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How to search your YouTube history
In This Article
Struggling to find a specific video you watched days, weeks or even months ago? This is where YouTube’s history search tool comes in handy. Scroll down to learn how to use it.
As with all browsing activity associated with your Google account, you have the option to track and pause your history. Not only does this make it easy to dig up content you’ve already seen, but it also allows YouTube to offer new video recommendations the website thinks you’ll like.
Of course, to search your YouTube history, you’ll need to make sure this feature is turned on. If your activity is paused, the website won’t be able to tell you what you’ve seen. You can find this option under ‘Activity Controls’ in the ‘Data and Personalisation’ section of your Google account.
Once you’ve confirmed your activity is being recorded, follow the steps below to search for a specific video in your YouTube history.
What you’ll need:
The Short Version
Step1
Open yourYouTube history
This is part of your Google activity.
Step2
Click Verify
You’ll need to sign into your account again to confirm your identity.
Step3
Enter your password and click Next
This will take you back to your YouTube history page.
Step4
Click the magnifying glass icon
You can also click the calendar icon next to it to choose a date.
Step5
Type your search and hit Apply
This will show you any YouTube searches or videos you’ve watched that match those specific criteria.
Troubleshooting
You can delete individual searches or your entire search history via the YouTube history page linked in step 1. You can also set your account to automatically clear your search and watch history after a set amount of time.
Any searches made in Incognito Mode will not be saved to your YouTube history.
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Hannah joined Trusted Reviews as a staff writer in 2019 after graduating with a degree in English from Royal Holloway, University of London. She’s also worked and studied in the US, holding positions …
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Why trust our journalism?
Founded in 2003, Trusted Reviews exists to give our readers thorough, unbiased and independent advice on what to buy.
Today, we have millions of users a month from around the world, and assess more than 1,000 products a year.
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
