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How to show times of connection in History, not just last time?
Hi, I am trying to find the history of a specific URL, like the last time I opened it yesterday, but it seems that the most information History records or shows is the last time I opened it (today) and the total number of times I accessed this URL (4). I can't find any actual history of this URL in the History library. Am I missing something, or does the History feature record only the last access? This would be very bad and a far cry from any kind of history. Also, the Search feature does not seem to take into account the range of dates selected in the left pane. For instance, if I select "September" and search for my URL, it returns the URL that I accessed in November and that didn't even exist in September. The Search feature could be a little more contextual, and work on the whole history only if the root "History" folder is selected. But that's aside the main question, how to find the full history of a specific URL, not just its last access time. Thanks.
Saafara biñ tànn
If an add-on doesn't work, an external program can extract the history. I usually extract by date only, so I haven't tested the address matching feature:
http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/mozilla_history_view.html
For exporting purposes, select all the relevant lines first.
Jàng tontu lii ci fi mu bokk 👍 0All Replies (6)
Hi Chimel, Have you looked at extensions like:
History Master https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/history-master/?src=search
or
Improved History https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/improved-history/?src=search
You can submit feature requests at: Firefox Input https://qsurvey.mozilla.com/s3/FirefoxInput/
And there are also contact links here: Contact https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/contact/
Thanks, I'll try History Master again later after restarting the computer. Right now, the "Add to Firefox" button does absolutely nothing. It shows an "Installing" animated icon, but not the permissions pop-up it should, weirdly enough.
I just tried Improved History (I could install this one), but it behaves the same way as Firefox, it tracks only the latest access to URLs, not the actual history I needed. The history list also appears in a very small temporary window in a small light gray font over a white background that seems to be all the rage now, but is barely readable. So I am not too sure what they actually "improved". ;)
I would expect to see an entry for these URLs every time they are opened in a new tab, and every time an existing tab is forcefully reloaded. Maybe even an history of when the URL was opened and when it was closed (tab closed, URL changed, computer shut down), but this would be a gigantic endeavor, so certainly not a default option.
I hope that you can get History Master installed. Let us know if you can't.
It might be exactly what you're looking for. As you can see in the screenshot, I visited your question twice. There is a time filter for each day that you select on the left pane (indicated).
Saafara yiñ Tànn
If an add-on doesn't work, an external program can extract the history. I usually extract by date only, so I haven't tested the address matching feature:
http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/mozilla_history_view.html
For exporting purposes, select all the relevant lines first.
Just restarting Firefox did the trick. History Master also merges all accesses into a single entry showing only the latest time and several visit counts, unlike your screenshot. So I think the URL behind your two different entries share the same page name shown, but not the same URL. Probably one of them ends with "#answer-n", so they're 2 different URLs and 2 different entries. You should try with a different fixed URL.
I even tried a URL I never previously visited, in case the extension works differently for a brand new URL compared to the one I have been accessing since before I installed the extension, but I got the same results, all the page views are cumulated under a single entry.
It's a little better though, because if I click on the view count, it sends me to a chart page where I can see the number of views for this URL over several days or hours. It does not show the time of the page views though, just the day. The data view shows if the URL was typed or pasted, accessed via an hyperlink, or if the tab was reloaded, but still not the time for the different visits to this URL.
I suspect both extensions rely on the same data structure used by Firefox, they don't store additional information, or if they do, they don't have or show the date-time historical information for each view.
I can live without a true history, it's just that it would have been handy today. I also wonder what kind of forensic data one can extract from the browser with such limited history management.
jscher2000, you answered both my original question and the last one about forensic data. The external program shows the 10 different entries for my URL, with the 10 relevant time stamps. Case closed! Thank you very much!