- PRO Courses Guides New Tech Help Pro Expert Videos About wikiHow Pro Upgrade Sign In
- EDIT Edit this Article
- EXPLORE Tech Help Pro About Us Random Article Quizzes Request a New Article Community Dashboard This Or That Game Popular Categories Arts and Entertainment Artwork Books Movies Computers and Electronics Computers Phone Skills Technology Hacks Health Men's Health Mental Health Women's Health Relationships Dating Love Relationship Issues Hobbies and Crafts Crafts Drawing Games Education & Communication Communication Skills Personal Development Studying Personal Care and Style Fashion Hair Care Personal Hygiene Youth Personal Care School Stuff Dating All Categories Arts and Entertainment Finance and Business Home and Garden Relationship Quizzes Cars & Other Vehicles Food and Entertaining Personal Care and Style Sports and Fitness Computers and Electronics Health Pets and Animals Travel Education & Communication Hobbies and Crafts Philosophy and Religion Work World Family Life Holidays and Traditions Relationships Youth
- Browse Articles
- Learn Something New
- Quizzes Hot
- This Or That Game New
- Train Your Brain
- Explore More
- Support wikiHow
- About wikiHow
- Log in / Sign up
- Computers and Electronics
- Operating Systems
How to Delete Cookies on a Mac Desktop & MacBook
Last Updated: June 26, 2023 Tested
Google Chrome
This article was co-authored by Chiara Corsaro and by wikiHow staff writer, Jack Lloyd . Chiara Corsaro is the General Manager and Apple Certified Mac & iOS Technician for macVolks, Inc., an Apple Authorized Service Provider located in the San Francisco Bay Area. macVolks, Inc. was founded in 1990, is accredited by the Better Business Bureau (BBB) with an A+ rating, and is part of the Apple Consultants Network (ACN). The wikiHow Tech Team also followed the article's instructions and verified that they work. This article has been viewed 732,829 times.
This wikiHow article teaches you how to delete your Mac's Safari, Chrome, and Firefox cookies. Cookies are temporary files related to sites that you've visited. Keep in mind that while clearing cookies from your browser may speed it up, doing so will also sign you out of most websites on which you were signed in.
Things You Should Know
- In Safari, go to "Safari" > "Preferences" > "Privacy" > "Manage Website Data…" and click "Remove All.
- In Google Chrome, go to "Chrome" > "Clear Browsing Data…", select "Cookies and other site data," then click "Clear browsing data."
- In Firefox, go to "Firefox" > "History" > "Clear Recent History…", select "Cookies," then click "Clear Now."
- Click the Safari menu item.
- Click Preferences...
- Click the Advanced tab.
- Check the Show Develop Menu in Menu Bar box.
- Click the Develop menu item.
- Click Empty Caches
Chiara Corsaro
This is a safe way to clear cookies from your Mac. While it's safe to empty your cookies from the Safari app, it is not recommended to go directly into the macOS system library to clear out cookies unless you have experience in doing so. Accidentally deleting the wrong file in your system library can result in functionality issues with the application and/or operating system.
- the past hour
- the past day
- the past week
- the past 4 weeks
- the beginning of time
- Last Two Hours
- Last Four Hours
Community Q&A
- You shouldn't have to clear your Mac's Safari cache regularly, but doing so once in a while will help keep your Mac running quickly. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
- Cookies can be detrimental to your web browsing experience, but they're also what allows you to sign in to sites without re-entering your username or password every single time. Deleting cookies will sign you out of most websites. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
You Might Also Like
About This Article
- Send fan mail to authors
Reader Success Stories
Suzy Andrews
Dec 22, 2021
Is this article up to date?
Mar 20, 2016
Dec 3, 2016
Jacki Booth
Oct 21, 2016
Mar 28, 2017
Featured Articles
Trending Articles
Watch Articles
- Terms of Use
- Privacy Policy
- Do Not Sell or Share My Info
- Not Selling Info
wikiHow Tech Help Pro:
Level up your tech skills and stay ahead of the curve
IMAGES
VIDEO
COMMENTS
Clear Safari's cache to get rid of persistent cookies. If you still see cookies popping up after deleting your Mac's stored cookies, you can clear Safari's cache, which will remove all of Safari's input information except for settings and bookmarks. To do so: Click the Safari menu item. Click Preferences... Click the Advanced tab.