Does ChatGPT remember across chats?
ChatGPT memory keeps your chats in your account and carries what matters from one chat to the next. What it keeps, what it recalls, and how to control it.
Guide
ChatGPT memory vs custom instructions vs projects: what goes where?
Put how you want ChatGPT to answer in custom instructions, which apply to every chat. Put the files and instructions for one piece of work in a project.
Memory picks up what comes up about you across chats, so review it now and then and correct what has changed. The three work together, and each has its limits.
Last reviewed:
How do memory, custom instructions and projects differ?
| Custom instructions | Memory | Project | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | Guidance you write about yourself and how to answer | What ChatGPT keeps from your chats, plus what you ask it to remember | A home for one piece of work's chats, files and instructions |
| Where to find it | Settings, Personalization | Settings, Personalization, Memory | New project in the sidebar |
| Where it applies | Every chat, including existing ones | Every chat, except projects set to project-only memory | That project's chats only |
| Limit | 1,500 characters on Free and Go; 5,000 on other plans | It does not keep every detail; ChatGPT picks what is relevant | File count depends on your plan |
Checked in October 2026 against the official help pages: ChatGPT Custom Instructions, Memory in ChatGPT and Projects in ChatGPT. Menu names change, so check there if an option is not where we say.
When to use custom instructions
For the fixed things you want in every answer, such as what you do and the style you prefer.
Open Settings, then Personalization, check that Enable customization is on, and write your instructions. In the mobile app, look for Customize ChatGPT. Changes apply to all chats straight away.
For example: "I do marketing for an online store. Write in plain English and lead with the conclusion in two lines."
When to leave it to memory
For details that come up in your chats and change over time, like a project you have started or a deadline that moved. Memory picks them up by itself, or you can say: "Remember that the launch moved to next week."
Review it under Settings, Personalization, Memory, and correct anything out of date. Memory does not keep every detail; ChatGPT decides what is relevant to each answer.
Do ChatGPT projects share memory?
It depends on the project's setting. Open Project settings from the ••• menu, and under Memory choose Default memory or Project-only memory.
With project-only memory, chats in the project draw on each other but not on your chats outside it or your saved memories, and chats outside cannot reach in. A project you share with others always uses this setting.
With default memory, project chats use your saved memories, and on most plans they can reference your other chats and be referenced by them. Project instructions apply only inside the project and override your general custom instructions.
Where Memory Bridge fits
Custom instructions are short, and memory chooses what it keeps. All of it stays inside ChatGPT, out of reach of Claude and your other tools.
What does not fit, such as client details and project decisions, can live in Memory Bridge as notes you read and edit, and every tool you connect reads them. To connect your tools, see how to connect ChatGPT and Claude to your apps.
Common questions
Are custom instructions the same as memory?
No. Custom instructions are guidance you write; memory builds up from your chats. Both shape ChatGPT's answers.
How do I make ChatGPT write like me?
Describe your style in custom instructions and add a short sample of your writing. If each piece of work has its own style, put it in that project's instructions.
What is the Claude equivalent?
Claude has projects with knowledge and instructions used in all their chats, and each project keeps its own memory. Details in Does Claude remember across chats?
ChatGPT says memory is full. What now?
Delete what is out of date and move fixed preferences into custom instructions. Steps are in the ChatGPT memory full guide.
Keep reading
ChatGPT memory full
Seeing "Memory full" in ChatGPT? What it means, how to free space without losing what matters, and how to stop it happening again.
An AI memory you can read and edit
Your AI memory is a set of clear notes inside projects. Read what was saved, correct it, go back to an earlier version, and download a copy to keep.
One memory. Every tool you use.
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