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How to Fix “History is temporarily unavailable” in ChatGPT

Are you getting a “History is temporarily unavailable” error in ChatGPT?

Here’s the second part of the error, “We’re working to restore this feature as soon as possible”.

If so, you won’t be able to access your past conversations on the website.

ChatGPT can be used for answering questions, writing essays, fixing code, and more.

However, some users may encounter errors with the chatbot if it’s overloaded.

In this guide, you’ll learn how to fix “History is temporarily unavailable” in ChatGPT and restore your previous conversations.

Why is my ChatGPT history unavailable?

History is temporarily unavailable in ChatGPT

Your ChatGPT history is unavailable most likely because there’s an outage on chat.openai.com.

Otherwise, the service is currently ongoing maintenance and you need to wait for it to be completed.

If there is an outage, your conversation history will be temporarily unavailable.

You can check the status of ChatGPT by visiting https://status.openai.com/.

On the status page, check if all systems are operational.

How to fix “History is temporarily unavailable” in ChatGPT

To fix “History is temporarily unavailable” in ChatGPT, you can try clearing your browser’s cache or restoring your previous conversations from your browsing history.

If there’s an outage or ongoing maintenance, you need to wait until your conversation history is restored.

If all else fails, you can contact ChatGPT support for assistance.

Fix 1: Clear your browser’s cache

  • Google Chrome: Chrome > Three Dots > More Tools > Clear browsing data > Cookies and other site data / Cached images and files > Clear data.
  • Microsoft Edge: Edge > Three Dots > Settings > Privacy & services > Choose what to clear > Cached images and files / Cookies and other site data > Clear.
  • Mozilla Firefox: Firebox > Menu > Settings > Privacy & Security > Cookies and Site Data > Clear.

Fix 2: Restore ChatGPT from your browsing history

  1. On Chrome, click on the three dots on the extreme right of the URL field.
  2. Select “History” followed by “History” again.
  3. Search for “chat.openai.com” using the search bar.
  4. Open one or more of your previous chats (e.g. https://chat.openai.com/chat_xx_xxx_xx).

Fix 3: Wait until your conversation history is restored

  • If there’s ongoing maintenance, you need to wait for a few hours before accessing chat.openai.com again.
  • Similarly, if ChatGPT is down, you need to wait for a few hours for your conversation history to be restored.
  • In the meantime, you can monitor the status of ChatGPT here: https://status.openai.com/.

Fix 4: Contact OpenAI support

  1. Go to https://help.openai.com/.
  2. Click on the chat icon.
  3. Select “Search for help” followed by “Send us a message”.
  4. Select the appropriate topics.
  5. Describe your issue, send the message, and wait for a response.

Further reading

How to Fix “You’ve made too many phone verification requests” on ChatGPT

How to Fix “This phone number is already linked” on ChatGPT

How to Fix ChatGPT Error Code 1020 Access Denied

About the author

Lim How Wei

Lim How Wei is the founder of followchain.org, with 8+ years of experience in Social Media Marketing and 4+ years of experience as an active investor in stocks and cryptocurrencies. He has researched, tested, and written thousands of articles ranging from social media platforms to messaging apps.

Lim has been quoted and referenced by major publications and media companies like WikiHow, Fast Company, HuffPost, Vice, New York Post, The Conversation, and many others. One of his articles about the gig economy was quoted by Joe Rogan who hosts The Joe Rogan Experience (arguably the most popular podcast in the world), in the This Past Weekend podcast by Theo Von.

In his free time, Lim plays multiple games like Genshin Impact, League of Legends, Counter-Strike, Hearthstone, RuneScape, and many others. He creates guides, walkthroughs, solutions, and more on games that he plays to help other players with their progression.