Timestamps for chats in ChatGPT

ChatGPT Feature requests
43

I’ve been working in a single chat for close 9-10 months now, with some separate chats opened once in a while. Now I want to write up a chronological overview of what I’ve been up to and when these past 10 months and I fully expected “the timestamps in the ChatGPT chat” to make that task trivial… It’s madness that this information isn’t available.

45

I know this thread has been open for a while (going on a year and a half now), and this might be obvious to some experienced users — but just in case, I wanted to share a workaround I’ve been using until this feature is officially added.

In Settings > Customize ChatGPT, under the field that asks “What traits should ChatGPT have?”, I added:

“After every response, add the current timestamp.”

Now each reply ends with a timestamp, which makes it much easier to track what was said and when, especially in ongoing conversations. Not a perfect solution, but it’s been working pretty well for me.

1 Like
46

Well I see this is still going on. Clearly this feature is in demand, I can only assume there is a technical reason they don’t already have it, because it seems like a given at this point…

But now that they’re trying to push GPT as MORE than just an AI, but a journal/life assistant/coach etc etc, and chat histories are adding up…I mean I revisited an old chat to ask a follow up question about a life event, and it didn’t realize 3 months had gone by, so was giving me advice like it had just happened.

The…time…has come OpenAI. Chop, chop

1 Like
47

Yes, it’s totally possible! Every <div> that has a "data-message-id" contains an internal object with some message information, including the timestamp. I created this simple script that you can copy and paste directly into the Chrome DevTools console.

Just right-click anywhere on the page and choose “Inspect”, then go to the “Console” tab and paste this code:

document.querySelectorAll('div[data-message-id]').forEach(div => {
  const reactKey = Object.keys(div).find(k => k.startsWith('__reactFiber$'));
  if (!reactKey) return;

  const fiber = div[reactKey];
  const messages = fiber?.return?.memoizedProps?.messages;
  const timestamp = messages?.[0]?.create_time;
  if (!timestamp) return;

  const date = new Date(timestamp * 1000);
  const format = n => n.toString().padStart(2, '0');
  const formatted = `${format(date.getDate())}/${format(date.getMonth() + 1)}/${date.getFullYear()} - ${format(date.getHours())}:${format(date.getMinutes())}:${format(date.getSeconds())}`;

  const span = document.createElement('span');
  span.textContent = formatted;
  div.insertBefore(span, div.firstChild);
});

If you get an error message saying you’re not allowed to paste code in the console, just type "allow pasting" and press Enter — then paste the script and press Enter again.

This is a very simple code I just made to view the timestamp of some chat messages, but it was enough for my needs.

1 Like
48

I created a chrome extension for the timestamp. Chrome store approval is still pending but you can just download the repo and load the extension in developer mode to use it.

image
image1920×1298 128 KB

Thanks for the inspiration by @rafaelsgoncalvesbh2.

1 Like
49

That’s awesome! I just installed the extension and it works perfectly.

For anyone who wants to use Hangzhi’s timestamp extension before it’s officially approved on the Chrome Web Store, here’s how you can install it manually:

  1. Download the ZIP file from the GitHub repo:

    • GitHub page: github[.]com/Hangzhi/chatgpt-timestamp-extension
    • Direct download link: github[.]com/Hangzhi/chatgpt-timestamp-extension/raw/main/chatgpt-timestamp-extension.zip

    (Note: Since direct links aren’t allowed here, just replace [.] with . and paste the link into your browser.)

  2. After downloading, right-click the ZIP file and select “Extract to chatgpt-timestamp-extension/”. This will create a folder named chatgpt-timestamp-extension.

  3. Open chrome://extensions/ in your browser.

  4. In the top-right corner, enable “Developer mode”.

  5. After enabling it, new options will appear. Click “Load unpacked”, then select the folder you just extracted (chatgpt-timestamp-extension).

  6. That’s it! You should now see a new extension called “ChatGPT Timestamp” in your Chrome extensions. Open ChatGPT, and you’ll see timestamps above each message.

Thanks again @Hangzhi for the great work and for turning the idea into a real Chrome extension!