Note: Data retention for certain services may be affected by recent legal developments – please see our blog post for more details.
Deleting Chats
How to delete a chat
Go to your ChatGPT chat history sidebar.
Hover over the conversation you want to delete.
Click the three dots (
⋯) next to the chat title.Select Delete from the menu.
Confirm your deletion when prompted.
What happens when you delete a chat?
The chat is immediately removed from your chat history view.
It is scheduled for permanent deletion from OpenAI's systems within 30 days, unless:
It has already been de-identified and disassociated from your account, or
OpenAI must retain it for security or legal obligations.
You cannot recover a chat once it’s deleted. Deleted chats are not retrievable through the UI, APIs, or support.
Archiving Chats
How to archive a chat
Go to your ChatGPT chat history sidebar.
Hover over the conversation you want to delete.
Click the three dots (
⋯) next to the chat title.Select Archive from the menu. No confirmation is required.
How to manage archived chats
Go to Settings > Data controls, then click the the Manage button to the right of Archived Chats.
From there, you can:
Unarchive a chat (return it to your active history).
Delete an archived chat (permanently schedule it for deletion).
Tip: Archiving is ideal when you want to hide clutter without losing important conversations.
Options for deleting or archiving all chats
Settings > Data controls contains options to archive or delete all chats at one time.
Note that these actions will apply to all conversations, including those contained within projects.
Retention Overview
Chats you keep (unarchived or archived) are saved in your account until you delete them.
Deleted chats are removed from your view immediately and permanently deleted from OpenAI’s systems within 30 days, unless de-identification or legal exceptions apply.
Archived chats remain in your account under your standard retention settings — archiving does not delete them.
If you archive a conversation that used connected app data:
The conversation remains stored in your account.
Any connected app data referenced in that conversation also remains stored.
To remove both the conversation and any connected app data used within it, you must delete the conversation.
Disconnecting an app will stop future access to that data, but does not delete conversations that already used it.
📚 For a detailed explanation of chat and file retention policies, see Chat and File Retention Policies in ChatGPT
What happens to connected app data when I delete a chat?
If you’ve connected apps such as Google Drive, Gmail, or Calendar, ChatGPT may use synced app data to help generate responses in your conversations and provide helpful information to you.
Deleting a chat removes both:
the conversation itself, and
any synced app data retained within that conversation
from your account, subject to our standard retention and legal obligations.
Does deleting a chat delete synced data from connected apps?
Deleting a conversation deletes any connected app data that was retained within that conversation.
Disconnecting an app:
prevents ChatGPT from accessing new data from that app,
but does not delete past conversations that used that data.
To remove connected app data from your account, delete any conversations that referenced it.
Troubleshooting missing chats
If your chat history appears empty or conversations are missing, the steps below resolve most issues before you need to contact Support.
Make sure you’re signed into the correct OpenAI account or workspace (including the right email, SSO method, or team).
Open Settings > Data controls and check Archived Chats — the conversation may have been archived rather than deleted.
Confirm the Chat history & training toggle in Settings is turned on.
Refresh the page or sign out and back in to reload your history.
Check status.openai.com for any active incidents that might hide chat history.
Request a data export via Settings > Data controls to confirm which chats are still stored in your account.
Deleted chats (including those removed with Delete all chats) cannot be restored.
When you contact Support, include your account email and sign-in method, workspace or organization name (if applicable), approximate time frames of the missing conversations, and confirm which of the above checks you’ve already completed.