Private Window is suggesting visited URLs - how to avoid this behaviour?

Browser Support
,
1

Description of the issue:
When I open a Private Window and start typing in the address bar, a list of previously accessed URLs starts appearing. I was under the impression that this should not happen in Private Windows. Am I wrong?
Steps to Reproduce (add as many as necessary): 1. 2. 3.

  1. Open a Private Window
  2. Surf to any website
  3. Close the Private Window
  4. Close Brave Browser
  5. Open Brave Browser
  6. Open a new Private Window
  7. Start typing the URL accessed on step 2
  8. See the URL being already known and suggested.
    Actual Result (gifs and screenshots are welcome!):
    image
    image1648Ă—504 72.2 KB

Expected result:
I’d expect the Private Window to not remember anything I visited.
Reproduces how often:
Always.
Operating System and Brave Version(See the About Brave page in the main menu):
MacOS Sonoma 14.7.1 / Brave 1.73.91
Windows 11 / Brave 1.73.91
Additional Information:
N/A

2

Yes, you are wrong. The difference between normal window and private is that private starts a new session with no cookies and with no extensions active. Then when you close your private session, it would delete all cookies and not have any history of the things you did while in private window.

It still would view your bookmarks, saved passwords, etc. What you’re showing about your previously accessed URL would be things you likely visited on a normal window. Essentially you can visit brave://settings/appearance to see what you have enabled for autofill, such as below:

image
image680Ă—293 6.32 KB

3

I routinely use Brave Browser New Private Windows, and Extensions are active:

4

Thanks for your reply.
So it’s not possible to disable autocomplete only for “Private Window”?
And is it possible to remove some specific URLs from the browsing history and/or top sites?

5

I can use extensions as well in “Private Window” mode.

6

@FlavioB yes, they were just trying to be a bit argumentative. When I said private clears cookies and disables extensions, he was just pointing out how you can change settings to allow extensions to run in private. But all I was doing is focusing on default behavior and intent.

Not that I’m aware of. What you could do though, at least for desktop, is to use a Guest Profile instead. This would be a separate entity that runs like a private window but without any of your data. So no saved passwords, autofill, etc.

If you’re not familiar how to do this, then just go to the hamburger menu image → More Tools → Open Guest Profile.

1 Like
7

Hi - to be honest, I’ve made some changes but I don’t remember what exactly I did change :frowning: But now it works: if I browse a website in a Private Window, it won’t be suggested anymore, neither in a non-private window, nor in a private one.
Of course I had to remove that URL from the history beforehand.