Clear Activity History in Windows 11: Step-by-Step Guide

This post shows students and new users steps to clear Activity history in Windows 11.

Microsoft uses the activity history data to provide personalized experiences and relevant suggestions (such as anticipating your needs based on your activity history).

Windows users can store their activity history on the local device or send it to Microsoft if logged in with their Microsoft accounts.

Suppose you’ve signed in to your device with a work or school account and turned on the setting to send Microsoft your activity history. In that case, Microsoft uses your activity history data to enable cross-device experiences.

Whether your activity history is stored on your local device in the Microsoft cloud, you can quickly clear it, and the steps below will show you how to do that.

This feature has been deprecated.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/whats-new/deprecated-features

How to clear activity history in Windows 11

As mentioned, Windows users can store their activity history on the local device or send it to Microsoft if logged in with their Microsoft accounts.

Whether your activity history is stored locally or in Microsoft Cloud, the instructions below are for clearing it.

Windows 11 has a centralized location for the majority of its settings. As a result, everything can be done, from system configurations to creating new users and updating Windows from its System Settings pane.

To get to System Settings, you can use the Windows key + I shortcut or click on Start ==> Settings, as shown in the image below:

Alternatively, you can use the search box on the taskbar and search for Settings. Then select to open it.

Windows Settings pane should look similar to the image below. For example, click Privacy & Security in Windows Settings, then select the Activity history tile on the right pane, as highlighted in the image below.

Select the Activity History tile to expand on the Privacy & security > Activity history settings pane.

Then, click the Clear activity history for this account tile and click the Clear History button to clear your activity history.

If your activity history is stored online with Microsoft, go to the Privacy Dashboard after signing in with your Microsoft account.

Next, expand the App and Services activity tile and click on the Clear All App and Services link.

That should do it!

Conclusion:

• Microsoft will stop syncing cross-device activity history for Microsoft Entra accounts starting January 2024, aligning with the previous change for Microsoft accounts in 2021.
• The timeline user experience has been retired in Windows 11, but remains in Windows 10. Local activity history still remains on Windows 10 devices.
• Users can access web history using their browser and recent files through OneDrive and Office.
• Windows 11 users can clear their activity history using the System Settings pane or via the Privacy Dashboard if the data is stored online with Microsoft.