How To Clear Cookies in Microsoft Edge: A Step-by-Step Guide

Your browser stores cookies as a way to identify you and your internet history. Cookies help websites provide personalized experiences, but they’re also used to create highly targeted ad campaigns. 

If you’d like to clear cookies in Microsoft Edge, then this is the guide for you. Keep reading to learn the step-by-step process for deleting and enabling cookies, how to block cookies entirely with an ad blocker, as well as how to clear your cached data.

How to clear cookies in Microsoft Edge

There are two options to clear cookies in Microsoft Edge. You can choose to delete all of your cookies or only delete cookies from specific websites. Let's go over how to delete all cookies first.

How to delete all Edge cookies

1. Open the Edge browser.

2. Select the horizontal three dots in the upper right corner of your browser window.

3. Click Settings.

4. Choose Privacy, search, and services.

5. Scroll down to Clear browsing data and find Clear browsing data now.

6. Click Choose what to clear.

7. A time range will appear, and you can choose a time range from the list. (What you select will delete cookies collected from the chosen timeframe.)

8. Choose Cookies and other site data.

9. Click Clear now.

Now you've deleted cookies and other site data. Keep in mind, this will cause your browser to log out of most of your accounts.

How to delete cookies from specific websites

If you only want to delete cookies from one site, then you can follow these steps:

1. Open the Edge browser.

2. Click the three horizontal dots in the upper right corner of your browser.

3. Select Settings.

4. Choose Cookies and site permissions.

5. Under the Cookies and data stored section, select Manage and delete cookies and site data.

6. Click on See all cookies and site data.

7. Scroll through the list to find the site whose cookies you want to delete.

8. Once you find it, click on the down arrow to the right of the website name.

9. Choose Delete by clicking on the trash can icon.

Cookies for the site are cleared once you hit Delete. You can repeat these same steps to delete cookies from other sites as well.

How to set up Microsoft Edge to automatically delete cookies

Some people prefer to delete cookies every time they use the internet. However, it's a bit tedious to delete cookies after every browser session. But, luckily, there is a way to automatically delete cookies every time you close the Microsoft Edge browser.

1. Open the Edge browser.

2. Select the three horizontal dots in the upper right corner of the browser.

3. Choose Settings.

4. Click Privacy, search, and services.

5. Under Clear browsing data, select Choose what to clear every time you close the browser.

6. Choose the Cookies and other site data toggle to turn it on.

After you set this feature up, cookies and other site data get deleted every time you close the Microsoft Edge browser. (But don't forget this will also sign you out of your online accounts.)

How to enable or disable cookies in Microsoft Edge

Besides deleting cookies, you may prefer to disable cookies entirely. If you prefer your privacy, disabling cookies can stop sites and third parties from tracking your online activities. There are some cons to this option, primarily because it may cause some sites to not load properly.

Let's review how to disable or manage cookies in Edge. If you change your mind in the future and want to enable cookies again, you can follow these same steps to turn them back on.

1. Open the Edge browser.

2. Select the three horizontal dots in the upper right corner of your browser.

3. Choose Settings.

4. Click Cookies and site permissions.

5. Choose Manage and delete cookies and site data.

To disable cookies, turn on Block third-party cookies. To enable cookies, turn on Allow sites to save and read cookie data. To block cookies from a specific site, add the desired site's web address under the Block section.

Sometimes a site does need third-party cookies to run properly. In this case, Edge may give you a prompt asking if you want to allow a third party to have access to cookies and site data.

If you select Allow, then the third party is granted 30 days of temporary access before it automatically expires. If you would like to remove it sooner, then you’ll need to clear it manually.

You can also disable cookies by using an ad-blocker extension or a virtual private network (VPN) with ad-blocking capabilities. Ad blockers can block pop-up ads and web blocking to enhance your online privacy. Here are some of our recommendations for Microsoft Edge:

• NordVPN Threat Protection: We deemed NordVPN Threat Protection to be the best overall ad blocker for Microsoft Edge. On top of blocking ads and trackers, Threat Protection also offers URL trimming to remove tracking parameters from websites you visit. 

  Get NordVPN | Read Our NordVPN Review

• Total Adblock: If you're looking for a free ad blocker, Total Adblock is a great option. It's an easy-to-use browser extension, and it effectively blocked tracking ads during our testing.

  Get Total Adblock | Read Our Total Adblock Review

• Surfshark CleanWeb: Surfhshark is an affordable VPN, and it can block ads, trackers, cookie consent requests, and more thanks to its CleanWeb feature. It also allows for unlimited simultaneous connections, so you can block cookies on any number of devices. 

  Get Surfshark | Read Our Surfshark Review

How to clear cache in Microsoft Edge

Cached data is slightly different from cookies. Where cookies track your online history, cached data stores information from websites you've visited to make them load faster the next time you visit. However, you may want to clear your cache to free up disk space or if a webpage isn't loading properly.

Here’s how to clear the cache in the Edge browser:

1. Open the Edge browser.

2. Select the three horizontal dots in the upper right corner of your browser.

3. Click Settings.

4. Choose Privacy, search, and services.

5. Under Clear browsing data, tap Choose what to clear.

6. Select Cached images and files.

7. Click Clear now.

After you've completed these steps, the Edge browser will delete the selected cached data.

FAQs

Bottom line

Clearing your cookies and cache is an important part of managing your browsing experience and protecting your online privacy. Managing your cookie settings enables you to control how your data is being used. Meanwhile, clearing your cache every once in a while could help with internet performance or troubleshoot webpage loading problems.

If you want to improve your Microsoft Edge browsing experience, you can read up on the best ad blockers for Microsoft Edge.