Let’s talk about Projects — ChatGPT’s surprisingly powerful feature that’s somehow both a filing cabinet and a hyperactive idea hamster.
If you’ve ever tried to organize your thoughts across multiple chats, tabs, sticky notes, Google Docs, and that one cryptic text message you sent to yourself at 3:12am… you’re going to love this. Projects turns your chaotic creativity into a structured creative storm. Like a whiteboard, but without the dried-out marker smell.
So, What Is Project?
In ChatGPT, a “Project” is like a mega-chat. A superthread. A unified place where your files, messages, images, code, outlines, and possibly your sense of identity can live happily together. It’s like giving your work its own little Airbnb — with amenities like long-term memory, file search, and side-by-side tools. Except you don’t have to pay a cleaning fee.
You can start a new Project from the left-hand menu. Give it a name, toss in your files, and boom: you’ve got a workspace that remembers what you’re doing, and doesn’t get distracted by unrelated conversations about whether pickles count as a personality.
Why It’s Great (and a little terrifying)
- Persistent memory
Unlike a regular chat that has the memory of a goldfish with commitment issues, Projects remember everything within that workspace. Ask about that image you uploaded last week? It’s still there. Refer to a weird joke you made in message #4? It knows. It knows. - File search that doesn’t suck
You can upload PDFs, docs, images, and more. Then search inside them like you’re a data detective who actually knows where they left their magnifying glass. Example: “Find the chart in the Q2 report about turnip pricing” — and it does. Without sighing. - Side-by-side tools
Projects give you that lovely canvas view — one side for chatting, the other for docs or code. So now you can edit a piece of writing, review a spreadsheet, and have an existential crisis all at once. Efficiency! - It’s like Notion, but caffeinated
If Notion is a calm librarian with glasses, Projects is that librarian’s extroverted cousin who shows up with markers, diagrams, and a solution to your productivity rut.
Pro Tips from Someone Who Tried to Abuse It Immediately
- Use short names. You’ll regret “BlogSeries_2025_Misc_Final2_OK_ActuallyFinal” once you try to reopen it in a hurry.
- Upload all your mess. Don’t overthink it. Drop in your half-baked outlines, old slides, and that one PDF titled “DO_NOT_OPEN”.
- Create separate projects for different vibes. Coding in one, art stuff in another, weird startup pitch about goat-powered scooters in a third. Keeps the energy clean.
- It’s collaborative (sorta). While Projects don’t yet allow sharing with others like Google Docs, rumor has it features like this are on the roadmap. Until then, you can export chunks to share.
Where Do I Get This Magical Feature?
Projects are available in ChatGPT for users on the Pro plan using GPT-4-turbo. You can find it here:
https://chat.openai.com
Look for the Projects tab on the left-hand side once you’re in.
Should You Be Using Projects?
Yes. Especially if:
- You write.
- You code.
- You make lists of lists.
- You forget what you were doing mid-task.
- You once started writing a novel and accidentally invented a new kind of spreadsheet.
In other words: yes.
One Warning: It’s Addictively Organized
You might wake up one day with Projects for everything: vacation planning, grocery lists, haiku experiments, fan fiction about your Roomba, even a Project to organize your Projects. Embrace it. You’re not overthinking — it’s structured enthusiasm.
Got questions? Using Projects in weird ways? Drop a comment!
Enjoyed the chaos? Follow me for more. I promise only some of it will be about turnips.
Art Prompt:
A misty riverbank at dawn, where the water reflects lavender and rose hues from the sky, bathed in soft morning light. Figures stroll gently along the bank in loose, dappled brush strokes, their forms blending into the pastel scenery. Trees sway with blurred green foliage, and the distant background dissolves into a dreamy haze. The entire scene is rendered with the airy elegance and warmth of Claude Monet’s impressionist palette, evoking a mood of calm serenity and fleeting beauty.