How to Stop Autofill in Chrome URL Search Bar

There is no denying the fact that Chrome comes with quite a lot of useful functionalities. But on the other hand, some might not be well-appreciated by everyone. And the browser’s ability to auto-fill the address bar probably falls in the latter category.

There are quite a few reasons that could help me justify this statement. Taking my personal experience into account, I just typed in “What is..” and the browser did the rest of the job of filling the Omnibox with the query that I wasn’t even going to search.

As a result, I then had to use the backspace key to delete this automated data and proceed with my search query. While a single backspace might not count in as much of an effort, imagine doing so every time you proceed ahead with a search.

Related: How to Add Address for Autofill in Chrome Computer?

Furthermore, it could also stand out as a significant privacy issue, especially for users who use a shared PC. So is there any method to stop the autofill in the Chrome address bar, and if yes, how could it be achieved? Well, let’s check it out.

Stop Autofill in Chrome Address Bar

So let’s get straight to the point- there is no native option to stop the autofill from hijacking Chrome’s address bar. On checking the Chromium Bugs Tracker “Issue 91378: Option to turn off autocomplete in Omnibox”, the Status clearly says WontFix (Closed).

Well, that speaks volumes in itself. However, even then, there do exist a few workarounds through which you could at least minimize this rather irritating behavior of Chrome. So without further ado, let’s check them out.

Disable Autocomplete Searches and URLs

If you disable this functionality, the browser wouldn’t send your cookies and browsing history to the search engines. While doing so won’t altogether disable the autofill, the results will at least be fewer in numbers.

Here are the steps to disable autocomplete search on Chrome:

1. Launch the Chrome browser and go to its Settings page.
2. Then head over to the Sync and Google Services section.
3. Finally, disable the Autocomplete searches and URLs toggle under Other Google services.
   

While on the one hand, it would reduce the number of autofill queries, on the flip side, the queries you would be getting wouldn’t be curated as per your interest. So decide on this trade-off accordingly.

Delete Chrome Browsing Data

The autofill feature of Chrome mostly picks up the data from your cookies, search history, and autofill services. So by deleting these data, you would be limiting the autofill domain.

This would straightaway result in the browser showing fewer autofill queries. In this regard, there are two different approaches: either delete the Chrome data or use it in incognito mode.

Here are the steps to delete the Chrome browsing data:

1. Start by accessing the Settings page of the Chrome browser from More menu.
2. Privacy and Security section and click on Clear Browsing Data.
3. Now select Browsing History, Cookies and other site data, and Cached images and files.
   You may also checkmark the Autofill form data if you wish to be a little more aggressive.
4. Once you have selected it, hit the ClearData button.
   

The benefit of the above method is pretty straightforward- the autofill will now function with limited data at hand. However, this is a temporary fix because, over time, the browser will again send data to the autofill, and the latter will populate the Omnibox with its suggestions.

Now, if you wish to browse in an Incognito Mode, then use the Ctrl + Shift+ N chrome keyboard shortcut combinations to open a new Incognito window.

Bottom Line: Stop Search Autocomplete

So this was all from this guide on how to stop autofill in the Chrome address bar. As already mentioned, there is no option to disable this feature. There are already quite a few concerned users looking for a “permanent fix” to this issue across the Google Support Forum, but they seem to have returned empty-handed.

It is a surprise that even when this offering from the Silicon Valley giants is scaling new heights every day, they still don’t find it helpful enough to incorporate this feature into their core structure.

With that said, I prefer to take the Chrome incognito browsing approach. This is because the deletion of cookies and data would then require manually typing in the username and password across every site.

Related: How to Change Search Engine in Chrome Computer?

Likewise, these sites would now take more time to load (since there are no cache files to use). On that note, we conclude this guide. Do let us know in the comments which method you ultimately went for.