Whenever you fill out a shipping form, a contact sheet, or a checkout page online, Google Chrome quietly remembers the information you entered. The next time you encounter a similar form, Chrome will display a massive drop-down menu suggesting you “Auto-Fill” your full name, home address, phone number, and email address with a single click.
While convenient, this is a massive privacy risk if you share your computer with anyone else. Anyone who uses your browser could easily auto-fill your personal home address into a form, even if they don’t know it. Furthermore, Chrome frequently auto-fills the wrong information into forms that are coded poorly. If you prefer to type your information manually to ensure privacy and accuracy, you can disable Auto-Fill.
How to Turn Off Auto-Fill in Google Chrome
You can disable the form-memory engine directly from Chrome’s Autofill settings.
- Open the Google Chrome browser.
- Click the three vertical dots (⋮) in the top-right corner of the window.
- Select Settings from the drop-down menu.
- In the left-hand sidebar, click on Autofill and passwords.
- In the main window, click on Addresses and more.
- Locate the toggle switch labelled Save and fill addresses.
- Click the toggle switch to turn it completely Off.
Google Chrome will immediately stop saving any new contact information you type into forms. More importantly, it will no longer display the massive, intrusive drop-down menus suggesting your personal information whenever you click on a blank text field.