Imagine this: you ask ChatGPT to draft a blog outline. Then a script. Then rewrite a headline. By the end, you’ve got 12 different chats without a real thread tying them together.
ChatGPT Projects help knowledge workers, content creators, developers, marketers, and power users bring order and context to their workflow.
Within each project, you can set custom instructions to tailor ChatGPT’s responses specifically to the context of that project.
Thus, it lets you organize multi-step work, manage context across tasks, and make it easier to build on your ideas. In this blog post, we’ll explore ChatGPT Project features and how to use them. 📝
ChatGPT Project Features: How to Use Them (Step-by-Step Guide)
- What Are ChatGPT Projects?
- How to Start a New Project in ChatGPT?
- Features Inside ChatGPT Projects
- How to Use ChatGPT Project Features With Examples?
- Best Practices for Using ChatGPT Project Features
- ChatGPT Project Features: Roadmap and Future Updates
- Limitations of ChatGPT Projects (+ What to Watch For)
- How ClickUp Helps Manage Your Projects
Summarize this article for me please⭐️ Featured Template
The ClickUp Project Management Template offers an intuitive, streamlined approach to managing tasks, timelines, and team collaboration. Its dynamic interface lets you view project progress at a glance—whether you’re dealing with a roadmap overview, Gantt charts, or OKR boards.
Summarize this article for me pleaseWhat Are ChatGPT Projects?
ChatGPT Projects are smart workspaces within ChatGPT that allow us to create dedicated project spaces to group related files and conversations
They let you collect all related chats, files, and custom instructions for a project, making it easier to maintain context and continuity over longer tasks or collaborative work. It’s invaluable for writing, research, planning, learning, and other processes.
🔍 Did You Know? The highest cost of running ChatGPT isn’t the data, it’s electricity. Processing your queries takes a lot of GPU power. That’s why tech companies are constantly trying to make models faster and more efficient after learning about how ChatGPT works.
Summarize this article for me pleaseHow to Start a New Project in ChatGPT?
Here’s a step-by-step breakdown to help you start your first ChatGPT Project with confidence and automate tasks with AI.
Step #1: Open ChatGPT
Launch the ChatGPT desktop app or visit chat.openai.com in your browser. Ensure you’re signed in to your Plus, Pro, Team, Enterprise, or Edu account. Projects aren’t available to free users.
📖 Also Read: Free Project Management Templates
Step #2: Access the sidebar
Once you’re in, look to the left-hand sidebar. This is where your existing chats and Projects are displayed. If you’ve used folders before, Projects will show up in a similar section.
Step #3: Click the ‘+’ button
In the Projects section, click the + button; you’ll find it either next to Projects or at the top of the Projects list. This begins the process of creating a new Project space.
📮 ClickUp Insight: One in five employees says that simply knowing when decisions will be made would help them work faster. Yet, in the rush of a busy day, communicating timelines often falls through the cracks.
That’s where ClickUp Brain steps in. Acting as your AI-powered work copilot, it automatically gathers updates from tasks, threads, and docs—delivering daily digests, decision briefs, and summary comments. Here’s to never having to chase people (or information). 💨
Step #4: Name and customize your project
Give your Project a clear, descriptive name. You can also choose a color or icon to help visually differentiate it from others. This is especially helpful if you plan to create multiple Projects for different clients or workflows.
If you have chats related to this Project already, just drag and drop them into your new Project. You can also move chats later if you prefer to start fresh.
💡 Pro Tip: Click the upload icon inside the Project workspace and select related documents, PDFs, spreadsheets, images, or code snippets you want to add.
Step #5: Set project-specific instructions
Each Project can have its own custom instructions, helping ChatGPT respond with better context. Use this to clarify goals, tone, audiences, or any must-follow rules for that specific project.
Now, you’re all set. Start a new Project chat within the project or pick up from where you left off.
