We all rely on our search history to keep track of our twisted internet trail. Without it, many of us would be difficult-pressed to recall the sites we found in our rambling search. But if this history gets accidentally deleted, how can you get information technology back?

In this guide, we will explore all methods for recovering deleted history on Google Chrome. Keep reading to find out more than.

Can you lot recover deleted history on Google Chrome?

In some cases, yep. Google Chrome stores browsing data in a dedicated database file on your estimator. Even when this file is deleted, it might be possible to recover it, using the same methods used to restore deleted photographs or documents. In that location are other ways to view your browser history also, like the sync feature or the Google Activity dashboard.

How to Recover Deleted Chrome History on PC or Laptop

From direct methods like data recovery software to indirect methods like the DNS enshroud, at that place are multiple means of recovering your deleted Chrome history. Let's explore them one by ane.

Method #ane: Check Your Google Account Activity

The History file stored on your estimator is not the only place Google stores a record of your browsing activity. Your Google account itself contains a log of your online activity, including the websites you have visited and the search terms yous have used.

To access your Google account activeness, follow these steps:

  1. Head to My Activity.
  2. If you are not signed in to your Google account, yous will run across something like this.Google Activity Sign in
  3. Sign in with the account yous wish to run into the search history for. Chances are that you are already signed in. Then the My Activity dashboard is displayed.Google Activity
  4. Whorl down to see all of your activity across devices listed out. It includes Google searches as well as general action on Android likewise.Google Activity List
  5. You lot tin can search for specific terms or even filter the results based on the date or the type of activity. This can assist you narrow downward the listing to simply your Chrome history.Google Activity Filter

Method #ii: Utilize Data Recovery Software

When the History file storing Chrome'southward browser history is deleted, the best way to get it back is by using data recovery software. Software like that scans through the whole disk for deleted files, giving you the opportunity to restore your Google History to the way information technology was.

While you lot can apply any data recovery tool for this, we are going to go with Disk Drill. It is a fully-featured data recovery application for both Windows and Mac that tin recover files lost due to any reason. The best matter is that you can recover 500 MB of data for gratuitous, so restoring your deleted Chrome History wouldn't price you a penny.

  1. Download Disk Drill : To begin, you are manifestly going to demand the application itself. Head to the official site and download Disk Drill. Cleverfiles Disk Drill
  2. Launch the installer : The setup file is pocket-sized and should download in minutes. Utilize it to install Deejay Drill on your computer. Disk Drill Setup
  3. Install Disk Drill : Now run Deejay Drill. You lot will exist presented with a license agreement. Hold and go on. Disk Drill License Agreement
  4. Scan your drive : Subsequently a couple of welcome screens, you will get to the main window. Here you tin meet all the drives continued to your computer. Select your hard drive and hit the Search for lost information push. Disk Drill Main Screen
  5. View scan results in real-time : Disk Drill will now start scanning. You will exist able to see how many files of each type are establish by glancing at the sorted icons on the screen. Ordinarily nosotros would wait for the whole browse to finish, but since nosotros are looking for ane specific file we will click on Review establish items. Disk Drill Scanning
  6. Look for the history file : The scanning will go along even equally the current results are displayed on a new screen. You lot can modify the file category from the left, and search for a file (or folder) from the right. Type 'History' in the search box and hit enter. Disk Drill Review Found Items
  7. Select the history file : The results will exist filtered based on your search results. Since the files are shown with their folder structure, information technology is easy to cheque if the correct file has been constitute. Chrome's history file is stored in C:\Users\Username\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default. This is what it would look similar. Select the file. Disk Drill Search File
  8. Recover your browser history : Click on the Recover button to restore the selected file. You tin choose the destination to salve the recovered file to. While it is preferable to save on somewhere other than the main drive, in this case y'all can ignore information technology. Since we just need one file, there is nothing else to overwrite. Disk Drill Recovery Destination
  9. Overwrite your electric current history file with the restored ane : Only merely recovering the History file is not enough. Yous need to navigate to C:\Users\Username\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default (replace Username with your user proper noun) and re-create-paste the recovered file into information technology. This allows Google Chrome to load upward the browsing history stored in the file. Chrome History File

Method #3: Utilise the "Restore Previous Versions" Selection for Your Google Binder

If you have deleted the history from Google Chrome, recovering it can be a bit more tricky. This is considering Chrome does not actually delete the History file, but empties the contents of its database. This lost data cannot be recovered by a data recovery tool.

The solution? Restoring a previous version of the History file. If you take File History ready on your Windows estimator and have the Google folder backed up, it is possible to obtain an older version of the History file.

Here are the steps for doing then:

  1. Open up File Explorer and enter the post-obit path in the Address bar at the height: C:\Users\Username\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default, where Username is the proper noun of the user in question.
  2. While there are a agglomeration of files and folders in here, we are only interested in the History file.Chrome History File
  3. Right-click on the History file and open up Properties.Chrome History Properties
  4. Click on the Previous Versions tab. When File History has been ready upward, it shows older versions of the file. Simply click on the version you want to return to and hit Restore.Chrome History Previous Versions

Addendum: Setting upwards File History

We take seen how to restore the History file to a previous version if File History is set up. Just how exactly do you lot do that? Here are the steps:

  1. Open the Start carte du jour and click on Settings.Open Windows Settings
  2. In the Settings window, open up Update & Security.Windows Settings
  3. In the Update & Security window, navigate to the Backup tab from the left.Windows Settings Backup
  4. To outset backing up your data, y'all need an external HDD. Connect the drive and click on Add a drive to enable it.File History Toggle
  5. To customize which folders are included in the backup, click on More options. Employ the Add a folder button to add the Google binder to this list.File History Backup Options

Method #4: Utilise DNS Cache

DNS or Domain Name Organisation is the machinery by which the URL you lot type in the accost bar gets converted into bodily addresses on the web. Since this conversion can have some blazon – especially when visiting a website for the first time – the OS maintains a cache of the DNS addresses of recently opened sites.

