1 <h2 id="manifest">Manifest</h2> 2 3 <p> 4 You must declare the "browsingData" permission in the 5 <a href="manifest.html">extension manifest</a> to use this API. 6 </p> 7 8 <pre>{ 9 "name": "My extension", 10 ... 11 <b>"permissions": [ 12 "browsingData", 13 ]</b>, 14 ... 15 }</pre> 16 17 <h2 id="usage">Usage</h2> 18 19 <p> 20 The simplest use-case for this API is a a time-based mechanism for clearing a 21 user's browsing data. Your code should provide a timestamp which indicates the 22 historical date after which the user's browsing data should be removed. This 23 timestamp is formatted as the number of milliseconds since the Unix epoch 24 (which can be retrieved from a JavaScript <code>Date</code> object via the 25 <code>getTime</code> method). 26 </p> 27 28 <p> 29 For example, to clear all of a user's browsing data from the last week, you 30 might write code as follows: 31 </p> 32 33 <pre>var callback = function () { 34 // Do something clever here once data has been removed. 35 }; 36 37 var millisecondsPerWeek = 1000 * 60 * 60 * 24 * 7; 38 var oneWeekAgo = (new Date()).getTime() - millisecondsPerWeek; 39 chrome.browsingData.remove({ 40 "since": oneWeekAgo 41 }, { 42 "appcache": true, 43 "cache": true, 44 "cookies": true, 45 "downloads": true, 46 "fileSystems": true, 47 "formData": true, 48 "history": true, 49 "indexedDB": true, 50 "localStorage": true, 51 "pluginData": true, 52 "passwords": true, 53 "webSQL": true 54 }, callback);</pre> 55 56 <p> 57 The <code>chrome.browsingData.remove</code> method allows you to remove 58 various types of browsing data with a single call, and will be much faster 59 than calling multiple more specific methods. If, however, you only want to 60 clear one specific type of browsing data (cookies, for example), the more 61 granular methods offer a readable alternative to a call filled with JSON. 62 </p> 63 64 <pre>var callback = function () { 65 // Do something clever here once data has been removed. 66 }; 67 68 var millisecondsPerWeek = 1000 * 60 * 60 * 24 * 7; 69 var oneWeekAgo = (new Date()).getTime() - millisecondsPerWeek; 70 chrome.browsingData.removeCookies({ 71 "since": oneWeekAgo 72 }, callback);</pre> 73 74 <p class="caution"> 75 <strong>Important</strong>: Removing browsing data involves a good deal of 76 heavy lifting in the background, and can take <em>tens of seconds</em> to 77 complete, depending on a user's profile. You should use the callback mechanism 78 to keep your users up to date on the removal's status. 79 </p> 80 81 <h2 id="origin_types">Origin Types</h2> 82 83 <p> 84 Adding an <code>originTypes</code> property to the API's options object allows 85 you to specify which types of origins ought to be effected. Currently, origins 86 are divided into three categories: 87 </p> 88 <ul> 89 <li> 90 <code>unprotectedWeb</code> covers the general case of websites that users 91 visit without taking any special action. If you don't specify an 92 <code>originTypes</code>, the API defaults to removing data from unprotected 93 web origins. 94 </li> 95 <li> 96 <code>protectedWeb</code> covers those web origins that have been installed 97 as hosted applications. Installing <a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/aknpkdffaafgjchaibgeefbgmgeghloj"> 98 Angry Birds</a>, for example, protects the origin 99 <code>http://chrome.angrybirds.com</code>, and removes it from the 100 <code>unprotectedWeb</code> category. Please do be careful when triggering 101 deletion of data for these origins: make sure your users know what they're 102 getting, as this will irrevocably remove their game data. No one wants to 103 knock tiny pig houses over more often than necessary. 104 </li> 105 <li> 106 <code>extension</code> covers origins under the 107 <code>chrome-extensions:</code> scheme. Removing extension data is, again, 108 something you should be very careful about. 109 </li> 110 </ul> 111 <p> 112 We could adjust the previous example to remove only data from protected 113 websites as follows: 114 </p> 115 <pre>var callback = function () { 116 // Do something clever here once data has been removed. 117 }; 118 119 var millisecondsPerWeek = 1000 * 60 * 60 * 24 * 7; 120 var oneWeekAgo = (new Date()).getTime() - millisecondsPerWeek; 121 chrome.browsingData.remove({ 122 "since": oneWeekAgo, 123 <b>"originTypes": { 124 "protectedWeb": true 125 }</b> 126 }, { 127 "appcache": true, 128 "cache": true, 129 "cookies": true, 130 "downloads": true, 131 "fileSystems": true, 132 "formData": true, 133 "history": true, 134 "indexedDB": true, 135 "localStorage": true, 136 "serverBoundCertificates": true, 137 "pluginData": true, 138 "passwords": true, 139 "webSQL": true 140 }, callback);</pre> 141 142 <p class="caution"> 143 <strong>Seriously</strong>: Be careful with <code>protectedWeb</code> and 144 <code>extension</code>. These are destructive operations that your users 145 will write angry email about if they're not well-informed about what to 146 expect when your extension removes data on their behalf. 147 </p> 148 149 <h2 id="samples">Examples</h2> 150 <p> 151 Samples for the <code>browsingData</code> API are available 152 <a href="samples.html#browsingData">on the samples page</a>. 153 </p> 154