💡 Pro Tip: Easily organize your workspace by moving existing chats into a project. Just drag a chat onto your project from the chat list or select Move to project from the chat’s menu. The chat will inherit the project’s instructions and file context, and you can remove it at any time from the same menu.
Move an existing chat into your project
If you’ve already used ChatGPT and would like to move select chats into a project, here’s how:
- From the chat list, drag a chat onto your project, or open a chat’s menu and choose Move to project.
- After moving, the chat inherits the project’s instructions and file context.
- You can remove it later from the chat’s menu (Remove).
📚 Also Read: How to Use AI for Productivity (Use Cases & Tools)
Summarize this article for me pleaseFeatures Inside ChatGPT Projects
ChatGPT Projects are a smarter way to work on long-term, complex, or multi-layered tasks. Here are some that might come in handy:
- Group-related work: Organize your chats, files, and context inside a focused project workspace
- Tailor responses with project-specific instructions: Set custom instructions unique to each Project page so ChatGPT knows the tone, goal, and details
- Upload and reuse files across chats: Add PDFs, images, spreadsheets, code snippets, and more to your Project so you can reference or analyze them
- Run deeper research: Combine your uploaded files, instructions, and prompts with real-time data from web search to get richer, more relevant insights
- Leverage ChatGPT hands-free: Use voice mode to brainstorm, review files, or think through tasks aloud on the go
- Access control: Project owners control who can join and what level of access they have
- Team collaboration: Shared Projects let Workspace users collaborate. Team members can access chats, files, and instructions together
- Project Memory: Each project has built-in memory, letting ChatGPT remember your chats and uploaded files within just that project
🧠 Fun Fact: The ‘T’ in GPT stands for Transformer, which is the architecture that made large language models viable. Transformers were invented by Google researchers in 2017 and have since transformed everything from translation to meme generation.
💡 Pro Tip: Try the Branching Chats feature in ChatGPT. Users can open an existing chat and continue the conversation to explore a new idea without losing the original thread. For example, a data scientist might branch a teammate’s chat to test a new hypothesis while preserving the original chain of thought.
Summarize this article for me pleaseHow to Use ChatGPT Project Features With Examples?
Want to fit ChatGPT Projects into your workflow? Let’s walk through its key features with practical examples.
1. Writing and editing
ChatGPT Projects lets you store style guides, brand voice examples, and reference materials so every piece of content you write stays consistent without re-explaining your tone each time.
Here’s how it helps to ensure writing workflow automation:
- Drafts, revises, and structures long-form content like books, reports, or articles
- Tracks edits across versions and experiments with alternate drafts
- Organizes writing by chapters, sections, or themes
📌 Example Prompt: ‘Draft Chapter 1 of my science fiction novel, focusing on a dystopian cityscape’ or ‘Compare the last two versions of this executive summary and highlight what changed.’
💡 Pro Tip: Use branching to test multiple tones or endings without overwriting your best version. You can also highlight text and use inline comments to leave edit notes, reminders, or feedback loops for future sessions.
Product or marketing campaign planning
Use ChatGPT Projects to store campaign briefs, audience research, and messaging guidelines. When you’re brainstorming ad concepts or refining positioning, the AI pulls from that context instead of starting from scratch every time.
Here’s how to use ChatGPT Projects for product or marketing campaigns:
- Centralize creative briefs, personas, content calendars, and research
- Use improved Project memory to refine messaging and brainstorm across multiple chats
- Invite team members to contribute or review collaboratively
📌 Example Prompt: ‘Write a social media campaign brief for a sneaker launch targeting Gen Z’ or ‘Analyze competitor messaging and suggest three ways to differentiate.’
Learning and research
Store reading lists, course notes, and research papers in ChatGPT Projects so the AI can help you synthesize information, quiz you on concepts, or connect ideas across multiple sources.
