-as of [22 NOVEMBER 2025]-
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-THIS TAB ALLOWS YOU TO SET “CUSTOM INSTRUCTIONS”-
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*KEYBOARD SHORTCUT* —>
-[SHIFT] + [COMMAND] + [ i ]-
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General Information
Custom instructions allow you to share anything you’d like ChatGPT to consider in its response.
Your custom instructions will be added to new conversations going forward.
Custom instructions are available on all plans on Web, Desktop, iOS, and Android.
How your data is used
You can edit or delete custom instructions at any time for future conversations.
Your instructions won’t be shared with shared link viewers.
If you use third party plug-ins, then the model may provide plug-in developers with relevant information from your instructions.
Only use plug-ins that you trust, and don’t share any information you don’t want to give to third party plug-in developers.
Important:
Information from your use of custom instructions will also be used to improve model performance – like teaching the model how to adapt its responses to your instructions without overdoing it.
Learn more about how we use your data and how you can opt out of your content being used to improve model performance.
Enabling Custom Instructions
Custom instructions settings are applied to all new chats.
Start a new chat to see the change.
iOS & Android
In your Settings, select Customize ChatGPT.
Please make sure that Enable customization is toggle ON.
Enter your instructions in the Custom Instructions field.
Web & Desktop
In your Settings, select Personalization.
Please make sure that Enable customization is toggle ON.
Enter your instructions in the Custom Instructions field.
Disabling Custom Instructions
iOS & Android
In your Settings, select Customize ChatGPT.
Toggle Enable customization OFF.
[Optional]
Delete your instructions from the relevant fields.
Web & Desktop
In your Settings, select Personalization and click on Custom Instructions.
Toggle Enable customization OFF.
[Optional]
Delete your instructions from the relevant fields.
Frequently asked questions
What is the benefit of using custom instructions?
This feature allows customization of ChatGPT’s responses based on your preferences, and can be modified or removed anytime for future conversations.
Is there a character limit for custom instructions?
The longer form text fields have a 1500 character limit.
Are custom instructions included in my ChatGPT data export?
Yes.
Are my custom instructions data deleted when I delete my OpenAI account?
When you delete your OpenAI account, custom instructions that are tied to your account will also be deleted within 30 days as part of that process.
If you haven’t opted out of having your content used to improve our services, then we may have chat records that are de-identified and disassociated from your account.
If I change my custom instructions in the middle of my conversation with ChatGPT do I need to start a new chat to see changes reflected?
Yes.
If I update or remove my custom instructions, will previous versions of my instructions continue to appear in my chat history?
Yes, updates to your instructions are reflected only in future conversations.
To remove custom instructions from previous conversations, you can clear those conversations from your chat history.
Learn more about clearing conversations in this Help Center article.
Chat Completions API system message vs Custom Instructions in UI
There will be no API for custom instructions as in the Chat Completions API system messages should be used for similar effect.
Learn more.
help.openai.com /en/articles/8096356-chatgpt-custom-instructions
ChatGPT Custom Instructions | OpenAI Help Center
4-4 minutes
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Overview
ChatGPT can remember useful details between chats, making its responses more personalized and relevant.
As you chat with ChatGPT, whether you’re typing, talking, or asking it to generate an image, it can remember helpful context from earlier conversations, such as your preferences and interests, and use that to tailor its responses.
The more you use ChatGPT, the more useful it becomes.
You’ll start to notice improvements over time as it builds a better understanding of what works best for you.
You can also teach ChatGPT something new by saying it in a chat — for example: “Remember that I am vegetarian when you recommend a recipe.”
To check what ChatGPT remembers, just ask: “What do you remember about me?”.
You’re in control of what ChatGPT remembers.
You can delete individual memories, clear specific or all saved memories, or turn memory off entirely in your settings.
To chat without using or updating memory, use Temporary Chat.
Temporary Chats won’t reference memories and won’t create new memories.
How Memory works
You can control Memory via two settings:
Reference saved memories:
These are details you have explicitly asked ChatGPT to remember, like your name, favorite color, or dietary preferences.
Reference chat history:
ChatGPT can also use information from your past chats to make future conversations more helpful.
