How to view and clear download history in Mozilla Firefox
Firefox on Windows, Mac, and Linux keeps track of everything you download to its library, unless you use incognito mode and just shut it down. To erase your tracks otherwise, you will have to do it manually. Here’s how.
First, open Firefox. In any Firefox window, click on the menu button (three lines) and select “Downloads”. Or you can press Ctrl + J (Command + J on Mac) on your keyboard.
The Firefox “Library” window will open, focusing on your “Downloads” history in the sidebar on the left. You will see a list of ongoing or completed downloads, and you can perform several actions here, such as clicking the small folder icon next to any entry in the list to see the current location of the downloaded file.
To delete a single downloaded file from your download history, right-click on its entry in the list and select “Delete from History” from the short menu that appears. This will not delete the file that is stored on your computer.
To clear your entire Firefox download history in the Library> Downloads window, click the “Clear Downloads” button in the toolbar.
Warning: Clearing your download history in Firefox will not affect or delete the files you have saved on your device. If you want to delete the files themselves, you will have to find their download locations and delete them manually.
After clicking “Clear Downloads”, your download history will disappear and you can safely close the Library window.
Firefox’s private mode temporarily saves your download history while you are still using private mode, but once you close all private windows, your download history will be automatically cleared.
Remember that downloaded files won’t be erased automatically: Firefox will forget that it downloaded them, but you’ll have to manually delete them from your computer’s storage if you don’t want them lying around.
RELATED: How to always start Mozilla Firefox in incognito mode