Here’s how Projects help with this use case:
- Builds a persistent knowledge base with files, summaries, and Q&As
- Tracks your learning across weeks or months with memory
- Uses interactive quizzes or breakdowns to reinforce concepts
📌 Example Prompt: ‘Summarize the main arguments from these four economics papers’ or ‘Create a table that tracks my questions and GPT’s answers about quantum mechanics.’
🎥 Watch: The Hidden Secrets of Using AI in Project Management No One Talks About
Coding projects
Drop your project files, API docs, and style conventions into ChatGPT Projects. Now, when you ask for help debugging or building a new feature, the AI already knows how your code is structured and what patterns you follow.
Here’s what you can do with ChatGPT Projects when working on software development:
- Write, debug, and document scripts or apps across multiple files
- Use persistent context for iterative problem-solving
- Refactor confidently with AI-assisted memory and file awareness
📌 Example Prompt: ‘Generate a Python script to scrape Tweets by hashtag and export results to CSV’ or ‘Add inline documentation to all my API functions and check for security issues.’
Like a Reddit user mentioned:
🚀 Friendly Tip: Meet ClickUp Brain MAX, a powerful upgrade that unifies multiple AI tools into one centralized productivity hub.
You don’t have to toggle between Gemini, Claude, or ChatGPT anymore. Brain MAX gives you premium AI models under one roof, a space that understands your workspace in full context and connects with your external tools.
It also lets you dictate tasks by voice with Talk to Text, auto-generate reports, and trigger workflows across other tools like Google Drive and SharePoint. You can choose the best AI model for each task, from GPT-5.0 to Claude Sonnet 4.
Summarize this article for me pleaseBest Practices for Using ChatGPT Project Features
Here are some ChatGPT hacks you can employ:
- Branch for alternatives: Create new branches to explore rewrites, bold ideas, or feature forks
- Add inline comments: Leave questions, suggestions, or notes directly in your files; ChatGPT can scan and respond to them all at once
- Snapshot regularly: Save labeled versions before big rewrites or code changes to protect progress and enable quick reverts
- Structure by task type: Break work into files for drafts, research, feedback, and to-dos so the AI task manager can stay focused and organized
- Summarize key decisions: Pin a ‘Decisions Log’ at the top of files to document changes and reduce repeated discussions
- Request smart reviews: Ask ChatGPT to summarize questions, list action items, or flag inconsistencies across files
- Secure sensitive info: Adjust sharing settings to avoid exposing private data like API keys or proprietary content
- Design for handoff: Include README files or clear instructions so future collaborators can onboard with minimal effort
🔍 Did You Know? In 2023, OpenAI partnered with the Government of Iceland to help preserve the Icelandic language by training GPT models to understand it.
Summarize this article for me pleaseChatGPT Project Features: Roadmap and Future Updates
OpenAI is steadily expanding the capabilities of ChatGPT Projects. Here are some to look out for:
- It has expanded its capabilities to support up to 40 files per project, enhanced voice interactions, and integrated tools like Notion, Canva, and HubSpot
- Plus, it has expanded Projects to all ChatGPT users, allowing Free, Plus, and Pro accounts to create shared workspaces where you can invite teammates, collaborate on chats, and upload files.
- Users now have project-only memory control, which allows you to restrict whether context from other chats is accessible within a project
- Customization has also been improved: you can now choose colors and icons for each project to better organize and personalize your workspace.
OpenAI is also currently building out deep research capabilities (web search + project context) and voice interaction mode within Projects for more seamless AI collaboration. Looking ahead, OpenAI plans to introduce autonomous agents that can execute multi-step workflows within projects, such as data analysis or form completion.
🧠 Fun Fact: The training dataset for GPT models includes public web pages, books, articles, and code. However, OpenAI has never released the full list of sources, and certain sites—like Wikipedia and Stack Overflow—have pushed back against unlicensed scraping.
