# History

![Fluent – Smart Panel History Menu](/help-assets/fluent-smart-panel-history.webp)

History stores Fluent chats locally so you can reopen them later.

Use it to search older chats, continue a previous thread, or recover a useful result without recreating the same prompt and context from scratch.

-----

## In The Panel

Press `Cmd+Y` in the Smart Panel to open the History menu.

From there you can:
- Search previous chats
- Reopen a previous thread
- Continue work from an older result

Recent items are grouped by time, which makes same-day and same-week retrieval easy even before you search.

-----

## What It Stores

History keeps the Fluent conversation itself: prompts, replies, and follow-up structure.

This matters most when you work in several passes. You can return to the previous result, continue in a new follow-up tab, or review what Fluent already produced before asking for the next revision.

-----

## Privacy

History is stored locally as encrypted chat history.

If you do not want Fluent to keep chat history, turn it off in **Settings → History**. If you want the continuity but not long retention, keep History enabled and configure automatic cleanup.

-----

## Retention

![Fluent – History Settings](/help-assets/fluent-history-settings.webp)

Open **Settings → History** to configure retention.

The **Automatically clean items** setting supports:
- Never
- Older than 1 day
- Older than 1 week
- Older than 1 month
- Older than 3 months
- Older than 6 months
- Older than 1 year

Choose a shorter retention window if you only want short-term continuity. Leave it on **Never** if you want long-running searchable history.

-----

## Cleanup

The same settings page lets you:
- See current storage used
- Remove items older than a selected range
- Clear all history

This is separate from automatic retention. Use it when you want manual control.

-----

## Export And Import

History can be exported and imported from **Settings → History**.

Use export for backup or transfer. Use import to restore an existing History database.