Details about our cookies
The National Archives put small files – known as ‘cookies’ – onto your computer to collect information about how you browse the site. Find out more about the cookies we use, what they are for and when they expire.
Cookies on our main site
Our main site domain is nationalarchives.gov.uk.
Essential cookies
These are necessary to make our site work. You can disable them by changing your browser preferences. However, you should be aware that doing so will mean some parts of the website will stop working for you.
| Name | Purpose | Expires |
|---|---|---|
| cookies_policy | Saves your cookie consent settings | 1 year |
| cookies_preferences_set | This remembers that you have hidden the cookie notification banner. | 1 year |
| dontShowCookieNotice | This remembers that you have hidden the cookie notification banner on pages generated in our older system. | 1 year |
| nationalarchives-PHPCookie | This cookie connects requests from the website to use PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor). It stores no personal information. | Expires when you exit the browser |
| ASP.NET_SessionId | This cookie is set for sites developed with Microsoft.Net. When a user starts browsing a unique session ID is created, which keeps track of all the information regarding that session.This information is stored in the web server and it is identified via a GUID (Globally Unique Identifier) which is essential for any ASP.NET site to function. | Expires when you exit the browser |
| Discovery | A Discovery user account session. | 20 minutes |
| Discovery1 | A Discovery user account session. | 20 minutes |
| STSWREALM | A Discovery user account session. | Expires when you exit the browser |
| .ASPXAUTH | This cookie is a randomly generated number set on sites developed with Microsoft.Net similar to ASP.NET_SessionId described above. | Expires when you exit the browser |
| CGISESSID | This is used for the Library catalogue. Typical content: a randomly generated number. Host: tna.koha-ptfs.co.uk. | Expires when you exit the browser |
| B100Serverpoolcookie | Typical content: a randomly generated number. Host: tudorbritain.org. | Expires when you exit the browser |
| .AspNetCore.Antiforgery. 9TtSrW0hzOs | This cookie is set by the ‘Book a visit to view our documents service’ to allow users to register to visit The National Archives to view documents. | Expires when you exit the browser |
| csrftoken | A Private Beta user account session. | Expires when you exit the browser |
| messages | A Private Beta user account session. | Expires when you exit the browser |
| sessionid-Private Beta | When a user starts browsing, a unique session ID is created, which keeps track of all the information regarding that session, which is essential for the site to function. | Expires when you exit the browser |
Analytics cookies
These measure your website use and enable us to make improvements.
| Name | Purpose | Expires |
|---|---|---|
| _ga | This cookie is set by Google Analytics and is used to calculate visitor, session and campaign data, and to keep track of site usage for the site’s analytics report. The cookie stores information anonymously and assigns a randomly generated number to identify unique visitors. | 2 years |
| _ga_<container-id> | This cookie is set by Google Analytics to persist the session state. | 2 years |
| _gid | Also set by Google Analytics, this is used to store information of how visitors use a website and helps in creating an analytics report of how the website is performing. The data collected includes the number of visitors, the source (i.e. where a visitor has come from), and the pages visited in an anonymous form. | 48 hours |
| _gat_UA (with an account number) | This is a pattern-type cookie set by Google Analytics, where the pattern element on the name contains the unique identity number of the account or website it relates to. It is a variation of the _gat cookie which is used to limit the amount of data recorded by Google on high-traffic volume websites. | 24 hours |
| _utma | This cookie is set by Google Analytics and is used to distinguish users and sessions. | 2 years |
| _utmb | This cookie is set by Google Analytics and is used with _utmc to calculate how long a visit takes. | 30 minutes |
| _utmc | This cookie is set by Google Analytics and is used with _utmb to calculate how long a visit takes. | 2 years |
| _utmz | This cookie is set by Google Analytics and keeps track of where the visitor came from, what search engine was used, what link was clicked on, what keyword was used, and where in the world the website was accessed from. | 6 months |
Functional cookies
These are not necessary to make our site work but make it easier to use the site by remembering your preferences.
| Name | Purpose | Expires |
|---|---|---|
| dontAutoStartResultsTour | This cookie remembers if you have opted out of the tour option on Discovery. | 1 year |
| dwft_[feature name] | These are functional cookies used by the Find Case Law service to help us roll out new features in a controlled manner. It records whether individual pieces of site functionality have been rolled out to you during your current session. | Expires when you exit the browser |
| theme | Saves your preference for a light or dark themed site | 1 year |
UK Government Web Archive
These cookies are necessary for the functioning of the UK Government Web Archive.
| Name | Purpose | Expires |
|---|---|---|
| ACCEPT_TRACKING_COOKIES | Typical content: True or false. | 1 year |
Due to the unique nature of web archiving, other certain essential cookies are required in order to accurately play back the content of websites as they were when they were archived. For example, when accessing the www.gov.uk archive some cookies from GOV.UK may be saved to your browser.
Third party cookies
These are cookies set by a website other than nationalarchives.gov.uk. They are set when you click on a third party link such as YouTube, Twitter and LiveChat. You cannot set your preferences for these on our site, but you can block them directly from your browser.