Summarize this article for me pleaseLimitations of ChatGPT Projects (+ What to Watch For)
While ChatGPT Projects offers strong features, it has some significant limitations that can derail your timeline and make you consider ChatGPT alternatives. Understanding these constraints will help you avoid common pitfalls:
- File upload limits: Only 40 files per project for Pro/Enterprise users (20 for Plus), and 10 files can be uploaded at a time
- Chat continuity: Previous chats in a project don’t automatically carry over context unless referenced
- Context limits: ChatGPT may lose track of long conversations or detailed project threads
- Usage caps: Message limits vary by plan; Pro and Plus users may hit session ceilings during heavy use
- Prompt sensitivity: Vague or ambiguous prompts may lead to irrelevant or off-target responses, also called hallucinations
- Data safety: OpenAI may retain uploaded data per policy, raising safety and confidentiality concerns
- Bias risk: Responses may reflect harmful, biased, or stereotypical patterns from training data
- No multitasking: The model handles one query at a time; it can’t juggle multiple threads simultaneously
👀 Did You Know: Over a three-year period, organizations using ClickUp achieved an estimated 384% return on investment (ROI), according to Forrester Research. These organizations generated about US $3.9 million in incremental revenue through projects enabled or improved by ClickUp.
Summarize this article for me pleaseHow ClickUp Helps Manage Your Projects
You might use ChatGPT Projects to plan a content campaign, but then you’re copying outputs into docs, manually creating tasks, assigning them to your team, and tracking progress in separate tools. This is what we call Work Sprawl.
The AI helps you think, but doesn’t help you execute.
ClickUp takes a different approach as the world’s first Converged AI Workspace.
ClickUp’s in-built AI assistant, ClickUp Brain, doesn’t just organize AI conversations—it connects them directly to your actual workflow. You can generate a content outline with Brain. Turn it into tasks instantly with a single prompt. Brainstorm feature ideas in the same space. Assign them to developers with full context. Link them to the project doc where decisions get made.
See how ClickUp takes AI project management automation and workflow to a new level?
A real-life user shares:
For knowledge workers and teams tired of manually bridging the gap between AI outputs and real work, here’s why ClickUp’s Project Management Software beats ChatGPT.
Projects powered by the most powerful AI
You can 10X your productivity with ClickUp Brain. The AI-powered assistant is built to help you work smarter, faster, and more connected. It lets you instantly access knowledge, manage projects, and create content under one roof.
Let’s say you’re a product manager overseeing a cross-functional launch. Just ask ClickUp Brain, ‘What’s the current status of all the employees working on the project?’ It’ll instantly summarize all relevant tasks, updates, and blockers across your workspace.
ClickUp’s AI Enterprise Search instantly pulls answers from tasks, docs, and conversations, while the Brain can handle routine updates, standups, and tracking.
Better yet, the AI collaboration tool can auto-generate a project update for your weekly stakeholder email, suggest new sub-tasks based on recent comments, or even flag overdue items.
And if that all seems too good, wait till you use Brain MAX, your AI desktop companion.
- Unified search & contextual AI: Instantly search your tasks, Docs, meetings, and other connected apps so AI understands the full scope of your work
- Talk-to‑Text productivity: Dictate ideas, meeting notes, or task updates by voice—Brain MAX converts them into polished text faster than typing
- Multi‑Model AI support: Switch between different AI models (like GPT-4.1, Claude, or Gemini) depending on your needs—without losing context
- AI‑Driven tasks: Ask Brain MAX to generate tasks, projects, or docs based on your voice or text prompts—and let it automate follow‑ups using your workspace context
With Brain MAX, you can ditch AI tool sprawl, streamline collaboration, and keep your entire team aligned.
Let agents do the repetitive work
By automating repetitive tasks, surfacing the right information at the right time, and keeping everyone aligned, ClickUp Agents free up your energy for creative, strategic, and high-impact work.
