Cookie file, where is it?

bluejeans

bluejeans

I'm an old Opera user (I remember when it used to fit into a floppy!), and still can't get myself to switch to Chromium. I'm using mostly Firefox for sites that won't work with Opera 12. Now I installed a portable version of the new Opera and I'm testing how well it works and which features I miss.

Here's one thing I do with old Opera and haven't managed to do with the new Opera: I keep a minimal copy of cookies4.dat with only the 2 cookies I really want to keep (Google and YouTube preferences).

I have a batch file that deletes the current cookies4.dat and replaces it with the minimal copy before launching Opera. I would like to do the same in Chromium-Opera. Where are the cookies stored? Or - how can I do the same, namely only keep selected cookies when wiping?

lando242

lando242

You can manage such things inside Opera now. Give this a shot: open settings (Alt+P) and got to cookies. Inside 'All cookies and site data' delete all the cookies you don't want. Then set 'Block sites from setting any data'. That might do what you are looking for.

As for where cookies are stored, that would be inside your profile folder. You can find the location of your profile in the About Opera page in the Opera menu. In there should be a file called 'Cookies' with no extension. I believe thats where they are stored.

bluejeans

bluejeans

Thanks for your reply, lando242.

I could do the same thing in old Opera too, but it doesn't work that well. You lose the 2 "good" cookies as soon as you clear navigation data, and besides I don't want to 'Block sites from setting any data'. I want to accept the cookies (so the sites don't make a big fuss) and delete manually immediately after I'm done with the site, or automatically when I restart Opera.

By the way, the UI for choosing cookies is inconvenient. 1) I found no way to select several cookies - to delete all but the 2 "good" ones, I had to check them one by one! 2) When the same site sets more than one cookie, selection is even more cumbersome.

I've seen the Cookies file, there's also another file: Cookies-journal. Do you know what it's used for? I suppose I'll have to back up both of them. I'll test and report.

sgunhouse

sgunhouse Moderator Volunteer

A journal file is used to log access to a database file - since Opera is now multi-threaded the threads will check the journal before modifying the database so that you don't have two threads trying to modify the same record (in your case, cookie) at the same time. In theory, a journal can also be used to reconstruct recent changes to the database ... since I don't know whether Opera does that or not if you intend to restore the database you should restore the journal.

bluejeans

bluejeans

Thanks sgunhouse. I'll write the new script to deal with both files: Cookies and Cookies-journal - if I write a new script at all. But I might drop the idea altogether because I've seen that the Google PREF cookie contains opaque data and actually serves as a tracking beacon.

Now I'm thinking of automating the setting of preferences each time I fire up the browser, rather than keeping a persistent cookie that contais unique IDs. I'll post a question about that when I actually start to use the new Opera regularly.