For example, if you once said you like Thai food, it may take that into account the next time you ask “What should I have for lunch?”
ChatGPT doesn’t remember every detail from past chats, so use saved memories for anything you want it to always keep in mind.
You can choose to turn on “Saved Memories,” both, or neither.
The settings are flexible and you can change them anytime.
How does “Reference saved memories” work?
Saved memories are details you’ve directly told ChatGPT to remember.
You can add a new memory at any time –
for example: “Remember that I am vegetarian when you recommend a recipe.”
Saved memories work similarly to custom instructions, except our models update them automatically rather than requiring users to manage them manually.
If you share information that might be useful for future conversations, ChatGPT may save those details as a memory without you needing to ask.
Like custom instructions, saved memories are part of the context ChatGPT uses to generate a response.
Unless you delete them, saved memories are always considered in future responses.
ChatGPT can manage saved memories on its own, updating, combining, or removing them when asked.
You’re in control of ChatGPT’s saved memories.
You can delete individual memories, clear all of them, or turn saved memory off completely in settings.
(Note: turning off “Reference saved memories” in settings also turns off “Reference chat history”).
To chat without using saved memory, use Temporary Chat.
How do I enable or disable saved memories?
You can turn saved memories on or off anytime under your profile picture > Settings > Personalization.
Note that these settings may vary slightly depending on your plan.
Turning saved memory off won’t delete anything that’s already been remembered.
And deleting a chat doesn’t remove saved memory from that conversation.
To delete saved memories, tell ChatGPT to delete or forget it, or go to Settings > Personalization > Manage memories.
To fully remove a memory, delete both the saved memory in Manage memories and the chat where you originally shared it.
How long does ChatGPT keep saved memories?
The “notepad” of your saved memories are stored separately from your chat history.
This means even if you delete a chat, any saved memories from it can still be used in future conversations.
You can ask ChatGPT to forget a saved memory at any time.
When you do, that memory is removed and won’t be used in future chats.
We may retain a log of deleted Saved Memories for up to 30 days for safety and debugging purposes.
Saved memories can show up in past conversations.
For example, if ChatGPT remembers that you live in San Francisco, it might say “Since you live in San Francisco…” when answering a weekend plan question.
You can delete that memory anytime, but it won’t remove mentions from past chats.
To clear that, you will need to delete the specific chat where it was shared.
How do I manage my saved memory storage?
Please note that memory management controls and automatic memory management are currently only available to ChatGPT Plus and Pro users.
ChatGPT Plus and Pro users can now automatically manage saved memories by keeping the most relevant details prioritized and moving less important ones to the background.
This helps prevent saved memories from reaching capacity and helps avoid “memory full” state in your ChatGPT account.
To decide which memories stay top of mind, ChatGPT considers factors such as how recent a detail is and how often you talk about a topic.
You can now also search your saved memories more easily and sort them by newest or oldest by tapping the three dot menu.
You’re always in control: you can turn off automatic memory management at any time, and you can see which memories are currently top of mind and choose to prioritize or deprioritize any specific memory yourself in settings.
Memories that are not top of mind are in gray.
You can delete any saved memory by clicking on ⋯ next to each memory and selecting Delete in the pop-up menu that appears.
You can also also delete all your memories by selecting ⋯ next to the search bar and selecting Delete all.
You can also view and restore prior versions of saved memories by tapping view history in the three dot menu.
You will see your saved memory history, and you can choose to restore previous versions of your memories, by date.
How does “Reference chat history” work?
When “Reference chat history” is turned on, ChatGPT will reference your past conversations to recall useful information you’ve shared.
It uses this to learn about your interests and preferences, helping make future chats more personalized and relevant.
Like custom instructions, when this setting is on, relevant information from your past conversations may be added to new ones.
Unlike saved memories, which are kept until you delete them, details from past chats can change over time as ChatGPT updates what’s more helpful to remember.
Because ChatGPT doesn’t retain every detail from past chats, use saved memories for anything you want it to always remember.
How do I enable or disable Reference Chat History?
You can turn “Reference chat history” on or off anytime in Settings > Personalization.