Online shop
These cookies are necessary for the functioning of the online shop.
| Name | Purpose | Expires |
|---|---|---|
| _ab | This is used in connection with access to admin. | 2 years |
| _secure_session_id | This is used in connection with navigation through a storefront. | 24 hours |
| _shopify_country | This is used in connection with the checkout. | Expires when you exit the browser |
| _shopify_m | This is used for managing customer privacy settings. | 1 year |
| _shopify_tm | This is used for managing customer privacy settings. | 30 minutes |
| _shopify_tw | This is used for managing customer privacy settings. | 2 weeks |
| _storefront_u | This is used to facilitate updating customer account information. | 1 minute |
| _tracking_consent | This is used for tracking preferences. | 1 year |
| Cart | This is used in connection with the shopping cart. | 2 weeks |
| cart_currency | This is used in connection with the shopping cart. | 2 weeks |
| cart_sig | This is used in connection with the checkout. | 2 weeks |
| cart_ts | This is used in connection with the checkout. | 2 weeks |
| cart_ver | This is used in connection with the shopping cart. | 2 weeks |
| checkout | This is used in connection with the checkout. | 4 weeks |
| checkout_token | This is used in connection with the checkout. | 1 year |
| _atuvc | This (communication and marketing) cookie is associated with the AddThis social sharing widget; it stores an updated page share count. | 1 year |
| _atuvs | This (communication and marketing) cookie is associated with the AddThis social sharing widget; it serves a similar purpose to other cookies set by the service. | 1 month |
Online shop reporting and analytics
| Name | Purpose | Expires |
|---|---|---|
| _landing_page | This is used to track landing pages. | 2 weeks |
| _orig_referrer | This is used to track landing pages. | 2 weeks |
| _s | This is used for Shopify analytics. | 30 minutes |
| _shopify_d | This is used for Shopify analytics. | Expires at the end of the session |
| _shopify_fs | This is used for Shopify analytics. | 30 minutes |
| _shopify_s | This is used for Shopify analytics. | 30 minutes |
| _shopify_sa_p | This is used for Shopify analytics relating to marketing and referrals. | 30 minutes |
| _shopify_sa_t | This is used for Shopify analytics relating to marketing and referrals. | 30 minutes |
| _shopify_y | This is used for Shopify analytics. | 30 minutes |
| _y | This is used for Shopify analytics. | 30 minutes |
Visit www.shopify.ca/legal/cookies for more information.
YouTube
We embed videos from our official YouTube channel using YouTube’s privacy-enhanced mode. This mode may set cookies on your computer once you click on the YouTube video player, but YouTube will not store personally-identifiable cookie information for playbacks of embedded videos using the privacy-enhanced mode.
Read more at YouTube’s embedding videos information page.
| Name | Purpose | Expires |
|---|---|---|
| Visitor_info1_live | This attempts to estimate a user’s bandwidth on web pages with integrated YouTube videos. | 6 months |
| YSC | This registers a unique ID to remember a user’s actions. | Expires at the end of the session |
| Secure3PSIDCC | This is necessary for the use of website options and services. | Expires at the end of the session |
| PREF | This remembers a user’s preferred page configuration and playback preferences. | 8 months |
| CGIC | This improves search results with auto complete. | 6 months |
| yt-remote-cast-installedyt-remote-fast-check-periodyt-remote-session-appyt-remote-session-name | This stores the user’s video player preferences when using embedded YouTube video. When the YouTube embed loads on the page, a unique device identifier will be stored in your web browser’s local storage. | Expires at the end of the session |
| yt-remote-connected-devicesyt-remote-device-id | This stores the user’s video player preferences when using embedded YouTube video. When the YouTube embed loads on the page, a unique device identifier will be stored in your web browser’s local storage. | Persistent |
Workday job application website
| Name | Purpose | Expires |
|---|---|---|
| PLAY_LANG | To send the language of the user’s browser for session consistency. | Expires at the end of the session |
| PLAY_SESSION | To identify the session on subsequent requests. | Expires at the end of the session |
| timezoneOffset | To handle requests and detect requests that have timed out based on a common time-zone. | Expires at the end of the session |
| WorkdayLB_UICLIENT | To maintain requests from a single user on the same server for that feature to ensure consistency of experience. | Expires at the end of the session |
| WorkdayLB_SAS | To maintain requests from a single user on the same server for that feature to ensure consistency of experience. | Expires at the end of the session |
| wday_vps_cookie | To maintain requests from a single user on the same server for that feature to ensure consistency of experience. | Expires at the end of the session |
| enablePrivacyTracking | To capture and respect the user’s selection regarding acceptance of decline of non strictly necessary cookies. | Expires at the end of the session |
Other cookies
The following cookies are currently set but not monitored and will be removed.
| Name | Purpose | Expires |
|---|---|---|
| ACOOKIE | This cookie is set by Webtrends and acts as a user session identifier for analytics data. | 1 year |
| WT_FPC | This is a Webtrends tracking cookie. | 2 years |
| WEBTRENDS_ID | This cookie set by Webtrends analytics service and is used to track and report on visitor behaviour on a site for performance improvement. | 2 years |