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How do I save browser and download history with timestamps?

  • 2 replies
  • 4 have this problem
  • 72 views
  • Last reply by cor-el
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mozaskwt
mozaskwt

I want to be able to have access to and be able to export all my browser and download history on Firefox with timestamps. From the looks of it, Firefox doesn't place permanent time-stamps on browser history, and begins removing download data from the main download window after it reaches a certain volume. I'm mainly interested in knowing whether I can retrieve and export history and/or download data which is months old for forensic reasons. Basically, I just want to have a day-by-day breakdown of the sites I visited over the last year on Firefox instead of a month-by-month one and '6 months or older' pile.

It would be nice if someone could clarify whether or not Firefox supports or can be made to support any of this, and if months-old browser history still has original time data associated with it that I can use to categorize it day-by-day.

I want to be able to have access to and be able to export all my browser and download history on Firefox with timestamps. From the looks of it, Firefox doesn't place permanent time-stamps on browser history, and begins removing download data from the main download window after it reaches a certain volume. I'm mainly interested in knowing whether I can retrieve and export history and/or download data which is months old for forensic reasons. Basically, I just want to have a day-by-day breakdown of the sites I visited over the last year on Firefox instead of a month-by-month one and '6 months or older' pile. It would be nice if someone could clarify whether or not Firefox supports or can be made to support any of this, and if months-old browser history still has original time data associated with it that I can use to categorize it day-by-day.

All Replies (2)

smo
smo

I can not say for sure, if the time stamps in the history are accurate enough for your purpose, but date and hh:mm should be pretty close. E.g. in this Firefox copy I have history entries going back a long way (... Google mail ... 27.12.2011 at 07:56)

Have a look at the following article: Settings for privacy, browsing history and do-not-track - it describes among other issues the browsing history subject.

Let us know if it helped!

Modified by smo

cor-el
cor-el
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You can open the downloads.sqlite file in a program or extension that can handle SQLite database files.

  1. Open Profile Directory -> XXX.sqlite -> Go
  2. Hit the Execute SQL tab
  3. Use a Select like this: 
SELECT datetime(startTime/1000000,'unixepoch') AS startTime,name,source AS url,target,currBytes AS bytes,((endTime-startTime)/1e6) AS time,currBytes/((endTime-startTime)/1e6) AS speed,mimeType
FROM moz_downloads
ORDER By startTime DESC

If you need more (or less) data then add open the XXX table to see the names of the available columns and add them to (or remove them from) the SELECT line separated by commas.