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Cookies

A cookie is a small text file which helps your web browser navigate through a particular website. The cookie can then be read back later by the web browser as required. The use of cookies is a convenient way of allowing a computer to remember specific information relating to a website which has been visited.

The information on this page is relevant to www.york.ac.uk. Some subdomains or apps provided by the University of York may use other cookies. Please see the individual app's cookie policy for more information.

How cookies are used on our website

The cookies used on our website have a range of different purposes. Each cookie in the list will be labelled as one of the following:

  • Necessary cookies help make a website usable by enabling basic functions like page navigation and access to secure areas of the website. The website cannot function properly without these cookies.
  • Functionality cookies enable a website to remember information that changes the way the website behaves or looks, like your preferred language or the region that you are in.
  • Statistic cookies help website owners to understand how visitors interact with websites by collecting and reporting information anonymously.
  • Marketing cookies are used to track visitors across websites. The intention is to display ads that are relevant and engaging for the individual user and thereby more valuable for publishers and third party advertisers.

Necessary cookies

University of York

Cookie

Information

cfid, cftoken

Used to identify a user's session in a ColdFusion app. See the ColdFusion documentation for more details.

JSESSIONID

JSESSIONID is a platform session cookie and is used by sites with JavaServer Pages (JSP). The cookie is used to maintain an anonymous user session by the server.

ROUTEID-deptbal-@@@, ROUTEID-lucee@@@, ROUTEID-tcbal-@@

These ensure session stickiness when forwarding requests to our backend app servers. Our app servers are clustered in pairs and we need to ensure requests are consistently sent to the same backend server.

rqf

Used to check whether the page has been quick -fixed

_shibstate_@@

Used to track RelayState when logging in to the Shib SP. Required as part of the login process. These are usually removed when the user completes login, but may be orphaned if the user starts the login process but doesn't complete it.

Formstack

Cookie

Information

AWSALB

Used to help load balancing on AWS servers

__distillery

Used by our video player provider to remember your position in a video should playback be interrupted.

FormSpringFormSession@@@

Used to keep track of individual form-filling sessions.

FormSpringFormView@@@

Used to keep track of individual form-filling views.

fs_returning_visitor

Checks to see if user is a returning user.

fsBrowserSessionId

Tracks a user session.

fsInitialVisit

Used on first visit to a form.

muxData

Tracking user behaviour in video.

PHPSESSID

Preserves user session state across page requests.

visitor_id@@@

Anonymous visitor ID

visitor_id@@@-hash

Anonymous visitor ID

__ssid

Sets a user ID

optimizelyBuckets

Cookie set by the Optimizely website optimisation platform. Used to store the page variants assigned to a user for A/B performance testing, to ensure the user gets a consistent experience

optimizelyEndUserId

Cookie set by the Optimizely website optimisation platform. This cookie is a unique user identifier

optimizelySegments

This cookie is set by the Optimizely website optimisation platform. It holds audience segmentation information for a visitor.

session_referrer

Tracks referrer on videos

Zendesk Chat

Cookie

Information

__cfduid

Used to identify individual clients behind a shared IP address and apply security settings on a per-client basis (set by Cloudflare CDN)

__zlcmid

Live chat widget sets the cookies to store the Zopim Live Chat ID used to identify a device across visits.

Functionality cookies 

University of York

Cookie Name

Information

accordion-[ID]

Used to keep accordions open between web page visits

[country]-[accordion name]

Used on country-specific pages to keep accordions open between web page visits

cookie-banner-dismissed

Used to hide the cookie information banner if it has previously been dismissed

survey_dimissed_[ID]

Used to hide a survey popup if it has previously been dismissed

AddThis

Cookie

Information

__atuvc

Used to make sure the user sees the updated count if they share a page and return to it before our share count cache is updated. No data from that cookie is sent back to AddThis and removing it when disabling cookies would cause unexpected behaviour for users. This cookie expires 2 years after it is set.

Qualtrics

Cookie

Information

_TLS1_0

This cookie is used for tracking clients connecting to Qualtrics using TLS1.0.

TRACK_TLS1_0

This cookie is used for tracking clients connecting to Qualtrics using TLS1.0.

QST

The purpose of this cookie is to record the survey taken and prevent the user from taking the survey again.

