# How do I delete what ChatGPT remembers about me? > Delete saved memories in Settings, Personalization, and delete the chats they came from too, since one does not remove the other. Free 10-minute lesson. Source: https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/questions/how-to-delete-what-chatgpt-remembers-about-me · Updated 2026-10-21 · Free from Stepthrough (https://learn.ynteractive.com) By [Robert Breen](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/about) · Published October 21, 2026 · Updated October 21, 2026 · 4 min read To delete what ChatGPT remembers, open **Settings**, then **Personalization**, open your [saved memories](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/chatgpt-saved-memories) and delete the ones you do not want (or clear them all), and then delete the chats those details came from, because deleting a chat does not remove a memory and deleting a memory does not remove the chat. The free lesson [Clear Client Data Out of ChatGPT](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/how-to-delete-chatgpt-history-clear-memory) walks through each click on a practice copy, so nothing real is deleted while you learn. ChatGPT can hold your information in three places: **saved memories** (details it chose or you asked it to keep), **chat history** (every conversation in your sidebar, which it may also refer back to), and **shared links** you created. A clean-up has to cover all three. ## What are the steps? 1. **Find the chat.** In the sidebar under **Recents**, open the chat with the details. Check it is the right one. 2. **Delete it.** Click **···** at the top right, then **Delete**, then confirm with **Delete chat**. 3. **Archive what you need to keep.** For a chat you still need, choose **Archive** instead. [Archived chats](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/archived-chats) leave the sidebar but stay in **Settings**, under **Archived chats**. Archiving is not deleting. 4. **Open your saved memories.** Click your name at the bottom left, then **Settings**, then **Personalization**. Under the memory section, open the list of saved memories (the link may read **saved memories** or **Manage memories**). 5. **Delete one memory or all.** Point at a memory, click its **···** and choose **Delete**. There is also an option to clear every memory at once. 6. **Decide whether memory stays on.** In the same section you can turn off saved memories and the option that lets ChatGPT refer to [chat history](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/chat-history). Turning them off stops new memories. It does not erase old ones, so delete those first. 7. **Check shared links.** In **Data controls**, click **Manage** next to **Shared links** and delete any you no longer need. 8. **Use Temporary Chat from now on** for anything sensitive. It does not use or create memories and does not appear in your history. Setting names vary a little between plans and apps, so look for these words if a label differs. ## What about deleting all my chats? **Data controls** also has **Delete all chats**. It removes your whole history in one go and cannot be undone, so most people at work should leave it alone and delete the specific chats instead. If you want a copy of everything first, **Export data** in the same place sends you a download. Stopping your chats from being used to train models is a separate setting, **Improve the model for everyone**, also in Data controls. [How to stop ChatGPT training on your chats](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/blog/how-to-stop-chatgpt-training-on-your-chats) covers it. ## What does this look like in a real lesson? In [Clear Client Data Out of ChatGPT](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/how-to-delete-chatgpt-history-clear-memory), you play a staff accountant at a five-person CPA firm. The partner wants a client trust's details out of ChatGPT by Friday. You find the chat called "Tidy Okafor client note" in Recents, check that the client's name and account are in it, and delete it. You archive a "Q3 close checklist" chat you need to keep and find it again under Archived chats. Then you go to **Personalization**, open saved memories, find the one memory about the client and delete just that one, leaving the others. In **Data controls** you turn off **Improve the model for everyone**, see where **Export data** lives, and look at **Delete all chats** without pressing the red button. You finish by turning on Temporary Chat and copying an eight-step cleanup checklist. The companion lesson, [ChatGPT Data Controls](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/chatgpt-data-controls-protect-client-data), sets the same defaults for a whole team, including memory off on shared logins and a one-page AI policy. ## Which option should I use when? - **Delete a chat** when it holds something that should not be there. - **Delete a memory** when ChatGPT keeps bringing up a detail it should not know. - **Turn memory off** on a shared or work login where nobody should build up a profile. - **Use Temporary Chat** before you paste anything sensitive. The side-by-side comparison of [Temporary Chat vs delete chat vs memory off](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/compare/chatgpt-temporary-chat-vs-delete-chat-vs-memory-off) and the post on Temporary Chat vs memory go further. For what counts as a saved memory, see the glossary entry on [ChatGPT saved memories](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/chatgpt-saved-memories). ## What mistakes should I avoid? - **Deleting the memory but not the chat.