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How to use Claude memory and search past chats

Claude can look back through your earlier conversations and keep a running memory of your work, so you don't have to re-explain yourself. Here's how to switch both on, check what's saved and keep private things out.

Updated 18 October 2026

These steps were checked against Anthropic's help pages on 18 October 2026. Anthropic has recently moved most accounts to a new memory experience, so menus may keep shifting.

Search your past chats

You don't need to open anything special: just ask Claude, in a chat, about something you discussed before.

1. Check that you're on a paid plan (Pro, Max, Team or Enterprise). Search works on the web, Claude Desktop and the mobile apps.
2. Open Settings > Memory and make sure Search and reference chats is on. Once the feature reaches your account it's on by default.
3. In a chat, ask plainly, for example: "Find our conversation about the office move" or "Pick up where we left off on the pricing page."
4. Watch for the tool call in the chat. That's Claude searching your history. Its answer includes citations that link back to the original chats.

Where you ask matters. From a chat outside any project, Claude searches all your chats that aren't in a project. From inside a project, it only searches that project's chats.

Turn memory on, pause it or reset it

1. Go to Settings > Memory.
2. Switch on Generate memory from chats. On Free, Pro and Max it's already on by default. On Team and Enterprise it starts off for each member, and an owner has to allow it first.
3. To stop it, click the same switch and choose one of two options:
   • Pause memory keeps what's saved but stops Claude from using it or adding to it. Chats you have while paused are never added later.
   • Reset memory erases everything, project memories included. You confirm with Reset memory, and it can't be undone.

Claude saves memory as separate topics while you talk, rather than writing a summary afterwards. You can also say "remember this" to save something on the spot. Projects keep their own memory: inside a project, Claude combines that project's memory with your general memory, but never pulls in another project's. To seal a project off entirely, turn off Use account memory under Memory on the project page. Our guide to Claude Projects covers the rest of the project setup.

See, edit and delete what Claude remembers

1. Open Settings > Memory and look under Topics.
2. Click a topic to read it.
3. Use the edit icon to correct it, or choose Delete to remove it. Edits apply to every conversation from then on.

You can do the same from a chat: tell Claude what to remember, change or forget, and the change shows up in your next conversation.

Keep a single chat out of memory

You have two options, and they behave differently.

• Memory off for one chat. In a new chat, click + in the message box and click Memory to turn it off (on mobile, turn off the Memory switch). Do it before sending anything, because the setting locks with the first message. Claude won't use or add to memory there and won't search your past chats from it. The chat still stays in your history, and other chats can still find it. A crossed-out memory icon next to the title shows it's off. This works inside projects too.
• Incognito chat. Start a new chat outside a project and click the ghost icon in the top right. The chat isn't saved to your history or to memory, Claude can't find it later when searching, and it can't be reopened once you close it with the x.

Good to know

• Sensitive topics are skipped by default. Claude doesn't save things like health, religion, politics or gender identity unless you turn on Include sensitive topics in memory in Settings > Memory. It only saves them from that point on, and turning the setting off removes what it saved.
• Some details are never saved. Government ID numbers, financial account numbers, criminal history and immigration status stay out even if you ask, and Claude tells you so.
• Deleting a chat doesn't erase its memory. Memory entries outlive the chat they came from, so delete the topic itself if it matters.
• Exports include memory. All memory data is part of your data export. If you want a copy, our guide on exporting Claude data walks through it.
• Incognito isn't invisible at work. On Team and Enterprise, incognito chats are kept for at least 30 days and appear in the organization's data exports.
• Memory follows you into Cowork in the cloud. Tasks run there share memory with your chats. Cowork sessions running locally on your computer don't use it.

If it doesn't work

• Claude says it can't look at earlier chats. Search needs a paid plan, and the Search and reference chats switch has to be on. Also check where you're asking: inside a project, Claude only sees that project's chats.
• There's no Memory option in the + menu. It only appears when memory is on for your account and your plan includes it. It never shows in incognito chats.
• Your settings don't match these steps. If you see the switches under Settings > Capabilities rather than Settings > Memory, your organization still has the older memory system. There, Search and reference chats sits in the Preferences section, and memory has its own switch on the same page.
• Memory or search isn't available at work. An owner has to turn memory on in Organization settings > Capabilities. Memory isn't offered to organizations with HIPAA, public-sector or custom data retention agreements, and past-chat search doesn't work where Enterprise uses customer-managed encryption keys.

Remembering what you decided to do

Memory helps Claude recall context, but it won't tell you which suggestions you've already acted on. Workbranch is a separate AI workspace, with answers from Google Gemini, that turns each answer into a point-by-point checklist with progress, flags and due dates, and finds any chat again with ⌘K search. It has a 3-day free trial.

Sources

• Use Claude's chat search and memory to build on previous context (Claude Help Center, checked 18 October 2026)
• Use incognito chats (Claude Help Center, checked 18 October 2026)

Frequently asked questions