They keep arbitrarily taking away important, useful features like this, and it really makes me wonder why they’re so obsessed with making their service worse.
There is now a new version button on my Chatgpt client. It looks like a clock, the UI is updated.
They made it “Show previous versions”, which is much less practical…
I have bad news.
As of today, I’ve discovered the ?message= and the searching for an image in your library work arounds no longer works.
I can no longer access anything
Try Kitana’s patch. I guess even though the “see versions” button has now completely replaced the arrows, the patch will still work for a long time.
Edit: It appears that the old config “2404437118” was removed in today’s update.
Yeah, seems like Kitana’s patch is the only thing that works now. Shame it’s limited to only Chrome on PC (I often liked working from my phone when I was away but didn’t want to stop working, and the ?message=1 option was a good alternative there until it disappeared today), but it’s definitely better than nothing at all. So thanks a lot for this still.
The new “See Versions” feature maybe shows previous messages, but it basically forces us to branch chats if we really want to use some specific previous reply. This may become inconvenient very quickly.
Just sitting here shaking my head. This is the solution they came up with? This pathetic version browser?
I hope, whatever they do with their major updates, this is just a temporary inconvenience in the background.
Maybe I’m being optimistic, but I don’t want to believe that the arrows has been irrevocably replaced by that “See Versions” bullshit. Because… come on, this is just nonsense. Their function remains the same, but their usability is significantly different - and not in favor of that clock icon.
I hope the final version of their update will be something in between that will bring us back to convenience.
I really hope they add at least an option for returning to a previously rolled response instead of this “branch in new chat” thing. Considering going back to AI Studio if I can’t even return to an old response in GPT now; at least there I can edit responses.
Update from my support case + the new “See versions” UI
I wanted to share everything I’ve found out after going back and forth with OpenAI Support about this, because I know a lot of people here have been worried about their old edited/regenerated versions.
I opened a support case after the version arrows disappeared from my conversations. My behaviour was the same as many people have described here: if I edited a prompt or regenerated a response, the normal version controls would initially appear, but after refreshing/reopening the conversation they would disappear again.
I tested this in a completely new conversation as well. I first asked:
“Give me three names for a fictional coffee shop”
and then edited it to:
“Give me five names for a fictional coffee shop.”
The versions were initially accessible, but after refreshing the conversation the normal navigation disappeared.
I also downloaded my ChatGPT data export and searched the conversation JSON. Importantly, both the original and edited versions were still present in the exported conversation data. So at least in my case, the historical content had not actually been deleted — the normal UI had simply stopped exposing it.
I sent OpenAI Support screenshots, a screen recording demonstrating the issue, the results of my data-export testing, and information about the ?message=1 workaround. That workaround did restore the old version navigation in some of my older conversations, but it did not work consistently, including in the new test conversation I recorded.
After quite a lot of correspondence with Support, I specifically asked them:
Has OpenAI intentionally designed ChatGPT so that previous Edit/Regenerate versions are no longer expected to remain accessible through the version-navigation controls after a conversation is refreshed or reopened?
Support replied that, based on the current product behaviour, after editing and refreshing/reopening a conversation, the original prompt version and associated version-navigation controls may no longer be presented.
However — and I think this distinction is important — Support also explicitly told me that they did not have additional product documentation or confirmation from the Product or Engineering teams establishing whether this was an intentional product-design change.
So I do not think it would be accurate to say that Product/Engineering confirmed this was intentionally designed behaviour. What I was told was essentially that Support was treating it as the current behaviour they could observe, while they did not have further Product/Engineering confirmation to give me.
Because of that, I formally submitted product feedback asking OpenAI to restore persistent access to previous Edit/Regenerate versions and the version-navigation controls after refreshing or reopening conversations.
I explained that simply sending another message is not functionally equivalent to editing an earlier message and navigating its alternative conversational branches.
Support then confirmed that they understood the specific request, that I wanted the diagnostic evidence from my case kept associated with it, and told me:
“we’ll share it with the appropriate team for review.”
They also said they could not guarantee that the suggestion would be implemented or provide updates on its status.
NOW, as of August 29, something has changed on my account.
I am seeing a new “See versions” button on conversations containing edited messages.
And here is the genuinely good news:
MY HISTORICAL VERSIONS ARE ACCESSIBLE AGAIN.
I have checked old conversations where I knew I previously had multiple versions (1/2, 2/2, 1/3, 2/3, 3/3, etc.), including versions I was particularly worried about losing. When I click See versions, they are all there.
The new viewer lets me navigate through:
Version 1 → Version 2 → Version 3 → Current version
and I can see the corresponding historical prompt/response for each version.
This is a huge improvement, and I am extremely relieved that the historical versions I cared about are accessible again.
BUT this still does not restore the functionality of the old arrows.
If I want to actually continue from one of those historical versions, the interface currently gives me “Branch to a new chat.” That creates a separate branched conversation.
Previously, the inline version arrows allowed me to switch between versions/branches inside the existing conversation. That workflow was extremely useful, and creating a completely separate chat is not the same thing.
So I think “See versions” is a very good start because it finally makes the historical content accessible again, but I really hope OpenAI does not consider this a complete replacement for the old version navigation.
If OpenAI wants to keep See versions, then please also give us something like:
← Version 1 | Version 2 | Version 3 | Current version →
with both:
“Switch to this version in current chat”
and
“Branch to a new chat.”
That would preserve the usefulness of the old system while also allowing people to use the new version-history interface.
I am very, very glad that my old versions are accessible again. That was the most important thing and a massive relief.
But please restore the ability to switch between those versions in the original conversation.
Bring the version arrows back. They were genuinely useful functionality, not just cosmetic UI.
Something like the old system with a “branch to a new chat” would be perfect Imo. The new UI/UX is horrible.
Exactly! This is pretty much what I’d like to see too. The old system was much faster and more intuitive because you could switch between previous versions directly inside the same conversation.
I’m really glad “See versions” has made the historical versions accessible again, because that was my biggest concern, but forcing us to create a separate branched chat just to continue from an older version isn’t equivalent to the old functionality.
Ideally I’d love the old version arrows/navigation back, while keeping “Branch to a new chat” as an additional option for people who actually want a separate conversation. That would give us the best of both systems.
>asks arrows to be brought back
gives us some different and useless instead
amazing. just amazing.
It’s so fkn bs man. It’s like they’ve tried to solve one problem and created a whole new, different problem in the process. hopefully they properly fix this ffs…
Lol Ik right what was the point of changing the design of it.
It worked a few days buy it does not now 
extremely EXTREMELY annoying feature. makes gpt unusable. please fix!
i want it back bruh I NEED it the fact that I dont have the options to LOOK thru my options is pissing me off
Yeah the message1 trick no longer works. Bummer. Hope something is changed, cuz I had plenty of chats where I went through different responses and branched off that way, now I can no longer get to those. Wasn’t that important, but very annoying.
Hu Nyaonix, can You please send me a link woth they patch You mentioned