You can become some idea of what kind of websites you have visited by taking a expect at this list. Note that this includes cyberspace activeness from all browsers on your computer, not just Chrome. Here is how to view the DNS cache using Command Prompt:

  1. Open Control Prompt every bit an ambassador. Yous can detect it by typing cmd in the Windows search bar.Command Prompt
  2. Enter the command: ipconfig/displaydns. This brings up all the DNS records on your calculator.ipconfig displaydns
  3. Every bit yous can see, the records are… technical. There isn't much relevant data, except for the Tape Proper noun field, which is really the DNS name. Y'all can look up these names to try to judge which websites employ them.

Method #5: Reinstall Google Chrome

If sync is enabled in your Google account, then your personal data is backed up to the deject. Bookmarks, search history, passwords – everything is stored. As soon every bit you sign in on a new device, Google syncs this data to it.

You lot can employ this feature to recover deleted history on Google Chrome besides. Simply reinstall Google Chrome on your computer and sign in again. Your history should be synced from your other devices.

Note that this will only work if it is the History file that is missing – clearing your history from Google chrome removes it for all devices.

Method #6: Cookies

Cookies are another method through which the browser (or rather, the websites) store data on your computer. The trouble is that cookies are website-specific, and only store information related to that website. Your search history is not found in a cookie.

Instead, cookies requite you an overview of what websites y'all have interacted with in the by. Fifty-fifty when your browser history is beyond recovery, taking a look at all the cookies on your computer tin give yous like information. Practise note though that but opening a website might non pb to a cookie being created. Usually, you will exist prompted to accept the cookies.

Here is how to view all the cookies on your browser:

  1. Open Chrome and bring down the three-dot card from the top correct. Click on Settings.Chrome Menu
  2. Scroll downward to the Privacy and security section and click on Cookies and other site data.Chrome Settings
  3. All options related to cookies show upward here. You demand to click on the See all cookies and site information option.Chrome see all Cookies
  4. All the cookies on your estimator will testify upwards in an alphabetical list of websites. Y'all utilise this information to make up one's mind which websites you have interacted with in the past.Chrome All Cookies

How to Recover Deleted Chrome History on a Mobile

So far we take explored diverse methods for regaining your lost Chrome history on a PC. Just what about a smartphone? Is in that location any fashion for doing so on Android or iPhone?

Certainly. While things like data recovery software or checking the DNS enshroud are harder on mobile, many of the other methods piece of work only the aforementioned. Here are two of them:

With Sync

If your mobile has sync enabled, your Chrome data is backed upwards across all of your devices. This ways that signing in on your telephone once again should restore your search history. Here are the steps for doing and so:

  1. Get-go, verify that sync is indeed enabled on your device. To exercise that, open Chrome and head to its settings. You lot will come across the Google Business relationship being synced at the top.Chrome Settings
  2. Now you demand to uninstall Chrome. If that's not possible on your device, but sign out of your account. Open up Chrome again to exist greeted with a tab like this.Chrome Signed Out
  3. Tap the Sign in button and enter your login details.Chrome Sign in

That'southward it. Upon signing in over again, your data will be synced with your Google account, restoring any lost history using the backups from your other devices.

Using Google Account Activeness

When your data isn't synced (or the method doesn't piece of work), yous can always check out your Google business relationship activity. The My Activity dashboard holds a tape of every activeness on Chrome, including searches. To access this information, follow these steps:

  1. On your Android mobile, head to Settings and tap on Google.Android Settings
  2. Now hit the Manage your Google Account option.Android Google Account
  3. All of your Google Business relationship related settings tin be accessed from hither. For now, switch to the Data & Personalization tab.Android Google Account Dashboard
  4. From here, roll downwards to Activity and timeline and tap on My Activity.Google Account Activity and Timeline
  5. Alternatively, on both Android and iPhone you tin can open Chrome and navigate to My Action direct. This opens up the My Activeness dashboard, containing a log of your online activities.My Google Activity
  6. Whorl downward to view a list of your search history ordered by date and time. Tap on any of the items to view more details.Google Activity Search History
  7. If your activity is clogged up by actions performed on other Google apps, y'all can always employ the Filter option to narrow things downwardly. You can filter past the date and the type of action y'all wish to see, such as Chrome.Google Activity Filter

FAQ

Decision

Losing personal data similar bookmarks and search history on Google Chrome can be frustrating. Fortunately, in that location are many methods for getting this data dorsum.

Your search history is backed up in multiple sources, from a local database file on your computer to a log of activity on Google's servers. You tin use information recovery tools or File History to restore the local file, and sign in to your Google account to access your online information. On Windows 10, there are many other methods of file recovery every bit well.

And if these methods neglect, y'all can always use indirect tricks like cookies or the DNS cache to obtain a rough idea of your search history. Think that this communication cuts both ways; another person with access to your computer can employ these methods to see your search history too.