ChatGPT Work
Set Up ChatGPT Work Properly
A practical setup checklist, a better way to brief Work and one starter prompt you can adapt for your first real project.
Back to resourcesDo not test ChatGPT Work with an abstract question. Set it up around one small but useful project with a clear outcome.
Set Up ChatGPT Work Properly
Step 1: Update The ChatGPT Desktop App
Update the app, sign in and use the mode switcher to select Work.
Step 2: Review Your Memory Settings
Go to Settings → Personalization → Memory. Memory can help ChatGPT retain useful information about how you work, but it is not required. Decide what you are comfortable allowing ChatGPT to remember.
Step 3: Connect Only The Tools You Need
Open Settings → Plugins or the Plugins entry in the sidebar. Start with one or two tools connected to a specific workflow.
Before connecting anything, check what it can access, whether it can make changes, which account you are connecting, whether your organisation allows it and whether the connection is still necessary.
Step 4: Add Useful Working Context
Provide your role, priorities, audience, writing preferences, brand guide, templates, preferred report structure and approval requirements. Work is more useful when the context reflects the way you actually operate.
Step 5: Set Up Computer Use
Click your name, then go to Settings → Computer Use in the left-hand menu.
Here you can select the exact apps you want ChatGPT to use. This allows Work to use other applications on your computer and get work done for you.
Only enable the apps needed for the work you want ChatGPT to complete. Review what each app can access before giving permission.
Step 6: Begin With One Real Project
Try a content plan, tool comparison, report-to-presentation conversion, job-listing tracker, weekly project update or spreadsheet-to-dashboard project.
Personal Context Interview Prompt
Start a new chat and paste in this prompt. ChatGPT will interview you about your work, preferences and goals, then help you decide which details are useful to save as memories.
I want you to understand who I am, what I do and how I want to use ChatGPT.
Interview me one question at a time. Ask about:
- My background, experience and current work
- My business, role or career direction
- My audience, customers or the people I support
- My current goals and priorities
- The projects and tasks I regularly work on
- The tools and systems I use
- My strengths, preferences and working style
- How I like information explained and presented
- My writing voice and communication style
- The areas where I want ChatGPT’s help
- Anything you should avoid doing when helping me
Ask useful follow-up questions when an answer needs more detail. Do not assume or invent information.
Once the interview is complete:
1. Summarise what you have learned under clear headings.
2. Identify any missing information that would help you support me.
3. Ask me to correct or approve the summary.
4. After I approve it, tell me which details are appropriate to save as memories.
5. Ask for my permission before saving them.
Do not ask me to share passwords, financial account details, confidential client information or other sensitive data.
Start with your first question.A Better Way To Brief ChatGPT Work
Define the outcome instead of dictating every individual action.
Outcome
What needs to exist when the work is finished?
Context
What does ChatGPT need to understand about the project, business or audience?
Sources
Which files, apps, plugins or websites should it use?
Requirements
What must the result include or avoid?
Review points
Which decisions should ChatGPT bring back to you before continuing?
Final format
Do you need a document, presentation, spreadsheet, dashboard, Site or combination of outputs?
ChatGPT Work Starter Prompt
Copy and adapt this prompt for your first project:
I need you to help me complete the following project:
OUTCOME
[Describe what you need finished.]
CONTEXT
[Explain the background, audience and why this work matters.]
USE THESE SOURCES
[List the files, tools, apps or websites ChatGPT should use.]
REQUIREMENTS
[List what the finished work must include.]
AVOID
[List anything you do not want.]
FINAL FORMAT
[Document, presentation, spreadsheet, Site or another format.]
Before beginning, review the available context and identify anything important that is missing. Then propose a step-by-step plan for my approval. Tell me which assumptions you are making and which decisions require my input. Once the plan is approved, complete the work and run a final quality check against the requirements.Before You Approve The Finished Work
Polished does not automatically mean correct. Check:
- Are the facts accurate?
- Do the links open and support the claims?
- Are calculations correct?
- Did it use the latest version of each file?
- Does the output follow your actual template?
- Has it invented missing information?
- Does anything need legal, financial or specialist review?
- Has it taken an action you did not intend?
- Is confidential information included unnecessarily?
- Would you be comfortable sending this under your name?
AI can complete more of the process. Responsibility for the final result still sits with you.
The Real Shift
Chat answers. Work gathers context, plans and acts. Codex builds when the project becomes technical. Sites turns the result into something interactive and shareable.
The opportunity is not to remove yourself from the work. It is to spend less time moving information between tools, rebuilding documents and turning disconnected AI-generated pieces into a finished project.
Continue The ChatGPT Work Series
Read the complete beginner's guide, explore six practical things you can create with Work, or use the Sol, Terra and Luna guide to choose the right model for your first project.