🥝GuideKiwi
Free Guide

Learn How to Delete Saved Passwords in Chrome

Understanding Chrome's Password Storage System Google Chrome stores passwords to make logging into websites faster and more convenient. When you enter a pass...

GuideKiwi Editorial Team·

Understanding Chrome's Password Storage System

Google Chrome stores passwords to make logging into websites faster and more convenient. When you enter a password on a website, Chrome typically offers to save it. If you click "Save," the browser remembers that password and automatically fills it in the next time you visit that site. This feature is designed to reduce the time you spend typing login credentials repeatedly.

Chrome keeps these saved passwords in an encrypted format on your device. According to Google's security documentation, passwords are protected using your device's operating system security features. On Windows, passwords are encrypted using your Windows login credentials. On Mac, they're encrypted using your keychain. On Linux systems, they're encrypted using your system's credential storage.

It's important to understand that saved passwords in Chrome can be viewed by anyone with access to your computer and your Chrome account. This is why deleting passwords you no longer use—or removing passwords from shared devices—matters for security. For example, if you change your password for a banking website but Chrome still has the old password saved, removing the outdated entry prevents potential confusion or security issues.

The reasons people want to delete saved passwords vary. Some users delete passwords before sharing a device with family members. Others remove passwords after changing them on a website. Some people delete all saved passwords when switching to a new browser or updating their security practices. Understanding your own reasons for deletion helps you decide whether to remove individual passwords or clear your entire password list.

Takeaway: Chrome's password storage is convenient but requires active management. Knowing what passwords you have saved and why you're deleting them is the first step toward maintaining better control over your login information.

Accessing Your Saved Passwords in Chrome

Before you can delete a saved password, you need to know where to find your password list in Chrome. The process is straightforward and takes just a few clicks. On most devices running Chrome, you can access your saved passwords through the browser's Settings menu. The exact path is the same whether you're using Chrome on Windows, Mac, or Linux.

Start by opening Google Chrome on your computer. In the upper right corner of the browser window, you'll see three vertical dots (this is called the "menu button" or "hamburger menu"). Click on these three dots to open the main menu. A dropdown list will appear with several options including "Settings" near the bottom of the list. Click on "Settings" to open Chrome's settings page.

Once you're in the Settings page, look at the left sidebar. You'll see several categories including General, Appearance, Privacy and Security, and others. Click on "Autofill" in the left sidebar. This will expand to show additional options including "Passwords." Click on "Passwords" to view your saved passwords list. This is the main hub where Chrome displays all the websites for which it has saved your login information.

You'll now see a list of websites with passwords saved in Chrome. Next to each website entry, you'll see a key icon and the username associated with that account. The password itself is hidden by default and shown as dots for security reasons. This list may be quite long if you've been using Chrome for several years and have allowed it to save passwords from many websites.

Takeaway: Finding your saved passwords requires just three steps: open Chrome, click the menu button, go to Settings, then navigate to Autofill and Passwords. Once there, you have access to manage all your stored login information.

Deleting Individual Passwords from Chrome

If you want to remove just one or a few passwords rather than all of them, Chrome makes this process simple. This approach is useful when you've changed a password on a specific website and want to remove the old one from Chrome, or when you want to delete login information for a website you no longer use while keeping passwords for other sites intact.

From your Passwords page (accessed through Settings > Autofill > Passwords), look at the list of websites. Find the specific website whose password you want to delete. When you hover your mouse over an entry in the list, you'll see additional options appear to the right of that entry. Specifically, you'll see a three-dot menu button (vertical dots) appear next to the website name. This button becomes visible when you move your cursor over that row.

Click on the three-dot menu button next to the website entry you want to delete. A small dropdown menu will appear with options including "Edit," "Remove," and possibly other choices depending on your Chrome version. Click on "Remove." Chrome will immediately delete that password from your saved list. The password is gone and won't be offered as an autofill option anymore when you visit that website.

You can repeat this process for as many individual passwords as you want to delete. There's no limit to how many you can remove this way. If you accidentally delete a password you wanted to keep, the only way to restore it is to manually enter the password again on that website and have Chrome re-save it when prompted.

Some users prefer this method because it allows them to be selective. For example, you might keep passwords for essential accounts like email and banking while removing passwords for less important accounts you rarely use. This balance between convenience and security helps many people maintain control over their login information without losing access to frequently used accounts.

Takeaway: Removing individual passwords takes seconds—just find the website, click the three-dot menu, and select "Remove." This selective approach works well when you want to keep some passwords while deleting others.

Clearing All Saved Passwords at Once

Sometimes you may want to delete every password Chrome has saved, rather than removing them one by one. This might happen when you're setting up a shared device, preparing to sell a computer, or making a complete security refresh of your browser. Chrome provides a method to clear all saved passwords in one action using the "Clear browsing data" feature.

To access this feature, open Chrome and click the three-dot menu button in the upper right corner. From the dropdown menu, select "Settings." In the left sidebar, click on "Privacy and security." You'll see several options on this page, including one labeled "Clear browsing data." Click on this option to open the clearing window.

A dialog box will appear asking you what data you want to clear. At the top of this box, you'll see a time range selector with options like "All time," "Last hour," "Last 24 hours," "Last 7 days," "Last 4 weeks," and "Last 3 months." To delete all your saved passwords, select "All time." This ensures that passwords from your entire browsing history are included.

Below the time range selector, you'll see a list of checkboxes for different types of data. Look for the checkbox labeled "Passwords and other sign-in data." Make sure this box is checked—it should have a checkmark in it. Make sure that other options like "Browsing history," "Cookies and other site data," and "Cached images and files" are unchecked unless you want to delete those items too. Only having "Passwords and other sign-in data" checked ensures you're only deleting passwords.

Once you've selected "All time" as the time range and checked only the "Passwords and other sign-in data" option, click the "Clear data" button. Chrome will immediately remove all saved passwords from your browser. This action cannot be undone, so make sure this is what you want to do before clicking the button. After clearing, Chrome will no longer offer to autofill any passwords, and you'll need to enter login information manually for all websites.

Takeaway: Clearing all passwords at once uses Chrome's "Clear browsing data" feature with the "Passwords and other sign-in data" option selected. This is a one-time action that removes every password Chrome has stored.

Understanding Password Syncing and Multiple Devices

If you use Chrome on multiple devices—such as a desktop computer, laptop, and smartphone—you should understand how password deletion works across these devices. Chrome has a feature called "sync" that allows your passwords to be the same across all devices where you're signed into the same Google account. This means that when you delete a password on one device, it may affect other devices too, depending on your sync settings.

When you sign into Chrome with your Google account and enable sync, Chrome uploads your saved passwords to Google's secure servers. This allows you to access the same passwords on any device where you sign in with that same account. For example, if you save a password on your laptop while signed into your

🥝

More guides on the way

Browse our full collection of free guides on topics that matter.

Browse All Guides →