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1Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute2Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors3Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesUse Custom Instructions for guidance you want to write and control directly; use Memory for useful personal context ChatGPT can carry forward. They do different jobs, and you can use both. Which features and controls appear may depend on your plan, region, platform, and workspace settings.
How Memory and Custom Instructions differ
OpenAI describes Custom Instructions as direct guidance about what ChatGPT should know and how it should respond. Memory can carry forward relevant information from conversations and other available sources, depending on your settings. Put simply: instructions tell ChatGPT what you want it to do; Memory helps it retain context that can be useful later.
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| Question | Memory | Custom Instructions |
|---|---|---|
| What is it for? | Carrying forward useful context from saved memories, chats, and other available sources, depending on settings. | Guidance you supply about what ChatGPT should know and how it should respond. |
| How does information get there? | ChatGPT may save useful details, and you can ask it to remember something. Reference chat history may also provide relevant context when enabled. | You write and manage the instruction text. |
| How does it change? | Context may be updated as needs change; information drawn from chat history can change over time. | You edit or remove the instructions. Changes apply immediately to chats, but earlier versions may remain in prior chat history. |
| What is it not? | A complete transcript or guarantee that every conversational detail will be retained. | An archive of past chats or a substitute for Memory. |
| Where is it managed? | Settings > Personalization > Memory; labels and controls vary. | Web and desktop: Settings > Personalization > Custom Instructions. iOS and Android: Settings > Customize ChatGPT, with customization enabled. |
| Availability | Varies by plan, region, platform, and workspace settings. | OpenAI says it is available on all plans on Web, Desktop, iOS, and Android. |
OpenAI’s Memory in ChatGPT and ChatGPT Custom Instructions pages describe the features and their controls.
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Which one should you use?
Choose Custom Instructions for explicit, recurring guidance
Use them for stable preferences and operating guidance you want to state yourself, such as response style, recurring constraints, or information you want ChatGPT to consider. They are directly editable, so you can revise or remove the guidance when it no longer fits.
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OpenAI lists a 1,500-character limit for Free and Go users and a 5,000-character limit for Plus, Pro, Enterprise, Business, and Education users on its Custom Instructions page. These account limits can change, so check the current setting in your account.
Choose Memory for useful context that develops over time
Memory can help when you do not want to repeat useful details or preferences across conversations. It is not a perfect transcript: ChatGPT does not retain every detail from every conversation, and a memory summary may omit details or sources. Treat it as a way to carry relevant context forward, not as a complete record or a dependable place to store anything you must preserve exactly.
Use both when you have both needs
Custom Instructions can express stable guidance, while Memory can carry forward personal context that develops through use. They can complement each other; neither is required for the other.
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Review or manage Memory
Open Settings > Personalization > Memory. Depending on the account’s Memory experience, you may see controls labeled Memory, Reference saved memories, Reference chat history, Memory summary, Manage, or Saved memories. Missing controls can reflect account or workspace availability. Check the labels currently shown in your account rather than assuming every user has the same set.
Edit Custom Instructions
- Web and desktop: Open Settings > Personalization > Custom Instructions and make sure Enable customization is on.
- iOS and Android: Open Settings > Customize ChatGPT and make sure Enable customization is on.
OpenAI says Custom Instructions are applied immediately to chats. Updates affect future interactions, but an earlier version may still appear in chat history; clearing the relevant conversations is the documented route for removing those earlier versions from history.
Turning a feature off is different from deleting information
Memory controls and source deletion are not the same thing. Turning Memory off does not delete past chats, and deleting a chat alone does not necessarily delete a separate saved memory created from it.
To remove information saved as Memory, OpenAI says you may need to delete the saved memory and the original chat. Also check for copies in the memory summary, other chats, Library files, or connected apps, as applicable. Deletion and updates can take time to propagate. OpenAI says it may retain logs of deleted saved memories for up to 30 days for safety and debugging; that is a possible retention period, not a promise that deletion happens exactly on day 30.
Temporary Chat: decide whether to personalize before you start
Temporary Chat has separate Unpersonalized and Personalized options. Unpersonalized Temporary Chat does not use Memory or Custom Instructions. Personalized Temporary Chat can use existing memories and instructions. Neither option creates or updates memories while the chat remains temporary. OpenAI says the personalization choice cannot be changed after the conversation begins, so select it before starting.
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A Temporary Chat stays out of chat history unless you save it, but OpenAI may keep a copy for up to 30 days for safety purposes. This is not immediate deletion. If you save the conversation, it becomes a regular chat and follows your account’s personalization and model-improvement settings. See OpenAI’s Temporary chat in ChatGPT for the current details.
Memory privacy and model improvement are separate controls
Memory may include sensitive information you share. OpenAI recommends reviewing Memory settings and Sources; if you do not want a conversation to use or create memories for personalization, choose an unpersonalized Temporary Chat before it begins.
Personalization is distinct from model improvement. OpenAI says personal ChatGPT account conversations and remembered information may be used to improve models when “Improve the model for everyone” is on. Business, Enterprise, Edu, and ChatGPT for Healthcare workspace content is not used for model training by default. These are separate data-use settings: changing Memory does not, by itself, establish whether account content can be used for model improvement.
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