Viewing different message versions is no longer available. The UI to flip between <1/2> <2,2> has disappeared. Editing now overwrites all messages, and all threads in my previous conversations are now gone.
I use this feature a lot, and often go back to previous versions of a message to compare the results. This new change is very disruptive and inconvenient. Please restore message version arrows.
Hey @j_dub, yeah, that’s a confusing one especially if you rely on comparing outputs. You’re not imagining it.
From what folks have been seeing, the message version toggle isn’t fully gone, it’s just inconsistent. It still shows up on desktop (browser + desktop app) and even mobile browser, but not on the mobile app right now. So it feels like a UI limitation rather than the feature being removed entirely.
The overwrite behavior you mentioned ties into that same gap. Without the toggle visible, it looks like edits replace everything instead of branching.
Not ideal, agreed. I’ve seen a few people call this out, so it doesn’t seem isolated. Worth trying on desktop for now if you need that history view.
I’ll pass this along as feedback too since it clearly impacts real workflows. Curious if anyone’s found a better workaround in the meantime.
-Mark G.
Hi, I just wanted to know if there’s been any updates so far. Also wanted to clarify that this isn’t just a UI glitch on my end (I added an image to the original post). It seems the toggle was intentionally removed without any explanation.
If I use “search chats”, it still shows text from old threads that I can’t access anymore.
Please bring it back. It was so useful for me!
Hi folks, I can see why this feels disruptive, especially if you rely on comparing different response versions often. A few people noticed the same thing after recent UI changes.
Here’s what we found after checking further:
The branch chats weren’t removed, but the way to access them now depends on the browser/UI version.
<1/2> style toggle for switching between versions.When you use that option:
This definitely isn’t as obvious as the old version arrows, agreed. The functionality is still there, but the UI behavior is inconsistent across browsers right now.
-Mark G.
Hi OpenAI Support,
I am experiencing this issue on both Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge, this is not a browser-specific behavior. I have attached a screenshot of the issue occurring on Chrome for your reference.
The most critical issue is that now I can no longer access the edit history in my old conversations. This is a major regression in functionality. “Branching to a new conversation” does not resolve this, as the UI now only displays the most recent version of edited messages. These previous versions contained a lot of my valuable data. Losing access to them is affecting my work. This feels like my work has been overwritten or deleted without my consent.
The navigation arrows (< 1/2 >) disappearing happened a few months ago, then they reappeared. Now they’ve disappeared again, which is really frustrating. I have been waiting for a fix again, but the situation remains unchanged. I have seen many other users are reporting the same failure in this thread: https://community.openai.com/t/chatgpt-web-update-removed-message-version-arrows-cannot-access-edited-message-history/1374666
I will continue to monitor this thread and the situation until there is a clear resolution.
Best regards,
Hi @tthuytruc, welcome to the community! I can see why this is frustrating, especially since a lot of people are reporting the same thing across different browsers.
From what we know so far, the edit-history/version navigation feature doesn’t seem to be officially released yet and is likely still being tested internally. That probably explains why the arrows disappeared, came back, and disappeared again for some users.
Right now, older edited versions are not consistently accessible, and branching doesn’t fully replace the old history behavior.
This thread is probably the best place to follow updates and community workarounds:
-Mark G.
