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ChatGPT Memory is not a complete transcript of your conversations. Depending on the features and settings available to your account, it can use saved memories and relevant context from past chats, custom instructions, Library files, or connected apps. Saved memories and chat history are separate, so deleting a conversation alone may not remove a memory drawn from it.
What ChatGPT Memory can use
OpenAI describes Memory as a way to personalize responses using relevant context. Depending on your account, enabled features, and workspace settings, that context may come from saved memories, past chats, custom instructions, Library files, or connected apps. Availability and labels can vary by plan, region, platform, and workspace. OpenAI’s Memory overview says, “Memory does not retain every detail from every conversation.” It also notes that what ChatGPT considers useful may change over time.
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Two features are often grouped under the word “Memory,” but they work differently:
| Feature | What it does | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| Saved memories | Stores details you ask ChatGPT to remember, or details it may save as useful context when that behavior is available. | Stored separately from chat history. Available controls may let you review, correct, or delete them. |
| Reference chat history | When enabled, lets ChatGPT draw on relevant information from previous conversations when it may improve a response. | It does not preserve every detail; derived information can change. Turning it off schedules information remembered from past chats for deletion within 30 days, but does not delete the original chats. |
The memory summary, if your interface offers one, is a high-level view—not a guaranteed, complete inventory of everything ChatGPT can reference. Depending on the interface, you may be able to edit or correct it, ask ChatGPT what it remembers, inspect sources, or manage saved memories. OpenAI’s Memory FAQ explains that saved memories are separate from the chats that may have led to them.
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How to inspect and manage Memory
- Open Settings > Personalization > Memory.
- Review the controls shown for your account. Depending on availability, these may include Memory, Reference saved memories, Reference chat history, a memory summary, or Manage or Saved memories.
- Use the controls available there to review, correct, or delete saved memories, or turn off a reference feature. Follow the labels shown in your own interface; the options and names are not identical for every account.
Turning off Memory does not delete your chats. Turning off Reference chat history schedules information remembered from past chats for deletion within 30 days; the original conversations stay in history unless you delete them separately. In some settings experiences, turning off Reference saved memories may also turn off Reference chat history. OpenAI’s Memory overview describes these controls and their effects.
What to delete if you want information removed
First consider where the information may exist. A detail can be present in a saved memory and also in its original conversation, a Library file, or a connected app. Removing one copy does not necessarily remove the others.
- Saved memory: Delete the relevant entry using the Memory controls, if available.
- Original conversation: Delete the chat separately if you want it removed from chat history. Deleting the chat alone does not necessarily delete a saved memory created from it.
- Other source: Check Library files and connected apps if they supplied the information, and remove it there as appropriate.
OpenAI says deletion updates can take time to propagate. Logs of deleted saved memories may be retained for up to 30 days for safety and debugging; this is not a promise that every trace disappears instantly. For details on chat, file, and temporary-chat retention, see OpenAI’s chat and file retention guidance.
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What Temporary Chat does—and does not do
Temporary Chat is a conversation mode, not a synonym for deleting Memory or turning off every data-use setting. At the start, the interface may offer personalized or unpersonalized Temporary Chat:
| Mode | Can use existing personal context? | Creates or updates memories during the temporary conversation? | History and retention |
|---|---|---|---|
| Personalized Temporary Chat | May use existing memories, custom instructions, and plugins. | No, while the conversation remains temporary. | Does not appear in history unless saved. OpenAI may keep a copy for up to 30 days for safety. |
| Unpersonalized Temporary Chat | Does not use those personalization sources. | No, while the conversation remains temporary. | Does not appear in history unless saved. OpenAI may keep a copy for up to 30 days for safety. |
If you save a Temporary Chat, it becomes a regular chat subject to your account’s personalization and model-improvement settings. See OpenAI’s Temporary Chat guidance for the mode’s current behavior.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Memory and model training are different controls
Memory controls personalization: what context ChatGPT may use to tailor replies. Model-improvement controls address whether conversations may be used to improve models. For personal ChatGPT accounts, OpenAI says chats and remembered information may be used for model improvement when Improve the model for everyone is enabled. OpenAI says content from ChatGPT Business, Enterprise, Edu, and ChatGPT for Healthcare workspaces is not used for training by default. The settings and policies that apply depend on the account and workspace. Review OpenAI’s data-handling overview and Data Controls FAQ for the relevant controls.
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