{"id":24471,"date":"2021-09-01T16:37:00","date_gmt":"2021-09-01T16:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.auslogics.com\/en\/articles\/?p=24471"},"modified":"2025-10-07T17:59:57","modified_gmt":"2025-10-07T17:59:57","slug":"manage-collecting-activity-history-in-windows-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.auslogics.com\/en\/articles\/manage-collecting-activity-history-in-windows-10\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Manage Collecting Activity History in Windows 10?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Does Windows 10 send your activity history to Microsoft? Apparently, Microsoft has failed to explain exactly how it collects data and how you can control it. Usually, disabling your activity history or clearing it should clear all your data from Microsoft\u2019s servers.<\/p>\n

However, recent discussions on\u00a0Reddit<\/a>\u00a0have raised suspicions that Windows 10 collects your activity data even when the feature is disabled.<\/p>\n

You can even try this yourself. Pull up Windows Settings (Win + I).<\/p>\n

\"Press<\/p>\n

Head over to Privacy.<\/p>\n

\"Click<\/p>\n

Go to Activity history.<\/p>\n

\"Navigate<\/p>\n

Disable everything under this section.<\/p>\n

\"Disable<\/p>\n

Clear your activity history.<\/p>\n

\"Clear<\/p>\n

Give it a few days and then visit the Windows Privacy dashboard<\/a>. You will still find some application, media, and even browsing history under the \u201cMy Activity\u201d section.<\/p>\n

While you can manually delete the data, the fact that it’s still being tracked is sure to raise some concerns about Microsoft’s intentions. To that end, Microsoft\u2019s Marisa Rogers responded by releasing the following statement:<\/p>\n

\u201cMicrosoft is committed to customer privacy, being transparent about the data we collect and use for your benefit, and we give you controls to manage your data. In this case, the same term \u201cActivity History\u201d is used in both Windows 10 and the Microsoft Privacy Dashboard. Windows 10 Activity History data is only a subset of the data displayed in the Microsoft Privacy Dashboard. We are working to address this naming issue in a future update.\u201d<\/p>\n

It could be that the Activity History page in the Privacy Dashboard shares the same name as the \u201cActivity history\u201d feature associated with the Windows Timeline. According to Microsoft, you can prevent Windows 10 from sending app usage history to Microsoft\u2019s servers by disabling the \u201cSend my activity history to Microsoft\u201d option.<\/p>\n

The Windows 10 Timeline<\/h2>\n

The Windows 10 Timeline stores a history of your activities on all devices connected to your Microsoft account for the last 30 days. The feature is said to improve your workflow by allowing you to quickly resume work from where you left off. It also makes recently accessed files easier to find.<\/p>\n

There are several ways to check what’s on your timeline. The quickest method to do so is by using the Windows logo key + Tab shortcut. This will open your activities for the past 30 days. You can browse through your Timeline, which is organized using date headers.<\/p>\n

\"Check<\/p>\n

The number of activities displayed for each day depends on your screen size. If there are more than two rows of logged items on a specific day, the Timeline displays the most relevant ones. To view the other activities, click on the \u201cSee all X activities\u201d link next to the date, where \u201cX\u201d describes the actual number of events tracked that day.<\/p>\n

\"See<\/p>\n

You can also remove an activity from your Timeline by right-clicking on it and selecting \u201cRemove\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"Remove<\/p>\n

To clear a group of activities, right-click on any activity and select \u201cClear all from *date*\u201d. This will clear everything from that date.<\/p>\n

\"Clear<\/p>\n

The Timeline seems to support certain apps, particularly Microsoft apps that ship with Windows 10.<\/p>\n

How to Enable Collecting Activity History in Windows 10<\/h2>\n

You might not know this, but the Timeline is enabled by default. You can verify if that\u2019s your case by following the steps below:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Open the \u201cSettings\u201d app using the Win + X keyboard shortcut and select \u201cSettings\u201d.\"Click<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

     <\/p>\n