How To Delete Your ChatGPT History and Account

Deleting a chat can feel like a clean slate, but ChatGPT also stores other data about you. Archived chats, your image library, saved memories, and your training permission are all separate things to consider.

This guide walks you through accessing your saved ChatGPT data, explains what deleting actually does, and covers the full account deletion process if you want to remove your ChatGPT account altogether.

How to delete your ChatGPT history

Whether you're looking to delete your ChatGPT chat history or just hide it from your regular sidebar, here's how to delete or archive a chat.

Delete a single chat

1. Hover over the chat you want to delete, then click the three horizontal dots on the right.
2. Select Delete.
3. Click Delete to confirm deletion.

Delete all your chats at once

1. Click on your profile on the bottom left.
2. Select Settings.
3. Choose Data controls on the left-hand menu.
4. Click Delete all under "Delete all chats."
5. Hit Confirm deletion to verify you want to delete all your chats.

Archive a chat instead of deleting it

Archiving a chat removes it from your regular sidebar and keeps it in an archived folder. You'll still have access to it under the "Archived chats" tab under Data controls. You can reactivate these chats anytime.

1. Click on your profile in the bottom left.
2. Select Settings.
3. Choose Data controls on the left-hand menu.
4. Click Archive all under "Archive all chats."
5. Hit Confirm archive to verify you want to archive all your chats.

How to delete images from your ChatGPT library

Deleting a chat generally removes images generated in that conversation from My images. However, files — including some generated images — may also be saved separately in ChatGPT’s Library. If an image remains in the Library, users must delete that copy separately.

For instance, I asked ChatGPT to make a map of NYC highlighting the top 10 most visited sites. Even though I deleted the chat, the image I made was still in the ChatGPT Library.

Here's how to delete images from your ChatGPT Library:

1. Select Library from the main left-hand menu.
2. Click on Images in the top menu.
3. Choose the images you want to delete by clicking on the circle in the bottom right corner of the image.
4. Select Delete.
5. Choose Delete to confirm deletion.

You can also delete individual images by:

1. Hover over the image and select the three horizontal dots in the upper right corner.
2. Choose Delete.
3. Click Delete to confirm deletion.

How to delete your ChatGPT account

If you want to delete your entire account, follow these steps:

1. Click on your profile in the bottom right corner.
2. Select Settings.
3. Choose Account in the left-hand menu.
4. Under Delete account, click Delete.
5. Enter your account email address and type DELETE.
6. Click Permanently delete my account.

Deleting your ChatGPT account means you won't be able to access your chats. Some other consequences of deleting your ChatGPT account include:

• Can't create an account with the associated email address or phone number for 30 days after deletion. Creating a new account with the same credentials won't restore access to your chats.
• Deleting an account doesn't cancel your subscription if you paid through the Apple App Store or Google Play. Double-check that you've canceled your subscription before deleting your account.
• Deleting chats and your account is permanent. You can't undo the action once you've confirmed deletion.

Settings that keep collecting after you delete ChatGPT

OpenAI uses your conversations to improve its models unless you disable it.

Turn off and clear saved memories

ChatGPT creates memories from chat history, files, and connected apps. These memories help ChatGPT create personalized responses. Deleting a chat may delete a specific memory, but it won't delete all memories. You need to delete the memory from sources like:

• Memory summary
• Regular and archived chats
• Library files
• Connected apps

Here's how to manage and turn off Memory:

1. Click on your profile in the bottom right corner.
2. Select Personalization.
3. Toggle off Enable memory to stop ChatGPT from creating memories.
4. Under "Memory summary," select Manage.
5. Add, update, or delete stored memories.

Turn off model training

OpenAI may use your content to train models. Model training is automatically enabled, but you can choose to opt out. Once you opt out, new chats aren't used to teach the model. Here's how to turn off model training:

1. Click on your profile in the bottom right corner.
2. Select Settings.
3. Choose Data controls in the left-hand menu.
4. Click on Improve the model for everyone.
5. Toggle off to stop model training with your content.

Use Temporary Chat

Temporary chats are like Chrome's incognito mode. These chats don't get saved in your regular history, don't create new memories, and aren't used to improve OpenAI.

Even if you let the temporary chat reference your memories, it won't store the chat. The only way to save a temporary chat is to convert it into a regular chat. From there, your normal settings will apply to the chat.

Temporary chats are a good option if you don't want to save the chat in your regular history.

What OpenAI keeps after you delete

OpenAI's data retention policy claims that it will permanently delete data within 30 days after a user confirms deletion. This covers chats, accounts, and temporary chats.

However, that doesn't mean all your data gets scrubbed. The privacy policy also mentions retaining data required or permitted by law.

This is how, in January, 2026, a federal judge upheld an order requiring OpenAI to provide about 20 million historical ChatGPT conversations as part of a copyright lawsuit brought by The New York Times and other publishers.

The conversations have personal information removed or masked, and the parties involved in the case are sharing them under a protective order. It lets the plaintiffs determine if ChatGPT conversations are relevant to their copyright claims.

Plaintiffs don't get general access to users' ChatGPT histories, and the records aren't being made public. Still, it does show that ChatGPT retained "tens of billions" of chat logs.

Bottom line

To delete your ChatGPT history, you'll need to do more than delete individual chats. You'll also need to remove images from the Library, clear your memories, and turn off AI training and memory creation.

You should also know what each setting does and customize it to your preferences. This is the best way to keep ChatGPT conversations safe and used in the way you approve of.

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