ChatGPT is no longer one screen for every kind of request. It now has several surfaces that overlap at the edges but are meant for different jobs. Chat is the quickest place for questions and drafting. Search brings current web sources into a conversation. Voice is useful when speaking is easier than typing. Projects hold related chats, files, and instructions together. Work handles longer tasks and finished deliverables. Codex is the separate option for software development.
This guide is a map, not a catalog of every button. Use it to choose a starting point, understand what context you are sharing, and know when to move to a focused guide. OpenAI changes product names, limits, and controls often. What appears in your account can depend on your plan, workspace, region, device, app version, and administrator settings.
Start with the job, not the feature list
For a quick explanation, rewrite, brainstorm, translation, or follow-up question, start in Chat. It keeps the exchange conversational and lets you refine the answer without setting up a larger workspace. A useful first prompt names the task, gives the needed context, sets constraints, and says what a finished answer should contain. For example: “Compare these two proposals for a nontechnical manager. Use a table, flag unsupported claims, and finish with three questions we should ask each vendor.” That is an example prompt, not an official command.
Choose Search when freshness matters. Choose a file or data tool when the answer depends on material you provide. Create a Project when the work will continue across several chats. Move to Work when you want a longer task carried through to a deliverable. Use Codex when the job centers on a codebase, terminal commands, tests, or a repository. This simple routing decision prevents a common mistake: expecting ordinary Chat to behave like every specialized surface at once.
Chat for fast conversational help
Chat is the general starting point. OpenAI’s ChatGPT capabilities overview lists common uses such as answering questions, explaining concepts, drafting, rewriting, summarizing, translating, and reasoning through problems. Depending on your subscription and settings, the same chat may offer tools for search, file uploads, data analysis, images, Canvas, memory, and more.
ChatGPT can still be wrong even when the prose sounds certain. Treat it as a working partner, not an authority. Ask it to separate facts from assumptions, show calculations, cite current sources when it searches, and tell you what it could not verify. For consequential medical, legal, financial, security, or workplace decisions, check the answer against the relevant professional or primary record.
Search for current, source-backed answers
Use Search for news, prices, schedules, product changes, local recommendations, and other questions that can go stale. OpenAI says ChatGPT Search may search automatically when a question would benefit from the web, or you can select Search yourself. Search answers may include inline citations and a Sources panel. Open those links. A citation proves that a page was referenced, not that the answer interpreted it correctly.
Search can rewrite a prompt into targeted queries for search providers. It may use an approximate location inferred from your IP address, and optional device location can make local results more precise. OpenAI says it does not share your IP address or ChatGPT account information with third-party search providers to run the search. If memory is enabled, relevant memories may also influence query rewriting. Review location and memory settings before asking for local or personal recommendations.
Voice for conversation, not a perfect transcript
ChatGPT Voice lets you speak and hear responses while the text remains in the chat. It works well for brainstorming, language practice, accessibility, and talking through an idea when typing would interrupt your train of thought. Available Voice experiences and controls can differ by plan, workspace, region, and app version. Some experiences can use search, memory, text, or images, while others have different input limits.
Do not treat a Voice transcript as a verbatim recording. OpenAI warns that transcripts may differ from what was said, especially with overlapping speech or background noise. Review dates, names, numbers, and commitments before relying on them. Audio and video retention and training choices also have their own controls. The ChatGPT mobile guide covers phone setup, permissions, and privacy checks in more detail.
Images, files, and data analysis
Attach an image when the question depends on something visible, such as a screenshot, chart, diagram, or photographed object. ChatGPT can analyze images and can generate or edit images when those tools are available. Give the model a precise visual job: identify the error message, compare two chart labels, extract the table, or describe which part of a layout needs revision. Avoid vague requests such as “analyze this” when accuracy matters.
