BleachBit 5.1.2 beta

Submitted by andrew on Thu, 04/09/2026 - 21:18

We invite you to test BleachBit 5.1.2 beta, preparing for our biggest release in years. This release stands out for the scale and importance of recent changes. Users can selectively choose cookies to keep using the new cookie manager feature. This release fixes an important bug for Windows Recycle Bin handling, along with adding broader safety improvements and stronger guardrails. Your testing and feedback will help us confirm these changes are solid before the final release.

Since version 5.1.1 beta:

All Platforms

b5411c6cClean more data from Chromium-based browsers including component cache, extension cache, Graphite Dawn cache, shader cache, DIPS, and crash reports. Also vacuum additional databases and improve cache handling for snap installations.
Clean Chrome-based browsers
cd1d848aAdd cleaner for Vivaldi web browser
Clean Vivaldi browser
5d18cac4Clean more data from Firefox, LibreWolf, and Waterfox including storage, permissions, bounce tracking protection, site security state, alternate services, favicons, and session backups. Also improve cache handling for snap and Flatpak installations.
Clean Firefox, LibreWolf, Waterfox
bc6dc5b6Clean more data from Chromium-based browsers including code cache, media device salts, reporting data, sessions, IndexedDB, network state, search suggestions, and saved files. Also improve cache handling for Flatpak installations.
Clean Chromium-based browsers
0d674ee2Reorganize options in Firefox for what is now Site data.
Clean Site data in Firefox.
ea98abf7Reorganize options in Chromium-based browsers for what is now Site data.
Clean Site data in Chromium-based browsers.
e980d12eImprove tree view for expert mode.
Enable expert mode. Click the parent of deep scan. It should show a warning, but none of the deep scan options (including parent) should be enabled.
ac6e8ec0Fix UnicodeEncodeError when displaying filenames with invalid surrogate characters.
Create a file with invalid surrogate characters. Preview the file in the GUI or terminal and verify it can be displayed without error.
3b584adaExplain the scope of the cookie manager's keep list.
Open the cookie manager and verify the notice is displayed.
151e69e4Add tooltip to locked preferences.
Open the preferences. Enable expert mode. Verify Confirm before delete and Reset warning confirmations are disabled. Hover over each, and verify a tooltip is displayed.
98d8eedcEnable shredding of file paths stored as text from Windows clipboard.
From a text editor, copy a file path to the clipboard. On the main window, paste with Ctrl+V. Try also using the application menu.
1a7e331aFix GUI deadlock when loading malformed XML cleaners.
See GitHub issue #2034 for instructions.
b99e8a3dVacuum the file WebStorage/QuotaManager for Brave, Microsoft Edge, and Opera
Vacuum Brave, Edge, and Opera
83bba658Improve the description of session options for web browsers, and reorganize the site data actions.
N/A

Windows

4a751e27Fix font check dialog
Open application to see the font check dialog. If it does not show, delete or rename bleachbit.ini. Select text is blurry or unrecognizable.
6c36d623Add support in Winapp2.ini for exclusion of registry keys (ExcludeKey#=REG).
Add a cleaner to Winapp2.ini that uses ExcludeKey#=REG and verify it works.
62eaf2f2Fix launch of application when user's language is Chinese, Japanese, or Korean.
Set the language to CJK. Restart application. Verify it launches without an error. In bleachbit.ini, set:
```
font_check_completed=False
auto_detect_lang=False
forced_language=ja
```

For more info, see also commit log (since 5.1.1), list of closed issues (fixed in 5.1.x).

Font check

This explains the new Font check dialog.

The font check dialog addresses a bug affecting some Windows users that has been difficult to reproduce. While two users experienced issues with font substitution, this doesn't explain the problem for other affected users.

For most users, the bug never happens. For other users, the issue happens immediately and consistently: the font looks like an alien language. Several users were confused that it was a foreign language, and they asked how to switch to English.

One workaround is to switch the Pango Cairo rendering backend from win32 to Fontconfig, though that backend has its own drawbacks. The font check dialog makes it easy for the user to switch.

The new "Font check" dialog provides a temporary workaround. On first launch, it asks users how the text appears. Normally affected users wouldn't be able to read the text, but the dialog uses an alternate font that should always render properly.

If the user clicks Looks okay, the preference is saved and the dialog won't appear again.

If the user clicks either of the other options (Blurry or Unrecognizable), the application saves a preference to enable the Fontconfig backend and then restarts to apply the change.