QualtricsPopup_SV_[survey ID]

Used to keep track of users who are taking a Qualtrics survey on our site

Statistic cookies

Crazy Egg

Cookie

Information

__cfduid

Used to identify individual clients behind a shared IP address and apply security settings on a per-client basis (set by Cloudflare CDN)

_ceir

Track whether a visitor has visited the site before

cean

Anonymous ID number

gdpr_consent

Remember if user gave consent

_ceg.s

Track visitor sessions

_ceg.u

Track visitors on your site

Google Maps

Cookie

Information

1P_JAR, APISID, HSID
NID, OGPC, SAPISID, SID, SIDCC, SSID

Used to measure the number and behaviour of Google Maps users

Google Analytics

Cookie

Information

__utma

Used to distinguish users and sessions. The cookie is created when the JavaScript library executes and no existing __utma cookies exists. The cookie is updated every time data is sent to Google Analytics.

__utmb

Used to determine new sessions/visits. The cookie is created when the JavaScript library executes and no existing __utmb cookies exists. The cookie is updated every time data is sent to Google Analytics.

__utmc

Not used in ga.js. Set for interoperability with urchin.js. Historically, this cookie operated in conjunction with the __utmb cookie to determine whether the user was in a new session/visit.

__utmt

Used to distinguish users and sessions. The cookie is created when the JavaScript library executes and no existing __utma cookies exists. The cookie is updated every time data is sent to Google Analytics.

__utmz

Stores the traffic source or campaign that explains how the user reached your site. The cookie is created when the JavaScript library executes and is updated every time data is sent to Google Analytics.

_ga

Used to distinguish users.

_gat_UA-1621853-1

Used to throttle request rate.

_gid

Used to distinguish users.

Siteimprove Priority

Cookie Information
nmstat This cookie is used to help record the visitor’s use of the website. It is used to collect statistics about site usage such as when the visitor last visited the site. This information is then used to improve the user experience on the website. This Siteimprove Analytics cookie contains a randomly generated ID used to recognize the browser when a visitor reads a page. The cookie contains no personal information and is used only for web analytics.
siteimproveses This cookie is used purely to track the sequence of pages a visitor looks at during a visit to the site. This information can be used to reduce user journeys, and enable visitors to find relevant information quicker.
_cfduid The "__cfduid" cookie is set by the CloudFlare service to identify trusted web traffic. It does not correspond to any user id in the web application, nor does the cookie store any personally identifiable information.

Twitter

Cookie

Information

lang, _twitter_sess, ads_prefs, auth_token, csrf_same_site, csrf_same_site_set, dnt, eu_cn, guest_id, kdt, personalization_id, remember_checked_on, tfw_exp, twid, u

Where Twitter acts as a third party host (eg on an embedded Twitter timeline), it collects data through a range of plug-ins and integrations, that is primarily used for tracking and targeting. Twitter does not currently provide information on the use of specific cookies.

YouTube

Cookie

Information

PREF

This cookie stores your preferences and other information, in particular preferred language, how many search results you wish to be shown on your page, and whether or not you wish to have Google’s SafeSearch filter turned on.

GPS

A session cookie that registers a unique ID on mobile devices to enable tracking based on geographical GPS location.Expires after 30 minutes.

APISID, HSID, LOGIN_INFO, SAPISID, SID SSID

Used to measure the number and behaviour of Youtube users, including information that links your visits to our website with your Google account if you are signed in to one. Information about your use of our website, including your IP address, may be transmitted to Google and stored on servers in the United States. This cookie does not identify you personally unless you are logged into Google, in which case it is linked to your Google account.

VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE

A cookie that YouTube sets that measures your bandwidth to determine whether you get the new player interface or the old.

YSC

This cookie is set by the YouTube video service on pages with embedded YouTube video.

Marketing cookies

Facebook

Cookie

Information

_fbp, act, c_user, datr, dpr, fr, pl, presence, sb, spin, /tr, xs

These cookies are used by Facebook to support social sharing and the integration of Facebook services, such as identifying visitors for personalised advertising.

Google DoubleClick

Cookie

Information

IDE

Tracking cookie used by Google to improve your online experience, including the display of more relevant ads.

test_cookie

A session cookie used to check if the user’s browser supports cookies.

LinkedIn

Cookie Description
UserMatchHistory LinkedIn Ads ID syncing
li_sugr Browser Identifier
li-oatml Member indirect indentifier for conversion tracking, retargeting, analytics
li_fat_id Member indirect indentifier for conversion tracking, retargeting, analytics
U Browser Identifier

How to manage cookies

Most web browsers allow some control of most cookies through the browser settings. To find out more about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set, visit knowcookies.com.

Find out how to manage cookies on popular browsers:

To find information relating to other browsers, visit the browser developer’s website.