

What is still where? A site you have removed from your history appears as you type either (A) in the address bar itself, or (B) in the address bar drop-down (full URL), or both?

Can you confirm that you have no bookmarks to the site? One way is to use the Library window. Either:

  • Bookmarks menu > Show All Bookmarks
  • Mac: Command+Shift+b, Windows: Ctrl+Shift+b

In the upper right corner, there's a search box. You can enter part of the site address to find any matches.

Note: If you cannot remove a site from history, is it possible Firefox is starting up in automatic private browsing mode? History from previous non-private sessions may not be removable in a private session.

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kimberterry said

Somehow there has to be a Delete all to start over.

You certainly can create a new profile. This takes about 3 minutes.

Inside Firefox, type or paste about:profiles in the address bar and press Enter/Return to load it.

Click the Create a New Profile button, then click Next. Assign a name like June2017, ignore the option to relocate the profile folder, and click the Finish button.

After creating the profile, scroll down to it and click the Set as default profile button below that profile, then scroll back up and click the Restart normally button. (There are some other buttons, but I think those are still "under construction" so please ignore them.)

Firefox should exit and then start up using the new profile, which will just look brand new.

Does this clean start work the way you want?

If you want to go back to your regular profile, open the about:profiles page again, click the Set as default profile button for your normal profile, then click the Restart normally button to get back to it.