How to Clear Browsing Data in Microsoft Edge on Windows 11

What Edge stores on your PC — and what each item means

Edge is Chromium under the hood, so it keeps the same kind of household data as Chrome: cached page assets in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Edge\User Data\Default\Cache, cookies, browsing and download history, saved passwords and autofill entries — one folder per profile. The cache folder is the heavyweight: on a machine used for streaming and heavy web apps it grows to multiple gigabytes, and Edge never trims it by itself. Everything else is small in bytes but large in consequences, which is why the clear dialog names each category instead of offering one button.

Knowing what each checkbox touches turns the dialog from a leap of faith into a checklist. The two you will use most are "Cached images and files" — pure junk-clearing with zero side effects — and "Cookies and other site data", which resets site logins and preferences.

• "Browsing history" — the list of visited addresses; clearing it frees almost no disk space
• "Download history" — the list of downloaded files; the files themselves stay wherever you saved them
• "Cookies and other site data" — logins, carts, site preferences; clearing signs you out of most sites
• "Cached images and files" — the actual cache; the biggest disk-space win of the lot
• "Passwords" — saved logins; untouched unless you deliberately tick this box
• "Autofill form data" — addresses and card numbers Edge fills into forms

Clearing browsing data in Edge, step by step

Open Edge and press Ctrl+Shift+Del, or click the three-dot menu → Settings → Privacy, search, and services → scroll to "Delete browsing data" → "Choose what to clear"; pasting edge://settings/privacy into the address bar jumps you to the same page. In the dialog, set the time range to "All time" — shorter ranges leave older data behind. Tick "Cached images and files" plus "Cookies and other site data" if signing out is acceptable, leave "Passwords" and "Autofill form data" unticked, and click "Clear now". Edge empties the selected categories on the spot; there is no separate confirmation step, so a quick glance at the checkboxes before clicking pays off.

Afterwards, expect the usual two effects: first page loads run a touch slower while the cache rebuilds, and you are signed out of the sites whose cookies you cleared. Your favorites, extensions, collections and saved passwords are not involved — passwords are protected by their own checkbox, and favorites are not part of this dialog at all.

Clearing automatically on close — Edge's built-in option

Edge has something Chrome lacks: an on-exit cleaner. On the same Privacy, search, and services page, under "Delete browsing data every time you close the browser", click "Choose what to clear every time you close the browser" and pick categories — cached images and files is a safe choice, since it never signs you out; enabling cookies there logs you out at every exit. The toggles apply to every session, so pair them with what you actually want: privacy hardliners enable cookies, everyone else leaves that one off.

For everything outside the browser, or when you would rather run the cleanup on a schedule that also covers Windows temp files, Kleaner PRO handles it: it clears Edge's cache files on its own timetable while leaving cookies and passwords alone, so your logins outlive every cleanup.

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