ChatGPT Memory: How It Works and How to Delete It

ChatGPT memory is the reason it can greet you like an old colleague: it knows your business, your tone, the clients you mention and the way you like answers laid out. That's brilliant when it's right and awkward when it remembers something you'd rather it didn't.

The settings have changed a fair bit, and the names are confusing. Saved memories, reference chat history, memory summary, project-only memory: they all sound alike and do different things. This guide follows OpenAI's current help pages and explains each one, then shows you how to check, correct and delete what ChatGPT knows.

How does ChatGPT memory work?

When Memory is on, ChatGPT can remember relevant preferences and details from your chats and other available sources, then use them to shape future answers. OpenAI lists those sources as past chats, saved memories, custom instructions, files in your Library and connected apps such as Gmail, depending on your plan and region.

Below a response you may see sources showing which memory, past chat, custom instruction, file or email shaped it. That's a handy way to understand why ChatGPT said what it said. Those sources aren't included if you share the chat by link.

Saved memories vs reference chat history

Setting	What it does	What turning it off does
Saved memories	Details you ask ChatGPT to remember, or that it saves as useful context, stored separately from your chats	Also turns off reference chat history
Reference chat history	Lets ChatGPT draw on relevant information from past conversations	Schedules what it remembered from past chats for deletion within 30 days; the chats themselves stay
Memory summary	A high-level view of what ChatGPT may use about you	You can correct it, or delete it and turn memory off

One detail catches people out: turning off reference chat history doesn't delete your saved memories. They're separate, so you manage them separately.

How do I turn ChatGPT memory on or off?

1. Open Settings.
2. Go to Personalization.
3. Open Memory.
4. Switch Memory, Reference saved memories or Reference chat history on or off, depending on what you want.

The exact options you see vary by plan, region, platform and workspace. Turning Memory off doesn't delete your past chats.

How do I see what ChatGPT remembers about me?

Open the memory summary in the same Memory settings. It gives a high-level view of what ChatGPT may use. You can type a correction, highlight a piece of text to correct it, or choose Don't mention this again. Where your plan offers it, you can also open Manage or Saved memories to see the explicit list.

Copy this prompt

What do you currently remember about me and my business?
List it as short bullet points, grouped by business details, writing preferences and anything else.
Flag anything that looks out of date.

What is improved memory in ChatGPT?

OpenAI now describes two styles. Improved memory keeps a broader summary that's continually updated as you chat. Legacy saved memories are an explicit list of things ChatGPT has stored. Where your account offers both, you can switch between them.

OpenAI rolled out automatically updating memory to Plus and Pro users in the US first, with Free and Go plans and more countries to follow. So if a colleague in another country sees different options from you, that's probably why rather than a setting you've missed.

Which suits a business better? If you want control and a clear audit of what ChatGPT knows, the explicit list is easier to check. If you want ChatGPT to keep up with a business that changes week to week, the continually updated summary does more of the work for you, as long as you review it now and then.

How do I delete ChatGPT memory?

You've got three levels, from gentle to thorough:

• Correct one detail: use the memory summary to type a correction or choose Don't mention this again.
• Delete and turn off memory: in the memory summary's three-dot menu, this deletes the remembered information shown and turns Memory off, without deleting your past chats.
• Remove something completely: delete the saved memory and the chat where you first shared it, then check archived chats, Library files and connected apps.

Deleting a chat doesn't automatically delete a saved memory created from it, so do both. OpenAI says it may keep logs of deleted saved memories for up to 30 days for safety and debugging.

How does memory work in Projects?

Projects give you a choice when you create them: default memory or project-only memory, which you can change later in Project settings. With project-only memory, chats in that project use context from the same project only, and the project's information is kept out of your memory elsewhere. OpenAI made this available on all plans. Shared projects are always project-only and can't be switched to default memory.

For a business, project-only memory is the setting I'd use for each client. It stops one client's details drifting into another client's work.

Does memory work in Temporary Chat?

Temporary chats never create or update memories, even when they're personalised. If you don't want a temporary chat to read your existing memories either, choose Unpersonalized when you start it. My guide to ChatGPT Temporary Chat covers that choice in more detail.

Is ChatGPT memory used for training?

Memory and model training are separate settings. On personal accounts, chats and remembered information may be used for training when Improve the model for everyone is switched on. OpenAI says it doesn't train on content from Business, Enterprise, Edu or ChatGPT for Healthcare workspaces by default, and workspace admins can control memory settings.

Memory also isn't currently available in custom GPTs, so a GPT you've built won't carry your memories into its answers.

A simple memory routine for business owners

• Once a month, open the memory summary and correct anything out of date, such as old services or a team member who's left.
• Use a project with project-only memory for each client or big piece of work.
• Use Temporary Chat for anything sensitive you don't want remembered.
• Tell ChatGPT directly what to remember, such as your brand voice rules, rather than hoping it picks them up.
• Before you hand your laptop to anyone, remember that memory follows the account, not the person typing.
• When a client project ends, check its project memory setting and archive or delete the chats you no longer need.

Copy and paste this prompt

Please remember these details for future chats:
my business is [business], my customers are [audience], I write in [tone],
and I never use [words or phrases to avoid]. Confirm what you've saved.

Claude has its own approach to remembering context, which I explain in how Claude memory works. It's worth comparing if your team uses both.

Tools that work with ChatGPT memory

Memory draws on the tools you connect. Gmail is one OpenAI names as a possible source, alongside files in your Library. Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive are common places those files start. Outside ChatGPT, a password manager keeps credentials out of chats, and a shared document of brand rules in Google Docs or Notion is a sensible master copy of anything you ask ChatGPT to remember.

If you'd like help setting up memory, projects and privacy rules for a whole team, this is the kind of AI setup work I do for small businesses, or see how I work with business owners.

For the rest of the series, see the ChatGPT Prompts and Limits: 30 Guides to Fun Prompts, Photo Edits and Daily Caps.

Frequently asked questions

How do I turn off ChatGPT memory?

Go to Settings, Personalization, Memory and switch Memory off. Turning it off doesn't delete your past chats.

How do I delete what ChatGPT remembers?

Use the memory summary to correct details, or choose Delete and turn off memory from its three-dot menu. To remove something completely, delete the saved memory and the chat where you shared it.

Does deleting a chat delete the memory?

No. Deleting a chat doesn't automatically delete a saved memory created from it, so delete both.

What is reference chat history in ChatGPT?

It lets ChatGPT use relevant information from your past conversations. Turning it off schedules that remembered information for deletion within 30 days, but your chats stay.

Do custom GPTs use ChatGPT memory?

No. OpenAI says memory isn't currently available in custom GPTs.