How to Clear Your Device Search History in Windows 10


Search Windows and the web from the taskbar to find help, apps, files, settings—you name it. You can also get quick answers from the web—like weather, stock prices, currency conversion, and much more—and get to websites faster by using links in the preview pane.

Cortana and Search has been separated starting with Windows 10 version 1903.

To improve your on-device search suggestions, your can let Windows Search (Win+S) store your search history locally on your Windows 10 device.

Microsoft is rolling out a change to display some of your recent searches when you open Windows Search Box, to make them easy to get back to. This change is rolling out server-side to everyone on version 1809 and higher:

  • The recent list shows the last four items that you’ve searched for and opened from Windows Search Box, which can include apps, files, settings, and direct-nav URLs (for example, like “bing.com”).
  • You can remove individual items in this list by clicking the “x” that shows when you hover your mouse over the items.
  • You can disable the Recent feature by turning off the Windows setting “Search history on this device” under Settings > Search > Permissions and History.
  • If you’ve not used Windows Search Box before and have 0 recent items, the recent list will be hidden.
  • If you don’t use Windows Search Box often and have fewer than 2 items in the recent list, an educational string will display in the area to let you know what types of items will appear in the list.

This change is rolling out server-side to everyone on version 1903 and higher.

This tutorial will show you how to clear recent items in device search history for your account in Windows 10.


Contents

  • Option One: Clear All Recent Items in Device Search History
  • Option Two: Clear Specific Recent Items in Device Search History



EXAMPLE: Recent searches in Windows Search (Win+S)








OPTION ONE

Clear All Recent Items in Device Search History


1 Open Settings, and click/tap on the Search icon.

2 Click/tap on Permissions & History on the left side, and click/tap on the Clear device search history button under Search history on this device on the right side. (see screenshot below)

If you want to keep your device history cleared, you will need to turn off Search history on this device first and then click/tap on the Clear device search history button.

How to Clear Your Device Search History in Windows 10-clear_device_search_history.jpg






OPTION TWO

Clear Specific Recent Items in Device Search History


1 Open Windows Search (Win+S).

2 Hover the pointer over the recent search item you want to delete. (see screenshot below)

3 Click/tap on the X button for the recent item to remove it.

How to Clear Your Device Search History in Windows 10-delete_specific_recent_search_history_items.jpg


That's it,
Shawn


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