I have written a small extension that uses deleteRange from chrome.history API in order to delete parts of the browser history between a start and an end time stamp.
chrome.history.deleteRange({
startTime : startTime,
endTime : endTime
}, function() {
console.log("Recent history deleted successfully");
});
I get both startTime and endTime using (new Date()).getTime().
It "kind of works". If I open a page in Chrome for the very first time after starting the extension, I will be able to use its URL in the omnibox without fully typing it (a sign for me that Chrome remembers the URL through its history). After calling deleteRange, I am no longer able to do so. I also see the text Recent history deleted successfully on the console. This is a sign for me that the page has been wiped from history.
But it hasn't. If I go to Chrome/Settings/History, I can still see when I accessed the page. I expected that this would have been wiped ... how can I wipe a page (that I never ever opened before) from the recent history using start and end time stamp?
EDIT: I added the line
console.log("Right before calling deleteRange. startTime=" + startTime + " / endTime=" + endTime);
to my code which resulted in
Right before calling deleteRange. startTime=1416931451880 / endTime=1416931463988
EDIT2: I opened a Chromium bug. Let's see what I can get from there
Chromium developers have confirmed the bug. It depends on History Sync being enabled.