Computer History

Computer History is a feature in the ChatGPT desktop app that keeps track of which programs a user had open and which websites they visited. It's a bit like an office assistant who notices the documents spread across your desk and the chat notifications piling up. That way, when you start a new conversation, you don't have to explain from scratch what you were working on.

The feature is turned off by default and only works once a user switches it on. Once enabled, your activity builds up into a chronological list, and ChatGPT can pick up on recurring patterns in your work to suggest next steps. You can wipe the entire record at any time if you'd rather not keep it. It's convenient in that it watches your activity for you, but that's also exactly what makes some people uneasy about how much gets recorded.

Articles describe it with lines like, "OpenAI added a 'Computer History' feature to its desktop app." The name can be misleading, making it sound like a feature about PC hardware specs or the history of computing, but it actually refers to a personalization feature where ChatGPT remembers your work activity.

1. Open the ChatGPT desktop app and turn on Computer History in settings.
2. Go about your usual work, switching between apps and websites.
3. In your next conversation, ask ChatGPT to "continue what I was working on earlier."
4. Open the timeline view to see your work flow laid out in chronological order.
5. If you don't want to keep a record, select "clear all" from the menu to empty your history.