** The details are still in the conversation. - **Thinking archive means delete.** Archived chats are kept. - **Turning memory off and assuming it is clean.** Old memories stay until you delete them. - **Clicking Delete all chats in a hurry.** Export first if you might need anything. ## Key takeaways - Saved memories, chat history and shared links are three separate places. - Delete memories in Settings, Personalization, and delete the source chats too. - Archive keeps a chat. Delete removes it. - Turning memory off stops new memories but does not erase old ones. - Use Temporary Chat for anything sensitive from now on. ## Frequently asked questions **Can I just tell ChatGPT to forget something?** Yes, you can ask it to forget a detail and it should remove the saved memory. Check the saved memories list afterwards to confirm it is gone. **Does deleting a chat delete it from OpenAI right away?** It disappears from your history straight away. OpenAI's own help pages describe how long deleted data may be kept on their side, so check them if a client asks. **Will ChatGPT still work well with memory off?** Yes. It answers each chat from what you give it. For work, a Project with instructions and files is a more reliable way to give it context than memory. ## Learn it hands-on Free, interactive lessons: you do every step yourself in a practice copy of the real tool, it checks your work as you go, and nothing touches your real accounts. - [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… (about 10 minutes) - [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): A client asks if their files go into ChatGPT. Answer with confidence: set the data controls, memory, Temporary Chat and shared links, then hand your… (about 10 minutes) [Start the free lesson](https://learn.ynteractive.com/modules/chatgpt-clear-history) ## AI tools in this answer Each one in the Stepthrough AI tools directory: what it does, who it is for and the free lesson where there is one. [ChatGPT](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/ai-tools/tool/chatgpt) [The full AI tools directory](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/ai-tools) ## Related terms Plain-English definitions, each with an example from a free lesson. [ChatGPT saved memories](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/chatgpt-saved-memories) · [Archived chats](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/archived-chats) · [Chat history](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/chat-history) · [AI incident response](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/ai-incident-response) · [AI vendor risk assessment](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/ai-vendor-risk-assessment) · [Chat export](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/chat-export) [The full AI glossary](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary) ## Related prompts - [ChatGPT memory sort prompt](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/prompts/chatgpt-memory-sort-prompt): Paste your ChatGPT saved memories and sort each one: keep it, move it to custom instructions, or delete it because it holds… - [IT incident report prompt](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/prompts/it-incident-report-prompt): A ChatGPT prompt for an IT incident report: turn your log into a timeline, what was affected, how you contained it and what is… [All free prompt templates](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/prompts) ## Related questions - [Can my employer see what I type into ChatGPT?](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/questions/can-my-employer-see-my-chatgpt): On a work ChatGPT account or a company device, assume yes. On a personal account on your own phone, usually no. How to tell… - [Can lawyers use ChatGPT without breaking their ethics rules?](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/questions/can-lawyers-use-chatgpt-ethically): Yes, if you understand the tool, protect client confidences, supervise staff, verify every citation and bill fairly. Not legal… - [How should an IT team roll out ChatGPT or Copilot to the whole company?](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/questions/how-it-teams-roll-out-ai-safely): Pick one assistant, lock down the tenant and data settings, fix oversharing, pilot with a small group, then roll out with a… - [How do I connect ChatGPT to Google Sheets?](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/questions/how-to-connect-chatgpt-to-google-sheets): Use an add-on for AI inside the sheet, or an n8n workflow that lets ChatGPT read and write rows for you. Both explained, with a… - [How do I get ChatGPT to read a PDF?](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/questions/how-to-get-chatgpt-to-read-a-pdf): Click the + in the message box, choose Add photos & files, pick the PDF and ask for answers with section or page numbers. Free… - [How do I get ChatGPT to write like me?](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/questions/how-to-get-chatgpt-to-write-like-me): Paste two or three of your real past pieces between ### lines, add "copy my style, not the facts", then give it the new job… [More questions: How do I...](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/questions/how-do-i) · [All AI questions](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/questions) · [All free tutorials](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content)