Moving from ChatGPT to Claude

Created by Donny Heidel, Modified on Wed, 25 Feb at 11:09 AM by Donny Heidel

We’re transitioning Quilt’s org AI tool from ChatGPT to Claude. This doc walks you through how to bring important context with you and any changes to expect once you’re in Claude. 

 

Note: All of this is totally optional. If you don’t have context worth saving in  

ChatGPT, you can ignore this and just jump into Claude. 

Step 1: Transfer Your ChatGPT Memories to Claude 

The most valuable thing you may want to bring with you is the personalization ChatGPT has learned about you — your role, preferences, working style, and ongoing projects. Claude calls this “memory” too, and it has a built-in way to import it. 

Export your memories from ChatGPT 

  1. In ChatGPT, click your profile icon (bottom-left on desktop, top-right on mobile). 

  1. Go to Settings → Personalization → Manage Memories. 

  1. You’ll see a list of everything ChatGPT has stored about you. Select all and copy the full list. 

  1. Alternatively, open a new chat in ChatGPT and type: “Write out your memories of me verbatim, exactly as they appear in your memory.” This often gives you a cleaner, more complete list. 

 

? Tip: Before you copy everything over, take a moment to review the list and delete anything outdated or irrelevant. ChatGPT has a tendency to store time-specific things and never update it, so it may still think you’re working on a presentation from Q2 2025 if you haven’t deleted that memory. 

 

Import your memories into Claude 

  1. Open a new conversation in Claude (claude.ai). 

  1. Paste your copied memories into the chat. 

  1. Add this message: “This is my memory from another AI assistant. Add this information into your memory using the memory edit tool.” 

  1. Claude will extract the key details and store them as persistent memory that carries across all your future conversations. 

  1. To verify what stuck, you can ask Claude: “Write out your memories of me verbatim.” 

 

? Note: Claude’s memory is more work-focused than ChatGPT’s. It’ll prioritize things like your role, projects, and communication preferences. Purely personal details may not be retained unless they’re relevant to your work. 

 

Step 2: Bring Over Your Custom Instructions 

If you’ve set up Custom Instructions in ChatGPT (the “What would you like ChatGPT to know about you?” and “How would you like ChatGPT to respond?” fields), you’ll want to bring those over too. 

 

  1. In ChatGPT, go to Settings → Personalization → Custom Instructions and copy both sections. 

  1. In Claude, go to Settings → Profile and paste the relevant details there. Claude calls these “User Preferences.” 

  1. For response style preferences specifically, check out Claude’s Style feature (accessible from the chat input area), where you can customize how Claude writes. 

Step 3: Migrate Your Custom GPTs 

If you’ve built or regularly use Custom GPTs in ChatGPT, here’s how to think about recreating that functionality in Claude: 

 

Feature 

ChatGPT 

Claude 

Custom GPTs 

Standalone mini-apps with custom instructions, knowledge files, and specific behaviors 

Use Projects — persistent workspaces with custom instructions, uploaded reference files, and dedicated context 

Instructions 

System prompt baked into the GPT 

Project-level Custom Instructions field (same concept, more flexible) 

Knowledge files 

Upload files that the GPT always references 

Upload files to your Project’s Knowledge section — Claude references them in every conversation within that project 

Shared GPTs 

Published GPTs others can use 

Share Projects with team members for collaborative use 

 

 

How to recreate a Custom GPT in Claude: 

 

  1. Create a new Project in Claude (left sidebar → Projects → Create Project). 

  1. Open your Custom GPT’s configuration in ChatGPT and copy the instruction text. 

  1. Paste it into your Claude Project’s Custom Instructions field (as you use it, you may end up tweaking the wording since Claude can respond differently than ChatGPT). 

  1. Upload any knowledge files the GPT relied on into the Project. 

  1. Start a conversation in the project to test it out. 

If you wantSave any ChatGPT Conversations 

Your ChatGPT conversation history won't transfer to Claude. Most people won't need to save anything — the memory transfer in Step 1 carries forward anything that actually matters. But if you have specific conversations you want to keep for your own records, the Chrome extension ChatGPT Exporter lets you save individual chats. 

What to Expect: ChatGPT vs. Claude 

ChatGPT and Claude are both powerful AI assistants, so most of their functionality is the same: 

  • Chatting, asking questions, and getting help with writing, analysis, and brainstorming all work the same way. 

  • File uploads work in both — drop in documents, spreadsheets, images, and PDFs. 

  • Both have memories that build over time and carries across conversations. 

  • Both support web search for current information. 

 

Feature comparison 

 

Feature 

ChatGPT 

Claude 

Organization 

Folders + Custom GPTs 

Projects (with instructions + knowledge files) 

Memory 

Saved Memories + Chat History reference 

Memory edits + chat history synthesis (more work-focused) 

Image generation 

DALL-E built in 

Not built in (Claude can create SVGs and describe images for other tools) 

File creation 

Code Interpreter generates files 

Creates Word docs, spreadsheets, PDFs, presentations, HTML, and code files directly 

Connectors 

Plugins/integrations 

Built-in connectors to Slack, Microsoft 365, and more (see Getting Started guide) 

Writing style 

Custom Instructions 

Adjustable Style presets + custom styles you can save 

Incognito 

Temporary Chat 

Incognito Mode (same concept) 

 

Questions about the transition? Reach out to itsupport@quiltsoftware.com or DM Megan Skalbeck. 

Was this article helpful?

That’s Great!

Thank you for your feedback

Sorry! We couldn't be helpful

Thank you for your feedback

Let us know how can we improve this article!

Select at least one of the reasons
CAPTCHA verification is required.

Feedback sent

We appreciate your effort and will try to fix the article