How to clear local storage for a website or extension in Google Chrome

How to clear local storage for a website or extension? Websites and extensions on Chrome often store data in an area called local storage, which you may want to clear occasionally. Follow this guide to do so.

Websites store data locally on your computer, in the form of cookies, cache and local storage.

This helps improve your browsing experience by avoiding the need to always log in or constantly download the full content of a page every time you load it.

However, there may be situations where you need to clear this data, perhaps to resolve website issues or to maintain your privacy.

What is local storage in Google Chrome?

You can do this by clearing a website's local storage in Google Chrome. This will clear any saved data Chrome has for the website you visited.

To clear local storage for a website or browser extension in Google Chrome, follow the steps below.

Local storage in Google Chrome allows websites to store data in your browser, enabling complex web applications to function.

Unlike cookies, which are limited in size and can only store text, local storage allows browsers like Chrome to store large amounts of data, including complex data types like objects and arrays.

When you visit a website, it can use local storage to save your preferences, track your browsing history, or even store entire web pages for a faster browsing experience.

How to clear local storage for a website or extension

This storage method ensures that data is available even when you are offline, making the web application more reliable and consistent from your point of view.

Digging deeper into local storage, Chrome has specific ways of managing this data.

One of these methods is chrome.storage.local, an API provided by Google Chrome that allows browser extensions to store and retrieve data.

This API is designed for extensions – your data stored using chrome.storage.local it remains private, accessible only by the extension that created it.

Local storage offers more functionality compared to cookies and can work with complex data types. However, if you are concerned about your privacy, you may need to remove it.

How to view local storage in Google Chrome using developer tools

Google Chrome allows you to view local storage for a specific website using the Development Tools resource. By accessing the Developer Tools menu in Chrome, you can interact with your site's local storage directly through Application tab.

To view local storage in Google Chrome:

1. Open your Chrome browser and navigate to the website whose local storage you want to view.
2. Press F12 on the keyboard to open the Development Tools menu.
3. Select the Application guide located at the top of the Development Tools menu.
   
4. In the menu on the left, under the Store section, expand the Local storage category.
5. You should now see a list of all domains associated with the site you are currently on – click on the domain you want to inspect to access your local storage data.
   
6. To edit the data, double-click the Value column for one Key Prohibited.
   

Keep in mind that changes you make to local storage will update the website information stored on your computer.

How to delete local storage data for a website in Google Chrome

Local storage data generally includes user preferences, temporary data and other settings relevant to the website. If you want to delete local storage data for a specific website in Google Chrome, follow the steps below.

To delete local storage data for a website in Google Chrome:

1. Open Google Chrome and navigate to the website you want to clear local storage for.
2. Press F12 to open the Development Tools menu.
3. click on the Application guide in Development Tools panel.
   
4. In the menu on the left, under Storeclick Local storage.
   
5. You will see a list of all saved storage keys for the site. To delete an individual key, right-click the key and select Delete.
   
6. To clear all site local storage data, right-click the domain listed under Local storage left and select Clear.
   
7. Close the Development Tools menu and reload the website by pressing F5 to view the site without any existing local storage. However, please be aware that by doing this the website may immediately load more information into local storage to function properly.

How to remove extension data from local storage in Google Chrome

Browser extensions in Chrome store data locally on your computer, which can slow down Google Chrome's performance. Clearing this data from local storage is one way to make Google Chrome faster.

To remove Chrome extension data from local storage:

1. Open Google Chrome and select the three points menu icon in the top right corner.
2. From the Chrome menu, select Extensions > Manage extensions.
   
3. At the Extensions menu, press the button Development Tools slider in the upper right corner.
   
4. Find the extension you want to clear data from and press Details.
   
5. Look at Chrome Extensions Extension ID (a long sequence of letters and numbers) in the I WENT section. You can also take this from chrome://extensions URL in Address barlisted after the ?id = section.
   
6. If your Chrome extension has a pop-up or pop-up window that you can interact with, select the Extensions icon in the top right corner.
   
7. From the list, select the three points menu icon next to the extension.
8. Press Inspect popup to access the Development Tools extension menu.
   
9. If your Chrome extension doesn't have a pop-up or pop-up window, return to the extensions information page. Under Inspect views section, click any available link to open the Development Tools menu.
   
10. At the Development Tools window, select the Application tab.
11. On the right, open the Local storage section, right-click chrome://extensions URL (making sure the ID matches) and press Clear.
    
12. Chrome will immediately remove the extension’s local storage data – close the Development Tools menu later.

After clearing local storage data, your extension will be free of all previously accumulated local data. This will include login information, so you may need to sign in again if the extension requires authentication to use.

Managing your data in Google Chrome

When clearing the local storage of websites and extensions in Google Chrome, you can quickly clean your private data. You can also use it to fix any issues with a website or extension.

There are other steps you can take as well. For example, you might want to clear Chrome's cache and cookies regularly, just to make sure everything is removed.

Want to ensure your data is shared across all your devices? Make sure you sign in and use Google Chrome sync to keep your bookmarks and web history consistent.