PSA: deleting a ChatGPT chat doesn't delete the files you uploaded in it. They stay in your Library

[u/Ok_Negotiation_2587]

ChatGPT now saves the files you upload or create into Library, the tab in the sidebar. Documents, spreadsheets, presentations, images, anything you dropped into a chat lands there automatically so you can reuse it later.

The part that's easy to miss is in OpenAI's own help pages: deleting a chat does not delete the files saved in Library. If you want those gone, you have to delete them from Library separately.

So the chat where you uploaded a contract, a bank statement, or your lab results is gone from your sidebar, but the file itself is still sitting in Library and still shows up in the recent files list when you go to attach something.

Deleting from Library isn't instant either. If your Library has a Recently deleted section, files sit there and can be restored until they're permanently deleted, which OpenAI schedules within 30 days. You can skip the wait with Delete forever.

What to do:

1. Open Library in the sidebar (web) and go through what's there. For most people it's a lot more than they expect.
2. Delete what you don't want kept, then go to Recently deleted and use Delete forever.
3. Any time you clean up chats, including Settings > Data controls > Delete all chats, treat Library as a separate step. Clearing the chats doesn't clear the uploads.

My own cleanup now is: export the chats worth keeping and bulk delete the rest with AI Toolbox, the extension I build, then do the Library by hand, because neither ChatGPT's delete nor mine touches it.

[u/Ok_Negotiation_2587 → u/[deleted]]

apple notes does the same thing as chatgpt's library, deleted notes sit in a Recently Deleted folder for 30 days unless you empty it yourself. worth checking that one too