Four ChatGPT features do most of the heavy lifting for everyday work: Projects, memory, Temporary Chat and file uploads. Projects keep the files, instructions and chats for one piece of work together. Memory lets ChatGPT keep details you want it to know. Temporary Chat keeps a conversation out of all of that. File uploads let it read your PDFs, documents, spreadsheets and images. This guide shows how to set up each one and when to skip it. (OpenAI Academy: Projects (opens in a new tab); OpenAI Help: Memory FAQ (opens in a new tab); OpenAI Help: File Uploads FAQ (opens in a new tab))

Projects: one place for one job

OpenAI describes a project as a dedicated space for a body of work. Each project holds its own files and instructions, and they apply to every chat inside it, so you do not have to upload the same document or repeat the same background in each new conversation. (OpenAI Academy: Projects (opens in a new tab))

1. Create the project

Open Projects from the left-hand menu, create a new project and give it a name you will recognize later, such as the client, the class or the trip.

2. Add instructions

Write the guidance you would otherwise paste into every chat: who you are, who the work is for, the tone you want, and what to avoid. Project instructions apply to the chats in that project and take priority over your general custom instructions there, according to Unite.AI.

3. Add files

Upload the reference material the project depends on, like a brief, a style guide or last quarter's numbers. OpenAI's file FAQ lists project limits of 20 files on Plus and 40 files on Pro, Team, Education and Business plans.

4. Move old chats in

If you already have conversations about the same work, move them into the project. DataCamp notes you can drag a chat into a project or add it from the chat's menu.

Some plans also offer project-only memory, which limits ChatGPT's context to conversations inside that same project. OpenAI says this helps keep projects separate. Unite.AI reported that the option is chosen when a project is created and cannot be switched on for an existing one, so decide before you start. On plans that support sharing, collaborators can work from the same files, instructions and history. (OpenAI Academy: Projects (opens in a new tab); Unite.AI (opens in a new tab))

Tip: Use a project for work that runs over days or weeks: research, a draft you revise in stages, recurring planning. For a quick, self-contained question, a normal chat is faster.

Prompt 1: Write your project instructions

You are helping me with [project name]. I am [your role], and the work is for [audience].
Always write in [tone] and keep answers under [length].
Use the files in this project as the main source. If something is not in the files, say so instead of guessing.
Before long answers, ask me one clarifying question if the request is unclear.

Memory: what ChatGPT keeps about you

ChatGPT has two kinds of memory, according to OpenAI's help center. Saved memories are details you ask it to keep, and they stay until you delete them, even if you delete the chat where they came up. Chat history lets ChatGPT draw on past conversations to learn your interests and preferences, and those details can change over time. (OpenAI Help: Memory FAQ (opens in a new tab))

5. Save something on purpose

Tell ChatGPT directly what to keep. A clear sentence with a reason works best, because it tells the model when the detail applies.

Prompt 2: Save a useful memory

Remember that I work in [industry] and write for [audience]. When I ask for emails or summaries, use plain American English and keep them under [number] words.

6. Check and clean it up

Ask ChatGPT what it remembers about you. To remove a detail, ask it to forget it. OpenAI says a forgotten item can take a few days to stop being referenced, and the original conversation stays unless you delete it too.

Where the controls live depends on which memory system your account has. In the older system, saved memories are under Settings, then Personalization, where you can search them, delete single entries or delete all. OpenAI says a newer memory system is rolling out first to Plus and Pro users in the US, with its controls under Settings, then Memory. Turning off Reference saved memories also turns off Reference chat history. On Enterprise and Edu plans, workspace owners decide whether memory is on. (OpenAI Help: Memory FAQ (opens in a new tab))

Prompt 3: Audit your memory

List everything you currently remember about me, grouped by topic. Mark anything that looks outdated or that you are unsure about, so I can tell you what to forget.

Temporary Chat: when you want a clean slate

Temporary Chats do not appear in your chat history. In the new memory system, OpenAI says they also do not use your existing memories or create new ones. That makes them the right choice when you do not want a conversation to shape future answers. (OpenAI Help: Memory FAQ (opens in a new tab))

Tip: Use Temporary Chat for a one-off question about a topic you do not want following you around, or to see how ChatGPT answers without your saved preferences. It is not a delete button for something you already said in a normal chat.

File uploads: let ChatGPT read the document

7. Attach the file

In a chat, open the tools menu and choose Add photos or files. OpenAI lists CSV, XLSX, PDF, DOCX, JPEG, PNG and TXT among the supported formats, and uploads work on the web and in the iOS and Android apps.

8. Ask for something specific

A file plus a vague request gets a vague answer. Say what you want back: a summary with risks, a table, a chart, or a rewrite. ChatGPT can also produce files you download, such as an updated spreadsheet.

Prompt 4: Pull the facts out of a PDF

Read the attached PDF. Make a table with these columns: date, what happens, who owns it, and the page it comes from. Then list any deadlines in the next [number] days.

Prompt 5: Make sense of a spreadsheet

Look at the attached spreadsheet. Tell me in five bullet points what changed the most from [period] to [period], then make one chart that shows it. Explain any column you are not sure how to read.

The limits matter more than most people expect. OpenAI's file FAQ says free users get 3 file uploads per day, and everyone is limited to 80 files every 3 hours. Each file can be up to 512MB, images up to 20MB, and spreadsheets about 50MB depending on row size. Text documents are capped at 2 million tokens per file. (OpenAI Help: File Uploads FAQ (opens in a new tab))

There is one weakness to know about. Outside ChatGPT Enterprise, retrieval from PDFs is text-only, so images inside a document, such as charts or scanned pages, are discarded. Files you attach in a chat are kept as long as the chat exists and are deleted within 30 days after you delete the chat. (OpenAI Help: File Uploads FAQ (opens in a new tab))

Where these features fall short

None of this is perfect. Unite.AI reported that project memory works from short memory logs rather than every word of every chat, and that older entries can be replaced as memory fills up. DataCamp found that ChatGPT sometimes failed to find details from other chats in the same project. Deleting a memory also does not remove mentions in old chats, so OpenAI recommends deleting those chats as well. (OpenAI Help: Memory FAQ (opens in a new tab); Unite.AI (opens in a new tab); DataCamp (opens in a new tab))

The practical takeaway is to put anything important in the project files or instructions, where ChatGPT sees it every time, instead of trusting it to recall a detail from an old conversation. Use memory for stable preferences, Temporary Chat for anything you would rather it forget, and always check figures it pulls from a file against the original.