Browser Autofill Still Showing Deleted Addresses or Passwords
You deleted old info from autofill, but Chrome or Edge still suggests it. The browser cached it in a sync file — here's how to force wipe it.
You're filling out a checkout form, and the browser drops down an address you deleted three months ago. Or a password for a site you removed last week. You go into Settings > Autofill, delete the entry again, but next time — same suggestion. What's actually happening here is the browser cached that data in a secondary sync file that doesn't get wiped when you delete from the UI.
Why Autofill Keeps Old Data
The trigger is simple: you deleted an autofill entry (address, password, or credit card) from the browser's settings panel, but the suggestion still appears. This happens on Chrome, Edge, and Brave. The root cause is a race condition between the local autofill database and the sync engine. When you delete an entry, the browser marks it as 'deleted' but doesn't immediately purge it from the memory-mapped cache file. If you have sync enabled, the sync server might send the old entry back before the deletion propagates. The result? A ghost entry that won't die.
Another common cause: third-party autofill extensions (like LastPass or Bitwarden) inject their own suggestions. Deleting from Chrome's native autofill doesn't remove entries from the extension's database. So you need to clear both.
The Fix: Force Clear Autofill Cache
Skip the 'Manage your saved addresses' UI — it won't help here. The real fix is to blow away the underlying SQLite database and the sync cache. Here's how, step by step.
Step 1: Close the Browser Completely
Don't just close the window. On Windows, check Task Manager for chrome.exe or msedge.exe processes. On macOS, quit via app menu and check Activity Monitor. If any process stays alive, the cache files are locked.
Step 2: Delete the Autofill Database Files
Open your browser's user data folder. On Windows:
Chrome: %LOCALAPPDATA%\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\
Edge: %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Edge\User Data\Default\
On macOS:
Chrome: ~/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/Default/
Edge: ~/Library/Application Support/Microsoft Edge/Default/
Inside the Default folder, delete these files:
Web Data(stores autofill addresses, credit cards)Login Data(stores passwords)AutofillStates(sync cache — this is the sneaky one)
Don't worry — the browser recreates them fresh on next launch. You'll lose your saved addresses and passwords, so back up any you need first.
Step 3: Clear Sync Data (If You Use Sync)
This is the part most guides skip. If you have Chrome sync or Edge sync enabled, the old entries live on Google's or Microsoft's server. Deleting local files won't stop them from coming back. So after step 2, go to:
chrome://settings/syncSetup/advanced
Or for Edge:
edge://settings/syncSetup/advanced
Click "Reset sync" or "Clear data from sync". This wipes the server-side cache and forces a full re-sync from your local files (which are now empty).
Step 4: Check Third-Party Extensions
If you use a password manager extension, open its settings and delete the old entries there. For LastPass: vault > search > delete. For Bitwarden: vault > trash > permanently delete. The browser's autofill can't control what the extension shows.
Step 5: Test with a Fresh Entry
Restart the browser, add a new test address (e.g., "123 Test St, Test City"), submit a form, then delete that entry. Check if the old deleted ones still appear. If they do, you missed the sync cache or an extension.
What to Check If It Still Fails
If the old entries survive all steps, there's a deeper issue. First, check if you have multiple browser profiles. Each profile has its own Default folder. You might be deleting from profile 1 but using profile 2. Go to chrome://version and look for "Profile Path" to confirm which folder you're in.
Second, some corporate-managed browsers (Chrome managed by your company's IT) block deletion of certain autofill entries via Group Policy. If you see "Managed by your organization" in Settings, that's your problem. You can't fix it without admin access.
Third, if you use a VPN or proxy that caches form data (like some enterprise network filters), the old entries might come from that. Try disabling the VPN briefly and repeating the test.
One more thing: if you deleted a password saved from a site that uses subdomains (like app.example.com and admin.example.com), Chrome sometimes keeps the entry tied to the parent domain. You have to delete it from the domain-specific section, not the generic list. Go to chrome://settings/passwords, search for the site name, and remove each subdomain entry separately.
That's it. The browser autofill cache is stubborn, but once you nuke the right files and reset sync, those ghost suggestions disappear. The reason step 2 works is because the AutofillStates file holds the last-known-good sync snapshot. Deleting it forces the browser to rebuild from scratch, breaking the loop.
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