# Query Tag History: Retrieve Only Timestamps

**URL:** <https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/query-tag-history-retrieve-only-timestamps/110648>\
**Category:** General Discussion\
**Tags:** ignition81, perspective\
**Created:** [September 16, 2025, 5:41am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/query-tag-history-retrieve-only-timestamps/110648 "2025-09-16T05:41:24Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![GOKULAKANNAN\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/0ea827/32.png) [@GOKULAKANNAN\_P](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/GOKULAKANNAN_P)\
**Post date:** [September 16, 2025, 5:41am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/query-tag-history-retrieve-only-timestamps/110648/1 "2025-09-16T05:41:24Z")

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Hello,

I am using `system.tag.queryTagHistory()` and I have stored large JSON/FFT string data in tag history. When I query these tags over a long time range, the query becomes very slow because of the large string values.

What I really need at first is only the `t_stamp` column, so that I can later fetch the actual data on demand when the user selects a timestamp.

Is there a way to query only the `t_stamp` values from history (without pulling the string column), or is there a recommended approach for handling this use case?

If anyone has a solution or workaround, please share.

Thanks in advance ! 🙂

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**Author:** ![Samuel\_Sueur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@Samuel\_Sueur](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Samuel_Sueur)\
**Post date:** [September 16, 2025, 9:11am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/query-tag-history-retrieve-only-timestamps/110648/2 "2025-09-16T09:11:21Z")

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Hm for this specific use case, I would rather use a custom SQL table to hold the data instead of the built-in tag historian…

I’m honestly not sure there is a way to get only the timestamps.