How to get better browser history
Checked 11 November 2026. We make historoo, so weigh what we say about it accordingly.
Your browser’s history is a list of page titles and addresses. It forgets the pictures and videos you saw, and Chrome and Edge delete it after about 3 months. If you’ve ever thought “I saw it somewhere” and couldn’t find it again, here’s what a better browser history looks like, and how to get one for free.
What’s wrong with the history your browser keeps
- It only knows titles and addresses. Search for “red sofa” and you’ll only find it if those words were in the page’s title. The picture you actually remember was never saved.
- It forgets. Chrome and Edge keep about 3 months of history, then delete it, and there’s no setting to keep more. Firefox keeps more, but trims the oldest pages once its history gets large.
- It’s a long list. Hundreds of visits a day, most of them the same few sites, with no sense of what you spent your time on.
- It doesn’t help with tabs. Close a window by mistake and you’re digging through that list to put it back together.
What better browser history does
| Feature | Built-in history | historoo |
|---|---|---|
| Find a page by title or address | Yes | Yes |
| Find a picture by what it shows | No | Yes, worked out on your computer |
| Find a video from words spoken in it | No | Yes, if you had captions on |
| How long it keeps your history | About 3 months in Chrome and Edge | 7 days free, as long as you like with Pro (free in the beta) |
| Screen time by site and by day | No | Yes |
| Close tabs without losing them | Recently closed only | Yes |
| Where it’s kept | On your computer, and in your Google or Microsoft account if sync is on | On your computer. Pro sync goes to your own Google Drive, encrypted |
Ways to get it
1. Use the browser’s own tricks
In Chrome or Edge, press Ctrl+H (⌘+Y on a Mac) and type a word from the page’s title or address. In the US, Chrome’s AI history search can also find pages by what they said. In Firefox, the Library (Ctrl+Shift+H) can sort by date and site. All of them still only search what was saved, which is mostly titles.
2. A history manager extension
Extensions like Better History (betterhistory.io) give Chrome’s own history a nicer page: a date picker, deleting by site, automatic cleanup and CSV export. They’re good for tidying up. They don’t add pictures or videos, because Chrome never saved them. We compare one in historoo vs Better History.
3. An extension that saves what you saw
historoo is a free extension for better browser history on Chrome and Firefox. As you browse, it keeps the pages, pictures, videos and headlines that were on your screen, and works out what each picture shows on your own computer. Later you search by what you remember, like “latte art video” or “the cat on the chair”, and get back the picture and the page it was on. It also shows your screen time by site, and lets you close a pile of tabs knowing you can get them back. Your history never reaches our server.
It can bring in your existing Chrome history too, so the pages you’ve already visited are searchable from day one. Pictures and videos are saved from when you install it.
Which should you pick?
- You just want to find a page whose title you remember: your browser’s own history is enough.
- You want to clean up or export your history: a history manager like Better History.
- You remember the picture, the video or the headline, not the site: historoo.
For more options, side by side, see the best ways to search your Chrome history.
Try better browser history, free
Install historoo, browse as normal for a day, then search for something you saw. No account needed.