A clean install removes Chrome and its profile folder, then starts again with a brand-new profile. It is the step to take when a normal reinstall brings the same problem back, which points to the profile as the cause. To keep your bookmarks and passwords, save them in your Google Account and export them to files first. After the clean install you sign in, and they come back.
If you only want to reinstall the app and keep your profile as it is, follow reinstall Chrome without losing data instead. It is simpler and keeps everything.
What comes back and what doesn’t
When you’re signed in, Chrome can save these in your Google Account, according to Google’s sign-in help: bookmarks and reading list, passwords, payment info, identity docs, contact and travel info, extensions, web apps, and settings and preferences. History and open tabs are saved only if you turn on History and tabs.
Everything else in the old profile is gone after a clean install. In practice that means:
- You are signed out of websites, because cookies are kept in the profile folder.
- Your history is gone unless History and tabs was on.
- Anything you saved while signed out of Chrome is gone unless you moved it into your account or exported it.
Step 1: Save your data
- Save it in your Google Account. Sign in to Chrome. Select More (three dots) > Settings > You and Google, select your account name and choose what to save. If your profile icon offers Save x items in Account, select it, then Save in account.
- Export your passwords. Select More > Passwords and autofill > Google Password Manager > Settings, scroll to “Export passwords” and select Download file (Google’s steps). Keep the .csv file somewhere private: anyone who opens it can read your passwords.
- Export your bookmarks. Select More > Bookmarks and lists > Bookmark manager, then More at the top of the bookmark manager > Export bookmarks. Chrome saves an HTML file (Google’s steps).
Move both files out of Chrome’s folders, for example to Documents or a USB drive, so they aren’t deleted in the next step.
Step 2: Uninstall Chrome and delete the profile
These steps follow Google’s uninstall guide, with the folder paths from the Chromium documentation.
- Windows: close Chrome. Open Start > Settings > Apps > Installed apps, then next to Google Chrome select More > Uninstall (on Windows 10, Apps & features > Google Chrome > Uninstall). Check Also delete your browsing data if it is offered. If it isn’t, after the uninstall press Windows + R, enter
%LOCALAPPDATA%\Google\Chromeand delete the User Data folder. - Mac: quit Chrome and drag it from Applications to the Trash. In Finder choose Go > Go to Folder, enter
~/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome, and drag all the folders there to the Trash. - Linux: run
sudo dpkg -r google-chrome-stable(Debian, Ubuntu) orsudo rpm -e google-chrome-stable(other systems), then delete~/.config/google-chrome.
To also clear the cache folders Chrome leaves on a Mac or Linux computer, see remove Chrome’s leftover data.
Step 3: Install Chrome fresh
Download Chrome for Windows, Mac or Linux from Google’s own links and install it. When Chrome opens it has a new, empty profile.
Step 4: Bring your data back
- Sign in to Chrome with the same Google Account. Your bookmarks, passwords, extensions and settings from your account come back.
- Import your passwords only if some were not in your account. Select More > Passwords and autofill > Google Password Manager > Settings, under “Import passwords” select Select file, and choose your .csv file. Then delete the .csv file, as Google advises.
- Import your bookmarks only if some are missing. Select More > Bookmarks and lists > Import bookmarks and settings, select Choose file, pick your HTML file and select Open > Done. If you already have bookmarks, the imported ones go into the “Other bookmarks” folder.
- Sign in to the websites you use again.
Need more help with any step? Reinstalling Chrome covers every system, including how to try Reset settings before you delete anything.