• Make sure that the History is set to at least 1 day: Tools > Options > Privacy > History: "Remember visited pages for at least"
• Make sure that you do not start Firefox in Private Browsing mode (Tools > Stop Private Browsing is grayed, see Private Browsing - Use Firefox without saving history)
• To see History and Cookie settings in Tools > Options > Privacy, choose the setting "Firefox will: Use custom settings for history"

You can look at these prefs on the about:config page.

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/browser.history_expire_days (180) (also affects saved form data)
• http://kb.mozillazine.org/browser.history_expire_days_min (90)

To open the about:config page, type about:config in the location (address) bar and press the "Enter" key, just like you type the url of a website to open a website.
If you see a warning then you can confirm that you want to access that page.

If you use cleanup software like CCleaner then check the settings for the Firefox application.

Thanks but I reckon I'm ok on these points. Ever since I deleted the months of unnecessary pages in Tools > Options > Privacy > History: I have selected 5 days (as I posted above) and "Firefox will: Use custom settings for history". I've never started Firefox in Private Browsing nor used any cleanup software. I'm guessing that it was maybe set previously at 'history_expire_days_min (90)' and that's how I was getting several months?

Did you check the setting of browser.history_expire_days ?

The value of that pref determines how many history is kept in places.sqlite on disk.

Thanks but sorry I don't understand. Been round mozillazine but just came back to where I'd been. Tools > Options > Privacy > History: "Remember visited pages for at least" Where do I check browser.history_expire_days setting please?

See http://kb.mozillazine.org/about%3Aconfig

To open the about:config page, type about:config in the location (address) bar and press the "Enter" key, just like you type the url of a website to open a website.
If you see a warning then you can confirm that you want to access that page.

Did that and copied that line as follows"browser.history_expire_days_min;5" (actual text didn't copy, original reads 'user set' 'integer' '5') What is next move please? Thanks again, John

Tried again and as well as the line "browser.history_expire_days_min;5" there is another line "browser.history_expire_days" which I set to 5 also (as it was 1) Glad to say history is now listing Today, Yesterday and Last 7 Days and seems to be sticking at that Thanks for the help, John

I have the same problem and tried to carry out the method you have described but the problem still remains. The settings relating to history in the about:config area is as follows:

browser.history.showSessions;false browser.history_expire_days;5 browser.history_expire_days.mirror;5 browser.history_expire_days_min;5 browser.history_expire_sites;40000

Any suggestions?

I've gone into mine just now as above and all my browser.history entries read exactly the same as yours so I don't know I'm afraid. Mine has worked perfectly ever since my December post showing history up to the Last 7 Days. Needs one of the experts to spot this item in the Forum again.

Create a new profile as a test to check if your current profile is causing the problems.
See Basic Troubleshooting: Make a new profile

There may be extensions and plugins installed by default in a new profile, so check that in "Tools > Add-ons > Extensions & Plugins"

If that new profile works then you can transfer some files from the old profile to that new profile (be careful not to copy corrupted files)

See http://kb.mozillazine.org/Transferring_data_to_a_new_profile_-_Firefox

Thanks for your replies. I have now had success with your original procedure after rebooting the computer a couple of times. History now shows up to 7 days!! If I want to extend this further I assume I just change the values again to 10 days or whatever. Is there a limit on the length of history that can be retained?

Glad you got sorted. I'm keeping this page bookmarked now just in case. My history was keeping three whole months which was more than I needed. It was when I tried to reduce it to a week the problem arose.

My firefox is the 4.1, and I have also the same problem, my browser only keeps 1 day history, and all the above mentioned solutions are not applicable. I think its either using an other browser, or, learning about firefox or computer programming, but here is a thought!!!! why can't the clever people at Mozilla solve this problem?????? :(((((((((

I agree with your last comment. You'd think when designing a new version the boffins would trawl the problems folks have had although I guess not many of us seem to have had this one considering how many users there must be. As a folk singer I go on the folkies Mudcat site which discusses more than folk. A recent thread showed most folks posting not liking FF4 so I've stayed with 3. If it were me I'd try downloading a complete new copy of the browser but that's a non-anorak approach!

Hear! Hear! I agree totally. I can NEVER LOOK AT THE DAY BEFORE history!! I have tried all the usual tricks and tips and nothing works!! Why don't the Firefox people correct this problem?????