Delete old page history per company policy (1 month)
Why can i not set history to delete after 30 days? It appears the only option is an add-on which Firefox warns might not be safe. This is a security issue and Firefox is supposed to be good for security, but I can find no setting that will allow me to clear page history older than X days (30 days is my company document control policy). Even IE has this feature.
All Replies (7)
I read the help pages before posting a question, so posting a link to one of them is less than helpful. This reply does not remotely address the problem. I frequently have multi-day projects which make history links to yesterday's work very helpful, so clearing history after every session is not helpful. However, if i haven's visited a page for a week or a month, it's a good bet I will never search through all that history to find it, so it would be best if it were deleted.
It seems obvious Firefox has no mechanism for such a simple task which would be very useful from a convenience perspective, but also for privacy and security. And they evidently can't be bothered to check the 3rd-party add-on recommended in help responses for safety.
The History Library (Ctrl + Shift + H) should afford options to sort and clear items. Individually with ctrl + select or a range with shift + select, similar to working with files in file explorer.
mak229, I agree that there badly needs to be an option for deleting history that is older than XX, rather than just the newer than XX options that are currently only available.
If you use an extention for this task, be aware that it may only be deleting visited URL history, and not older cookies and other kinds of data. You may wish to check what exactly the add-on deletes if you also want old cookies etc. to be removed.
Firefox for Enterprise might be a better choice for Company Policy Compliance
mak229 said
This is a security issue and Firefox is supposed to be good for security, but I can find no setting that will allow me to clear page history older than X days (30 days is my company document control policy). Even IE has this feature.
I don't think of retention of URLs and visit dates beyond 30 days as "a security issue." How does a 40-day-old history record endanger your computer's security? Document "retention" policies are directed toward management of legal exposure and administrative costs, which may not be as high a priority for browser makers as it is for enterprise administrators.
You mentioned IE; IE is dead. Does Microsoft Edge have the old IE function? If so, that might be the best choice for your organization.
Either way, you could advocate for Chrome, Edge, and Firefox to ALL adopt an enterprise policy for date-based history deletion. Those features appear to be more standardized than many consumer features.
Mozilla recently started up a new "Ideas" site at https://connect.mozilla.org/. You could check whether there is an Idea on file for this that you could vote up (give Kudos) or post a new one to get into the current feedback stream.
cor-el said
See also: https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/expire-history-by-days/
This extension is not part of the Recommended Extensions program, but it was written by Mozilla employee Marco Bonardo so if I wanted this feature, I would trust it.
However, if you prefer an extension that IS in the program and therefore receives detailed human review, try: