## Overview

The **Group history** panel prepares reads and previews of originals available on the WhatsApp Web connection. Capture is prospective: it starts when activated and does not turn older messages into proven company history. Reading or activating capture does not send messages.

## Prerequisites

Your account needs WhatsApp Hub enabled, a WhatsApp Web connection and operational access to the group. Activation follows the native Hub management permission. A replaced connection or privacy restriction can prevent the operation.

## Step by step

1. Open **WhatsApp Hub → Groups** and the group you need.
2. In **Group history**, read the status and choose **Start capturing from now on** to start a window.
3. Choose **Latest captured messages, with proof** or **Older messages: manual selection**.
4. Enter the quantity and choose whether to display bounded content previews. Click **Read originals**.
5. For manual selection, mark the originals you need and use **Check selection and preview**. A missing original stays explicit; another message never silently replaces it.

## Settings & options

**Refresh status** reads the confirmed state. **Close current capture** closes the window while preserving its evidence. Activating again starts another window without importing earlier messages. The admission count includes sends whose proof is still pending; it is not a delivered-message count.

## Use cases

Use automatic reads to prepare the latest messages from a complete prospective window. Use manual selection to review older originals available locally. This panel does not grant permission to send.

## Tips, limits & best practices

Automatic reads check every admission in the window, up to 200, and return up to 100 messages, ordered by ACK time with an identifier tie-break. A gap, pending proof, removed message or excessive admission count refuses the entire selection. Capture has internal limits; closing and starting another window does not recover earlier coverage. Local availability and an ACK do not prove remote retention or recipient delivery.

## Troubleshooting

If the window cannot be proven, wait for pending sends or read older messages manually; a partial selection is never presented as complete. If a change loses its response, refresh the status before making another change. A permission refusal requires checking your inbox and access. None of these reads resends messages.

## See also

- [WhatsApp Hub: groups, communities, channels and status](/hc/ajuda/articles/inboxes-channels-whatsapp-hub-grupos-comunidades-canais-status-en)
- [Connect WhatsApp Web using a QR code](/hc/ajuda/articles/inboxes-channels-whatsapp-web-wazmeow-en)