SanitizeOnShutdown

Clear local data on shutdown. SanitizeOnShutdown accepts either a boolean to clear all data types or an object to choose which data types to clear. Items that can be selectively deleted include browsing & download history, cookies, active logins, caches, form history, and site preferences.

Note

ClearOnShutdown supersedes this policy. When both are set, SanitizeOnShutdown is ignored entirely.

Values

SanitizeOnShutdown accepts either a boolean or an object. When set as a boolean:

• Set to true to clear all supported local data on shutdown.
• Set to false to clear nothing.

When set as an object, any member omitted is treated as false, taking precedence over user settings for that data type. Accepts one or more of the following members to clear specific data types:

• Cache
• Cookies
• Downloads: Download history (Deprecated - use History instead)
• FormData: Form history
• History: Browsing history, download history
• Sessions: Active logins
• SiteSettings: Site preferences
• OfflineApps: Offline Website Data (Deprecated - use Cookies instead)
• Locked: Prevents the user from changing these preferences.
• Exceptions: A list of origins (not domains) whose cookies and site data are not cleared on shutdown. You must include http or https.

Examples

policies.json

{
  "policies": {
    "SanitizeOnShutdown": true
  }
}

policies.json

{
  "policies": {
    "SanitizeOnShutdown": {
      "Cache": true,
      "Cookies": true,
      "FormData": true,
      "History": false,
      "Sessions": true,
      "SiteSettings": true,
      "Locked": true
    }
  }
}

JSON schema

SanitizeOnShutdown JSON schema

{
  "type": [
    "boolean",
    "object"
  ],
  "properties": {
    "Cache": {
      "type": "boolean"
    },
    "Cookies": {
      "type": "boolean"
    },
    "Downloads": {
      "type": "boolean"
    },
    "FormData": {
      "type": "boolean"
    },
    "History": {
      "type": "boolean"
    },
    "Sessions": {
      "type": "boolean"
    },
    "SiteSettings": {
      "type": "boolean"
    },
    "OfflineApps": {
      "type": "boolean"
    },
    "Locked": {
      "type": "boolean"
    },
    "Exceptions": {
      "type": "array",
      "items": {
        "type": "string",
        "format": "moz-url",
        "pattern": "^([Ff][Ii][Ll][Ee]://.*|[Hh][Tt][Tt][Pp][Ss]?://[^/]+/?)$"
      }
    }
  }
}

Windows (GPO)

Clear all data:

Software\Policies\Mozilla\Firefox\SanitizeOnShutdown = 0x1 | 0x0

Clear specific data types:

Software\Policies\Mozilla\Firefox\SanitizeOnShutdown\Cache = 0x1 | 0x0
Software\Policies\Mozilla\Firefox\SanitizeOnShutdown\Cookies = 0x1 | 0x0
Software\Policies\Mozilla\Firefox\SanitizeOnShutdown\FormData = 0x1 | 0x0
Software\Policies\Mozilla\Firefox\SanitizeOnShutdown\History = 0x1 | 0x0
Software\Policies\Mozilla\Firefox\SanitizeOnShutdown\Sessions = 0x1 | 0x0
Software\Policies\Mozilla\Firefox\SanitizeOnShutdown\SiteSettings = 0x1 | 0x0
Software\Policies\Mozilla\Firefox\SanitizeOnShutdown\Locked = 0x1 | 0x0
Software\Policies\Mozilla\Firefox\SanitizeOnShutdown\Exceptions\1 = "https://example.com"

macOS

Clear all data:

<dict>
  <key>SanitizeOnShutdown</key>
  <true/> | <false/>
</dict>

Clear specific data types:

<dict>
  <key>SanitizeOnShutdown</key>
  <dict>
    <key>Cache</key>
    <true/> | <false/>
    <key>Cookies</key>
    <true/> | <false/>
    <key>FormData</key>
    <true/> | <false/>
    <key>History</key>
    <true/> | <false/>
    <key>Sessions</key>
    <true/> | <false/>
    <key>SiteSettings</key>
    <true/> | <false/>
    <key>Locked</key>
    <true/> | <false/>
    <key>Exceptions</key>
    <array>
      <string>https://example.com</string>
    </array>
  </dict>
</dict>

Compatibility

	Firefox	Firefox ESR	Firefox Enterprise
SanitizeOnShutdown	Available since 6060	Available since 6060	Available since 149149
Locked	Available since 7474	Available since 68.668.6	Available since 149149
Exceptions	Available since 154154	Available since 153.1153.1	Available since 154154

Object form added in Firefox 68/ESR 68. Starting with Firefox 136, FormData and History are separate data types.

CCK2 Equivalent: N/A
OMA-URI: SanitizeOnShutdown
Preferences Affected: privacy.sanitize.sanitizeOnShutdown, privacy.clearOnShutdown.cache, privacy.clearOnShutdown.cookies, privacy.clearOnShutdown.downloads, privacy.clearOnShutdown.formdata, privacy.clearOnShutdown.history, privacy.clearOnShutdown.sessions, privacy.clearOnShutdown.siteSettings, privacy.clearOnShutdown.offlineApps, privacy.clearOnShutdown_v2.browsingHistoryAndDownloads, privacy.clearOnShutdown_v2.cookiesAndStorage, privacy.clearOnShutdown_v2.cache, privacy.clearOnShutdown_v2.siteSettings, privacy.clearOnShutdown_v2.formdata

See also

• ClearOnShutdown, which supersedes this policy in Firefox 158.