How ClickUp Agents specifically enhance project management:
- Automate project setup: Create project plans, break down deliverables, and assign owners based on your workflow
- Keep projects moving: Monitor task progress, flag blockers, and send reminders to ensure deadlines are met
- Centralize communication: Answer project-related questions, summarize updates, and post reports in channels or threads, so everyone stays aligned
- Adapt to your process: Customize Agents to trigger on key project events—like task creation, status changes, or approaching deadlines—so your workflow is always optimized
Plus, there are Prebuilt Agents like Weekly Report, Daily Report, Team StandUp, and Answers Agents, which handle updates, progress summaries, and instant Q&A in project channels with minimal setup.
For more tailored needs, Custom Agents allow you to define specific triggers, actions, and knowledge sources to fit your unique workflows.
💡 Pro Tip: Project managers spend hours in meetings, juggling updates, decisions, and follow-ups across multiple projects. ClickUp’s AI Notetaker automatically captures meeting transcripts, summarizes key points, and extracts actionable items. This way, project managers can turn discussions into tasks instantly.
Level up your task management
ClickUp Tasks helps you break down big ideas into smaller, actionable steps with due dates, assignees, priorities, and Custom Fields that reflect your unique workflow.
For instance, if you’ve outlined a product launch strategy, you can create individual tasks for landing page copy, ad creatives, email campaigns, and stakeholder reviews. Each task can be assigned to the right team member, given a clear deadline, and linked to related assets within the task management software.
To stay on top of everything, visualize these Tasks using ClickUp Views, such as Lists, Kanban Boards, Calendars, Gantt Charts, and more.
⚙️ Bonus: Compare ClickUp and ChatGPT to see how structured project management meets flexible AI assistance for faster, smarter workflows.
Want to save time on repetitive actions? Automation in ClickUp enables you to set ‘if this, then that’ triggers, conditions, and actions that run automatically.
For example, when a task status changes to ‘In Review,’ ClickUp automatically assigns it to your QA lead, sets a due date for two days later, and posts a comment tagging them.
💡 Pro Tip: With ClickUp Dashboards, you get a real-time control center to track goals, team workloads, deadlines, and project health. Customize cards to monitor task progress, sprint velocity, or overdue items so you’re always aligned with real-world deliverables.
Create, collaborate, edit in Docs
Once your ideas and project timelines are in place, use ClickUp Docs to store detailed outputs, meeting notes, briefs, and SOPs. You can co-edit with your team in real time, leave comments, embed tasks directly into your doc, and keep everything linked to your project workflows.
If you’re drafting a campaign brief, product update, or internal process documents, the Brain’s writing prowess helps you save time and sharpen your message. Just type out a rough thought and ask the AI to rewrite, expand, or summarize it.
Let’s say you’re preparing a quarterly roadmap announcement. You can start with a bullet list of updates, then ask the AI to turn it into a clear, professional message, with the right tone and structure for your audience.
Integrate ClickUp with your existing tech stack
With integrations for platforms like Google Drive, SharePoint, Figma, Jira, GitLab, and time tracking apps, ClickUp enables you to attach files, sync tasks, embed designs, and manage issues—all without leaving your project hub.
For project managers, these integrations translate to real-time visibility and control over every aspect of a project.
For example, imagine a product launch project where your marketing, design, and development teams all work in different tools. With ClickUp integrations, your designer can embed Figma prototypes directly into ClickUp tasks, enabling marketers and developers to review and comment on them without leaving the workspace.
At the same time, you can sync tasks with Jira so that any updates from the development team are instantly reflected in ClickUp.
This unified approach keeps all project assets, feedback, and progress updates in one place, making project delivery more efficient.
Summarize this article for me pleaseFrom Project Planning to Execution With ClickUp
ChatGPT Projects are a great launchpad for ideation, creative briefs, research organization, and collaborative planning with AI. But to turn those thoughts into structured ideas is where you’ll need ClickUp.
With AI-powered task management, real-time dashboards, collaborative Docs, and customizable workflows, the platform helps you ship ahead of time.
So, what are you waiting for? Sign up to ClickUp for free today! ✅
Everything you need to stay organized and get work done.
