Help & Support

Your YouTube history,
right in the sidebar.

Find answers, learn how to use the extension, and get help if something isn't working.

📺 How it works ❓ Common questions 🚨 Something's wrong 🔒 Your privacy 📬 Contact us
✨

What does this extension do?

YouTube History Sidebar quietly saves every video you watch and shows your personal watch history directly inside YouTube's left menu — no account needed, nothing leaves your device.

💾

Auto-saves every video

Opens a video? It's saved. No buttons to click, nothing to configure.

📋

Left sidebar history

Your watch history appears right inside YouTube's navigation — always visible, never in your way.

🖼️

Thumbnails & details

Each entry shows the thumbnail, title, channel name, and how long ago you watched it.

🖊️

Click to go back

Tap any entry to jump straight back to that video.

🗑️

Delete entries

Remove any video from your history with the ✕ button.

🔐

100% private

Everything stays on your device. No servers, no accounts, no tracking.

📺

How to use it

💡 Once installed, the extension works automatically — just browse YouTube as normal and your history will appear in the left sidebar.
1

Open any YouTube video

Navigate to any video on YouTube. The extension detects the page and saves it automatically — no clicks needed.

2

Find your history in the left sidebar

Look at YouTube's left navigation panel. Your recently watched videos will appear there, with thumbnails, titles, and timestamps.

3

Click any entry to revisit it

Tap a video in the sidebar to go back to it instantly.

4

Remove entries you don't want

Hover over any entry and click the ✕ button to remove it from your history. Only that one entry is deleted — everything else stays.

ℹ️ The sidebar stores up to 500 videos. When you hit the limit, the oldest entry is removed automatically to make room for the newest one.
🚨

Something isn't working?

Most issues can be fixed in 60 seconds. Try these steps in order:

1

Refresh the YouTube page

Close your YouTube tab and open a fresh one. The sidebar sometimes needs a clean page load to appear, especially after the extension was just installed or updated.

2

Check the extension is switched on

Click the puzzle piece icon in your Chrome toolbar, find YouTube History Sidebar, and confirm the toggle is enabled (blue).

3

Restart Chrome

Close Chrome completely and reopen it. This clears any temporary glitch that may be blocking the extension.

4

Try disabling other YouTube extensions

Ad blockers, dark mode tools, or other YouTube-modifying extensions can sometimes conflict. Temporarily disable them one by one to identify a conflict.

5

Reinstall the extension

Go to chrome://extensions, remove YouTube History Sidebar, then install it again. Your history data may be cleared, but the extension will work fresh.

⚠️ The sidebar only appears on youtube.com video pages. It won't show on the YouTube homepage, search results, Shorts, or other sites.
❓

Common questions

Why doesn't the sidebar appear? +
The sidebar injects into YouTube's left navigation menu. If YouTube's page is loading slowly or the nav panel hasn't appeared yet, the sidebar may take a second to show up — it'll pop in automatically once the page is ready. If it still doesn't appear, try refreshing the tab or restarting Chrome.
A video I watched isn't showing in my history. +
The extension saves videos when a full video page (youtube.com/watch?v=…) loads. YouTube Shorts and embedded videos from other websites are not saved. If you navigated away very quickly before the page finished loading, the save may have been skipped — just revisit the video and it will be captured.
I see the same video twice in my history. +
The extension is designed to prevent duplicates — re-watching a video moves it to the top instead of adding a second entry. If you're seeing duplicates, try refreshing the page. If the issue persists, please let us know.
How do I delete my entire history? +
You can remove entries one at a time using the ✕ button next to each item. To wipe everything at once, go to chrome://extensions, find the extension, click Remove, and then reinstall it. This completely clears all stored data. A "Clear all" button is planned for a future version.
Will my history be there after I close Chrome? +
Yes. Your history is saved to your browser's local storage and persists between sessions. It will be there next time you open Chrome and visit YouTube — unless you remove the extension or clear browser data that includes extension storage.
Does this replace YouTube's built-in watch history? +
No. This extension runs separately from YouTube's official watch history. It creates its own local list that lives in your browser. YouTube's own history (which requires a Google account) is unaffected. The two coexist independently.
Does this work if I'm not signed into YouTube? +
Yes — fully. The extension has nothing to do with your Google account. It works whether you're signed in or not.
Will my history sync to my other devices? +
No. Your history is stored locally on the device and Chrome profile where the extension is installed. It doesn't sync across devices — this is intentional to keep everything private and offline.
What happens when I reach 500 videos? +
When your history reaches 500 entries, the oldest video is automatically removed to make room for the new one. This happens silently in the background — you won't see a warning. If you want to keep specific videos, make sure to note them before the limit is reached.
Does this work on YouTube Shorts? +
Not at this time. YouTube Shorts use a different URL format and page structure. Only standard videos at youtube.com/watch?v=… are captured. Shorts support may be added in a future update.
Does this work in Firefox or Safari? +
The extension is built specifically for Google Chrome. It has not been tested on Firefox, Safari, or other browsers and is not officially supported on them.
Can I export my history? +
There is no export feature yet. It's on the roadmap for a future release. If this is important to you, upvote or open a feature request on GitHub.
🔒

Your privacy

This extension was built with one rule: your data never leaves your device. Here's exactly what that means:

📬

Get in touch

Still stuck, or found something broken? We're happy to help. The best way to reach us is through GitHub.

🐛

Report a problem

Something not working as expected? Tell us what happened.
💡

Suggest a feature

Have an idea for an improvement? We'd love to hear it.
📋

Browse all issues

See if your question has already been answered.
📝
When reporting a problem, it helps to include:
What you were doing • What you expected to happen • What actually happened • Your Chrome version (Menu → Help → About Google Chrome)