Note that these settings may vary slightly depending on your plan.
If you turn “Reference saved memories” off, that will also turn off “Reference chat history”.
If “Reference saved memories” is on, you can still turn “Reference chat history” off.
If you turn off “Reference chat history”, this will also delete the information ChatGPT remembered from past chats.
That information will be deleted from our systems within 30 days.
Does ChatGPT have a storage limit when Reference Chat History is on?
There is no storage limit for what ChatGPT can reference when “Reference chat history” is turned on.
How do I manage what ChatGPT remembers when Reference Chat History is on?
To learn what ChatGPT remembers about you, just ask it.
You can also ask ChatGPT to forget something it remembered from a past conversation.
When ChatGPT forgets something, it won’t use that information in future responses, but the original conversation will still be in your chat history unless you delete it.
It may take a few days for deleted memories to stop being referenced in your chats.
When “Reference chat history” is on, ChatGPT will keep information from past conversations unless you delete (or archive) those chats.
If you turn off “Reference chat history”, all information ChatGPT remembered from past chats will be deleted.
That information will be deleted from our systems within 30 days.
How does “Reference memory in suggestions” work?
Note: This setting is related to ChatGPT pulse, currently available to Pro users on iOS and Android.
When this setting is enabled, ChatGPT pulse uses both chat history and saved memories to perform nightly, asynchronous research on your behalf, and deliver visual summaries that you can scan at a glance, the next day.
You can expand the summaries for more detail, save for later, ask follow up questions and provide feedback.
For this setting to work, both Reference saved memories and Reference chat history must be toggled on.
See more information in the ChatGPT Pulse article.
How do I fully delete something ChatGPT knows about me?
If Memory is on and you want to fully remove something ChatGPT remembers, you will need to delete both the saved memories in Settings and all chats where you shared or referenced that information.
Can I disable memories for my ChatGPT Enterprise or Edu workspace?
ChatGPT Enterprise workspace owners can turn Memory on or off for all users in their Admin Settings.
Note:
The Reference Chat History feature is not yet available to Enterprise and Edu customers.
Does memory remember sensitive information?
Memory raises important privacy and safety considerations, especially around what type of information should be remembered and how that information is used.
We’re taking steps to reduce bias and have trained ChatGPT not to proactively remember sensitive information, like health details, unless you explicitly ask it to.
We are continuing to improve how the model handles this type of information.
You’re in control: you can review and delete saved memories, ask what ChatGPT remembers about you, delete specific conversations, and provide feedback so we can improve.
If Memory is enabled, please avoid entering information you wouldn’t want remembered.
Can ChatGPT remember my name or account identity in Memory?
Yes, but only in these cases:
You tell it your name
(for example, in Custom Instructions or in a message).
Memory is on and “reference past chats” is enabled, in which case ChatGPT may reference your account name it already shows you in product.
Do you train your models with memories?
If you have the “Improve the model for everyone” setting turned on, we may use content you’ve shared with ChatGPT, including past chats, saved memories, and memories from those chats, to help improve our models.
You can turn this setting off anytime in your Data Controls.
As always, we do not train on content from ChatGPT Business, Enterprise, and Edu customers by default.
Learn more about your choices on how we use your content to improve model performance.
How does memory work with ChatGPT search?
ChatGPT may use relevant details from your saved memories or recent chats to improve how it rewrites your query for search.
This helps make the search results more tailored to you.
For example, if you’ve shared in past chats that you’re vegan and live in San Francisco, and you ask:
“What are some restaurants near me that I’d like?”
ChatGPT might rewrite that to:
“Good vegan restaurants in San Francisco”
to better reflect your preferences.
Learn more about ChatGPT search
help.openai.com /en/articles/8590148-memory-faq
Memory FAQ | OpenAI Help Center
11-13 minutes
Learn more about managing memory in ChatGPT
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ChatGPT can now search the web in a much better way than before.
You can get fast, timely answers with links to relevant web sources, without needing to visit a separate search engine.
What information is shared when I search?
To provide relevant responses to your questions, ChatGPT search sometimes partners with other search providers.
