# ChatGPT memory sort prompt: free ChatGPT template > Paste your ChatGPT saved memories and sort each one: keep it, move it to custom instructions, or delete it because it holds client details. Source: https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/prompts/chatgpt-memory-sort-prompt · Updated 2026-10-17 · Free from Stepthrough (https://learn.ynteractive.com) [SOPs and operations](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/prompts#job-sops-and-operations) · [Accounting](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/prompts#industry-accounting) · [Finance](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/prompts#industry-finance) · Works in ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Copilot Updated October 17, 2026 · By [Robert Breen](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/about) Use this when you open Settings, Personalization and find a saved memories list you never really chose. At a firm the risk is specific: a memory such as a client's name and balance can turn up in a different chat later, and deleting the chat it came from does not delete the memory. Facts about how you like to work are also better written once in custom instructions, where you can see and edit them. Copy your saved memories into a Temporary Chat, replace any client name with a placeholder first, and use this prompt to sort them. You then delete or move each one yourself in Settings. ## The prompt Copy it into ChatGPT (or Claude, Gemini or Copilot) and replace every `[BLANK]` with your own details. It uses the four parts from [Prompt Writing 101](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/prompt-writing-101-role-context-task-format): Role, Context, Task and Format. Copy prompt ```text Role: You are an assistant helping a [JOB TITLE] at [FIRM] clean up ChatGPT's saved memories. Context: Here is my saved memories list, one per line: [MEMORIES]. Our firm's rule is: [FIRM RULE]. Task: Sort every memory into one of three groups. Keep: harmless facts that help answers and contain no client details. Move to custom instructions: lasting preferences about how I want answers written or what I do. Delete: anything with a client's name, an account, a balance, a tax detail or anything the firm rule forbids. For each one give a reason of ten words or fewer. If a memory could fit two groups, put it under Delete and say why. Format: Three short headed lists: Keep, Move to custom instructions, Delete. Then a draft of two sentences I could paste into custom instructions, built only from the Move list. ``` ## Fill in the blanks **`[JOB TITLE]`** Your role, such as staff accountant or bookkeeper. **`[FIRM]`** Your firm's name. **`[MEMORIES]`** Your saved memories copied from Settings, Personalization. Replace client names and numbers with placeholders such as CLIENT A before pasting. **`[FIRM RULE]`** Your firm's line on client data in AI tools, for example no client details in ChatGPT memory. ## Example, filled in **A made-up example** from the free lesson [Clear Client Data Out of ChatGPT Before It Becomes a Problem: Delete Chats, Clear Memory and Use Temporary Chat](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/how-to-delete-chatgpt-history-clear-memory). Calloway & Reyes CPAs and its staff accountant Morgan are made up and come from the Clear Client Data Out of ChatGPT lesson, where one memory holds a client's balance and two others are harmless. This is an illustration of how Morgan might fill the prompt in. Copy example ```text Role: You are an assistant helping a staff accountant at Calloway & Reyes CPAs clean up ChatGPT's saved memories. Context: Here is my saved memories list, one per line: Client CLIENT A (a family trust) owes a balance for the Q3 return. Works at Calloway & Reyes CPAs as a staff accountant. Prefers short answers with bullet points. Our firm's rule is: no client details in ChatGPT memory, and client work starts in a Temporary Chat. Task: Sort every memory into one of three groups. Keep: harmless facts that help answers and contain no client details. Move to custom instructions: lasting preferences about how I want answers written or what I do. Delete: anything with a client's name, an account, a balance, a tax detail or anything the firm rule forbids. For each one give a reason of ten words or fewer. If a memory could fit two groups, put it under Delete and say why. Format: Three short headed lists: Keep, Move to custom instructions, Delete. Then a draft of two sentences I could paste into custom instructions, built only from the Move list. ``` ## What a good answer looks like - Any memory about a client lands under Delete, whatever else it says. - Work preferences, such as short answers with bullet points, are moved to custom instructions. - Each memory has a short reason you can check at a glance. - The custom instructions draft uses only what was in the Move list. ## How to check it before you use it An AI draft can sound right and still say something you never told it. Use the habit from the [Reply Faster lesson](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/chatgpt-reply-to-customer-emails): check every promise, name, date and number against what you gave it before anything goes out. - Do the deletes yourself in Settings, Personalization: point at the memory, click its menu and choose Delete. - Leave Delete all memories alone. You would lose the useful ones too. - Never paste real client names into this chat. Use placeholders. - If memory is on for a login more than one person uses, ask whether it should be switched off. ## Why this prompt works Memory and custom instructions both shape new chats, but you choose custom instructions on purpose and memory can fill up by accident. Sorting the list once, and moving the lasting preferences into instructions you wrote, leaves less for the memory to hold and nothing about clients in it. ## Practice it in the free lesson **[Clear Client Data Out of ChatGPT Before It Becomes a Problem: Delete Chats, Clear Memory and Use Temporary Chat](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/how-to-delete-chatgpt-history-clear-memory)**: Someone pasted client details into ChatGPT. Delete that one chat, archive what you keep, clear the one memory it left, set safe defaults and start using Temporary Chat. You do every step yourself in a practice copy of ChatGPT, and nothing touches your real accounts. [Start the free lesson](https://learn.ynteractive.com/modules/chatgpt-clear-history) Also useful: [ChatGPT: Keep Client Data Safe, Set Up Your Team's Data Controls in 10 Minutes](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/chatgpt-data-controls-protect-client-data) ## Terms used here [ChatGPT saved memories](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/chatgpt-saved-memories) · [Custom instructions (ChatGPT)](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/custom-instructions) · [ChatGPT memory](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/chatgpt-memory) · [Temporary Chat](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/temporary-chat) ## Related prompts - [ChatGPT settings checklist prompt](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/prompts/chatgpt-account-settings-checklist-prompt): A copy-ready prompt that turns your plan and data rules into a one-page checklist of ChatGPT settings for staff, with a column… - [AI data level sorting prompt](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/prompts/ai-data-level-sorting-prompt): A copy-ready prompt that sorts your office's common documents into Public, Internal, Confidential and Restricted, with one AI… - [New chat handoff summary prompt](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/prompts/new-chat-handoff-summary-prompt): A copy-ready prompt that boils a long ChatGPT chat down to a fact sheet, so you can start a new chat without re-pasting or… ## More sops and operations prompts - [Checklist from SOP prompt](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/prompts/checklist-from-sop-prompt): Turn a written SOP into a short check-box list people tick while they work, with every safety step and number kept exactly as… - [Claim intake questions prompt](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/prompts/claim-intake-questions-prompt): Build a first-call question list for a new insurance claim from your own requirements, plus a short email telling the client… - [Contract red flags prompt](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/prompts/contract-red-flags-prompt): Copy this contract review prompt for ChatGPT or Claude: get a plain-English summary and risky clauses quoted with clause… ## Frequently asked questions **Does deleting a chat delete its memory?** No. In the free lesson, deleting the client chat left the client memory behind, and it had to be deleted separately under Personalization. **What is the difference between memory and custom instructions?** Custom instructions are text you write and edit yourself. Saved memories are facts ChatGPT keeps from your chats. Both can shape new chats, and a Temporary Chat ignores both. [All free prompt templates](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/prompts) · [AI glossary](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary)