Kortex
Add to Chrome
Kortex
Add to Chrome, it's free

How to keep your ChatGPT chat history if chats are deleted

2 minutes 6 steps Updated

Quick answer

Install Kortex and click Keep my chats in my Library. Kortex saves each ChatGPT chat on your computer, and a chat you later delete on ChatGPT stays in your Library. It only keeps chats it saved before they were deleted, so turn saving on now.

Watch it first

How to save your ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini chats on your computer (Kortex Chat Library)
Read the transcript

Kortex, for Gemini Notebook, formerly NotebookLM, also keeps your AI chats in a Library on your computer. Here's how saving works. Nothing is saved until you say so.

Kortex asks once. Click Keep my chats in my Library. From then on, ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Grok save in the background every few minutes.

Perplexity saves while a Perplexity tab is open. Kortex reads each site's newest 500 chats. To check on saving, open the side panel's Chats tab and click the gear.

Saving your chats shows each site and how many chats it saved. A site's switch pauses just that site. On the AI site itself, the Kortex tab on the right edge holds the chat's folder, tags, your note and your pins.

Your chats stay on this computer. When you do send chat text, say to another AI, the Library's Privacy view lists it, without keeping the text. Say yes once, and every chat stays one search away.

  1. Turn on saving before you need it

    Kortex can only keep what it has saved. When it asks Keep your AI chats in your Library?, click Keep my chats in my Library. Saving starts at once for chats you have now, and for new ones.

    The Kortex notice Keep your AI chats in your Library on a ChatGPT page, with the buttons Keep my chats in my Library and Don't save my chats.
    The notice Kortex shows before it saves a single chat.

  2. See how many ChatGPT chats are saved

    Open the side panel's Chats tab and click the gear to open Saving your chats. The ChatGPT row says how many chats are saved and when Kortex last checked. Kortex reads ChatGPT's newest 500 chats.

    The Saving your chats sheet with the ChatGPT row showing 11 chats saved and up to date, beside rows for Claude, Gemini, Perplexity and Grok.
    Each site says what saving is doing, with its own switch.

  3. Find a chat that is gone from ChatGPT

    Open the Library from the Chats tab and search for a word from the chat. A chat you deleted on ChatGPT is still listed in All chats. Open it to read the full conversation, even offline.

    The Library's All chats view with a list of saved chats by day and one chat open in the reader, showing every message of the conversation.
    All chats lists every saved chat by day. Open one to read it in full beside the list.

  4. Download a copy as a file

    For a copy outside Chrome, open the chat, click ⋯ and choose Download as Markdown or Download as PDF. The file goes to your downloads folder, so you keep it even if you later clear the Library.

    A chat's menu open in the Library reader, listing Copy chat, Download as Markdown, Download as PDF, Open in Google Docs, Save to Notion and Delete from Library.
    Save to Notion sits in every chat’s menu.

  5. Bring in older chats from ChatGPT's export file

    To add chats from before you installed Kortex, download your data from ChatGPT: Settings, Data controls, Export data, then Confirm export. In the Library, open ⋯ on All chats, choose Add older chats from export files…, pick ChatGPT and click Choose the file.

  6. Remove a chat only when you mean to

    Deleting on ChatGPT does not touch your Library. To remove a chat from Kortex too, open ⋯ on the chat and choose Delete from Library…. Undo brings it back right after. Archive hides a chat without deleting it.

If it doesn’t work

The deleted chat is not in my Library
Kortex can only keep chats it saved before the delete. If saving was off, or the chat was gone before you installed Kortex, it is not there. An export file you downloaded earlier may still hold it.
ChatGPT's history disappeared but the Library shows nothing
Open Saving your chats and check that the main switch and the ChatGPT switch are on. If both are on and the count is 0, open chatgpt.com once while signed in, then check again in a few minutes.
I deleted the chat from the Library by mistake
Click Undo right after. It brings the chat back with its name, folder, tags, note, pins and highlights. Later, you can add it again from an export file.

Questions people ask

Something we missed? Ask us.

Does Kortex keep a chat after I delete it on ChatGPT?

Yes, if Kortex saved it first. A chat you delete on its site stays in your Library until you use Delete from Library.

How often does Kortex save new ChatGPT chats?

Every few minutes in the background while Chrome is open and you are signed in to ChatGPT. No ChatGPT tab has to stay open.

Where is the copy stored?

On your computer, in a database inside Chrome. Nothing is sent anywhere unless you send it. Delete from Library wipes the chat's text from the database file, not just hides it.

Does this work for Claude, Gemini, Perplexity and Grok chats too?

Yes. A chat you delete on any of those sites also stays in your Library if Kortex saved it. Perplexity saves only while a Perplexity tab is open.

Does it work on a phone?

Kortex keeps your chats in Chrome on your computer. The Kortex docs describe the Library only on a computer.

Keep going

Chat Library Keep your AI chats on your computer and search them, next to your YouTube videos and notebooks. Kortex docs The full reference for this feature, with every option.

More tutorials

All tutorials

Do it on your own notebooks.

Install the Kortex extension and follow these steps on a notebook you already have.

Add to Chrome

100,000+ users, rated 4.5 on the Chrome Web Store.

Talk to the Kortex team

This opens a pre-filled email in Gmail. We usually reply within a day.