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Although set to keep cookies "Until I close Firefox" many cookies remain.

  • 4 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 4 views
  • Last reply by cor-el

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If I start Firefox and immediately go to manage cookies, I find all sorts of cookies that are still there since the last time I manually cleared out cookies. Manually clearing cookies is very tedious, since I need to keep cookies from those sites that won't let me log in without a code sent via email, phone, or text. These sites often seem to require some third-party cookies, which are difficult to identify.

In the past I was able to keep the required cookies by setting cookies to be kept "until they expire" and doing nothing in that session but logging into the site I wanted. Then, at the next session I would set cookies to be kept "until I close Firefox" and immediately closing and then reopening Firefox.

This no longer seems to work. I'm using Firefox 60.0.2 (64-bit). I think I've had the problem for more than a couple of months, but I'm not sure.

If there is some other way to keep the cookies I want and lose the others, I'd appreciate that information. I saw something about "persistent storage" in view page info, but did not understand the references.

If I start Firefox and immediately go to manage cookies, I find all sorts of cookies that are still there since the last time I manually cleared out cookies. Manually clearing cookies is very tedious, since I need to keep cookies from those sites that won't let me log in without a code sent via email, phone, or text. These sites often seem to require some third-party cookies, which are difficult to identify. In the past I was able to keep the required cookies by setting cookies to be kept "until they expire" and doing nothing in that session but logging into the site I wanted. Then, at the next session I would set cookies to be kept "until I close Firefox" and immediately closing and then reopening Firefox. This no longer seems to work. I'm using Firefox 60.0.2 (64-bit). I think I've had the problem for more than a couple of months, but I'm not sure. If there is some other way to keep the cookies I want and lose the others, I'd appreciate that information. I saw something about "persistent storage" in view page info, but did not understand the references.

All Replies (4)

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Best is to create an allow exception to keep third-party cookies from specific domains. For third-party cookies that aren't important your can create an allow for session exception.

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cor-el said

Best is to create an allow exception to keep third-party cookies from specific domains.
For third-party cookies that aren't important your can create an allow for session exception.

Can you explain what "an allow exception to keep third-party cookies from specific domains" is? And how does one creates such an exception

I also don't understand why "allow for session exception" would help my situation. But I'm pretty sure that's less important for me to understand.

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You need to create cookie exception via the Options/Preferences page.

  • Options/Preferences -> Privacy & Security
    Cookies and Site Data -> Exceptions

Make sure to specify the correct protocol like for this website in the filed where you type/paste the address.

Click the Allow button that you can find below the line where you type the address (Block, Allow for Session, Allow). Once done, click Save Changes to apply new exception rules.

For 'remember me' cookies you always need an Allow exception. 'Allow for Session' is only useful when you do not see specific content and the Web Console shows a cross domain security error and it works if you enable all third-party cookies as a quick test. Some media players (e.g. brightcove) need such third-party cross domain access when the website embeds such a player.