Files are better for source-bound work. Upload the PDF, document, presentation, spreadsheet, or text file and state whether ChatGPT should summarize, quote, compare, extract, or calculate. For spreadsheets and structured data, data analysis can run code in a secure environment to clean, analyze, and visualize the material. Check that the correct sheet, units, date range, and missing values were used. If the document is sensitive, confirm that you are allowed to upload it and review your account or workspace controls first.
Projects for work that continues
A Project groups chats, files, and project instructions around one ongoing objective. OpenAI’s Projects guide describes them as a place for repeated or evolving work. Project instructions apply inside that project and override global custom instructions. This makes Projects a good fit for a course, research topic, client account, writing assignment, or planning effort that would otherwise be scattered across unrelated chats.
Project context is useful, but it also raises a sharing question. In a shared project, members can see project chats and files, and material added there may shape responses visible to other members. Shared projects use project-only memory and do not draw on a member’s context or memories outside the project, according to OpenAI. Before inviting anyone, remove private material that the group does not need. Our practical Projects guide covers setup and organization without repeating the full product overview here.
Memory, Custom Instructions, and privacy are separate controls
Memory can personalize later responses from context you have shared. The current OpenAI Memory FAQ describes a memory summary that updates over time and may not display every factor that influenced a response. It also documents a legacy saved-memories option. Custom Instructions are different: they are explicit directions about what ChatGPT should know and how it should respond.
Deleting a chat does not necessarily delete a saved memory created from it, and deleting a memory does not remove old mentions from past chats. For fuller removal, OpenAI advises deleting each place where the information appears, which can include chats, archived chats, files, the memory summary, and connected app data. The ChatGPT memory controls guide walks through these distinctions.
Data Controls answer another question: whether conversations help improve OpenAI’s models. Turning off “Improve the model for everyone” applies across the signed-in account, but conversations can remain in history. A Temporary Chat does not appear in history, does not create or use personalization memories, and is not used to improve models, although OpenAI may keep a copy for up to 30 days for safety. Temporary Chat can still follow enabled Custom Instructions. Data sent through a GPT action is also subject to the third party’s privacy policy.
Work and Codex solve different problems
OpenAI’s ChatGPT Work and Codex guide draws a clear boundary. Work is for longer, multi-step tasks and finished deliverables such as research, documents, spreadsheets, presentations, reports, and Sites. Codex remains dedicated to software development. It can work with repositories, local folders, terminals, tests, and developer tools. Regular Chat remains the faster conversational option.
Work is available on supported surfaces for eligible paid plans and can be controlled by workspace roles and permissions. Codex remains a separate desktop view and is not selectable as an experience on web or mobile, though supported desktop Codex chats can be accessed remotely from mobile. Do not send a general writing task to Codex merely because it can act on tools, and do not expect Chat to make repository changes just because it can explain code.
A verification habit that works across every surface
Before accepting an output, check five things. First, confirm that the response answered the task you actually set. Second, inspect cited sources and make sure they support the nearby claim. Third, recalculate important numbers or compare them with the original file. Fourth, review permissions and destinations before approving an action. Fifth, read the final artifact as a human reader would, including headings, links, dates, names, and formatting.
This habit matters more as the surface gains access to files, apps, websites, or code. A polished answer can still use the wrong source. A correct draft can still be sent to the wrong place. A passing test can still miss the user’s real requirement. Keep a human approval step wherever an error would be expensive, private, hard to reverse, or visible to other people.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best ChatGPT surface for a quick question?
Start with Chat. Move to Search if the answer needs current web information, or attach a file if the question must be answered from your own material.
Should I use a Project or start a new chat?
Use a Project when several chats should share the same files, instructions, and ongoing objective. A new standalone chat is cleaner for a one-off task that should not inherit project context.
Are Memory and model training the same setting?
No. Memory controls personalization. The “Improve the model for everyone” setting in Data Controls governs whether eligible conversations help improve models. Review both settings separately.
When should I choose Work instead of Codex?
Choose Work for longer research, analysis, and finished business or creative deliverables. Choose Codex when the task is software development involving code, repositories, commands, tests, or developer tools.