Delete selected cookies on exiting Firefox
When I delete Firefox cookies, I would like to delete only selected cookies, which would be about 98% of them. There are a few web sites that use stored cookies to let me log in faster, if they don't find their cookies I have to get an email, text or phone call to log in. In past I used CCleaner which had a list of cookies to keep. Past several months CCleaner isn't even listing that it see any cookies, others are seeing the same thing- it just not deleting cookies for IE, Chrome or Firefox.
Question, is there a way with standard Firefox to delete cookies on close, but have a list to save and not delete? I see where to create list to allow, allow for session or block. But I am thinking that list isn't for keeping if I were to click on "clear data" or check the option to "Delete cookies and site data when Firefox is closed".
Bleachbit will clear cookies, but it doesn't give you options to save certain cookies. There may be some plugin/addons to FF, but I get nervous about all the options they need like view all data. I understand why, but would rather do it all within FF standard code.
I am using Windows 7 Pro 64 bit, Firefox 65.0.2
Modified by Jer
All Replies (6)
hi Jer, you can create exceptions for the cookie behaviour of particular sites in the privacy & security section of the firefox options under "Manage Permissions" - those will be respected when you set "Delete cookies and site data when Firefox is closed".
Thanks, I still a little confused.
By respected you mean Firefox won't delete when I check the delete on close box, if allowed in the manage section? Would I have to also put in the sub domains? I notice it won't let me use a wildcard like
- .mozilla.org
Would I have to enter the url for each sub domain?
Jer said
By respected you mean Firefox won't delete when I check the delete on close box, if allowed in the manage section?
yes, exactly :))
Would I have to also put in the sub domains? I notice it won't let me use a wildcard likeWould I have to enter the url for each sub domain?
- .mozilla.org
yes, there is no wildcard support - what you need to specify in the list is the protocol (https:// or http://) and the full top level domain for the cookies that should be kept. an alternative way to achieve the same result is to right-click a page you're visiting & where you want to keep cookies, go to "view page info" > "permissions" & set cookies to "allow".
if you want to have more flexibility and make use of wildcards you might also use an addon like https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/cookie-autodelete/ instead.
Jer said
By respected you mean Firefox won't delete when I check the delete on close box, if allowed in the manage section?
Well, if you remove a cookie in the Manage Data dialog, it will be removed when you click Save Changes. There is no way to set a cookie to be undeletable in that dialog.
Also, bear in mind that these work differently:
- Delete cookies and site data when Firefox is closed => sets Firefox to shorten all cookie lifetimes to session only except for sites you have given Allow permission to set persistent cookies
- Clear history when Firefox closes => if set to remove cookies, removes all cookies without exception (unless something has changed recently)
Thanks, that answers my questions. Looks like I can use FF and there is an addon. I don't know why, every since they started showing permissions, I get a little freaked out. I still use NoScripts and have for years and it has about every permission possible. But then I used it for so long I feel more comfortable.
Did you consider to use a Private Browsing mode window? All PB mode share a separate cookie jar (i.e. not the cookie jar use in normal mode) and all PB mode session data is kept in memory and discarded automatically when all PB mode windows are closed or when you close Firefox. Otherwise you can set the cookie permission for this domain to session cookies.