When it does, ChatGPT search typically rewrites your query into one or more targeted queries that it sends those providers.
For instance, if a biotech researcher asked ChatGPT, “what’s the latest on the development of drugs that target CCR8 for cancer?” ChatGPT might initially query a search partner using “CCR8 immunotherapy drug development 2025.”
After reviewing the initial results, ChatGPT search may send additional, more specific queries to other search providers, like “CHS-114 conference 2025.” .
ChatGPT also collects general location information based on your IP address and may share that general location with third-party search providers to improve the accuracy of your results.
For example, if you type into ChatGPT “What are some good restaurants near me?” and ChatGPT determines from your IP address that you are in the San Francisco area, ChatGPT may rewrite your prompt into the search query “top restaurants San Francisco.”
ChatGPT does not share the IP address itself, or any of your ChatGPT account information, with third-party search providers.
For more information about how third-party search providers may further process search queries, please refer to:
Bing (Microsoft’s privacy policy)
Shopify (Shopify’s privacy policy)
If you have “Memory” enabled, when ChatGPT search rewrites your prompt into a search query it may also leverage relevant information from memories to make the query better and more useful.
For example, if the user has “Memory” turned on and asks ChatGPT “what are some restaurants near me that I’d like,” and has memories is that the user is vegan and lives in San Francisco, then ChatGPT may rewrite the user’s prompt to “good vegan restaurants San Francisco.”
You can learn more here about Memory, including how to disable it or control individual memories.
How to search in ChatGPT
To begin your search, go to chatgpt.com and select the ‘View all tools’ option, then select the ‘Search’ icon and enter your search query.
ChatGPT will automatically search the web if your question might benefit from information on the web.
ChatGPT search can also be accessed via shortcut – simply type “/” and select Search from the pop-up menu.
You can also regenerate any response to Search the web by selecting the refresh icon and select Try again.
This allows ChatGPT to enrich its initial response with additional content from the web.
ChatGPT responses that use search will contain inline citations.
If you are interested in exploring these citations further, you can hover over the citation to learn more, and click on it to see the source.
This hover feature works on desktop web.
You can also find all the cited sources, as well as other relevant links, by clicking on the Sources button at the end of the response.
Occasionally, search results will also return images at the top of the response.
To see the image source, click on the image to see the citation and link to the source.
On iOS and Android, ChatGPT search results may also output a map if the result is appropriate.
Please note that search queries in ChatGPT are subject to your ChatGPT plan’s 4o usage limit.
Learn more about GPT 4o usage limits on ChatGPT.
Searching with Voice on ChatGPT
ChatGPT voice chats with search are slowly rolling out to ChatGPT users over the coming days. Please stay tuned!
You can search while having a voice conversation with ChatGPT.
During a voice chat, you can ask ChatGPT to search for something and ChatGPT will provide you fast, timely answers by searching the web.
Please note that your searching with Voice is also subject to ChatGPT usage limits.
Learn more about voice chats with ChatGPT.
Setting ChatGPT as your browser’s default search
You can set search on ChatGPT as your Chrome browser’s default search by downloading and installing our Chrome Extension.
Note that this browser default search will default you into ChatGPT search only if you have already been given access to it.
Once ChatGPT has been set as your default search engine, you can search directly via your browser URL bar.
This will automatically start a conversation in ChatGPT that contains your search query and ChatGPT search’s response.
If you want to redirect a query to Google search, type “!g [your query]” (e.g. !g foobar) directly in your browser URL bar with your query
help.openai.com /en/articles/9237897-chatgpt-search
ChatGPT search | OpenAI Help Center
5-6 minutes
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*👨🔬🕵️♀️🙇♀️*SKETCHES*🙇♂️👩🔬🕵️♂️*
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👈👈👈☜*-[chatGPT] SETTINGS-* ☞ 👉👉👉
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💕💝💖💓🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙🖤❤️💚💛🧡❣️💞💔💘❣️🧡💛💚❤️🖤💜🖤💙🖤💙🖤💗💖💝💘
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*🌈✨ *TABLE OF CONTENTS* ✨🌷*
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🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥*we won the war* 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