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Test version · build of 28.10.26 · prototypes · direction note

Tested on 28.10.26

ChatGPT, the chat

Never opened ChatGPT? In 5 minutes, you have a free account and your first real answer. Fine-tuning comes later, if you want it.

When you finishA free ChatGPT account, a real text from your week sorted out with it, and the few settings that save you from bad surprises.

Let’s go
What you need (3)
  • An email address, or a Google, Microsoft or Apple account.
  • A computer or a phone.
  • $0: the whole guide works on the free plan.
  • Level 0 · I know nothing
  • 5 min
  • Free: Yes
  • 9 steps
My mascot on a couch, writing to ChatGPT on its phone

Chapter 01 / 06 · 3 min

Create your free account

ChatGPT is a messaging app where you write to an AI. You type, it answers. The free account is enough for this whole guide. With an account, your conversations follow you on your computer and your phone.

  1. Step 1.1: Go to chatgpt.com, or install the ChatGPT app on your phone.
  2. Step 1.2: Click "Sign up".
  3. Step 1.3: Choose "Continue with Google": one less password to remember.
  4. Step 1.4: Answer the last questions on screen, like your first name. You're set.
Plan BIf you get stuck

Signed up with an email address and the confirmation isn't coming? Check your spam. Otherwise, start again with "Continue with Google": no email to wait for.

Chapter 02 / 06 · 2 min

Type your first request

At the bottom of the screen, there's a big text box. That's where it happens. No magic formula, write the way you'd talk to someone very well informed who doesn't know you.

Your very first request
I'm just discovering ChatGPT. Explain in 5 lines what you can help me with this week, then ask me one question to get to know me better.

Got an answer? Reply to it, like a real conversation. That's the whole idea.

Don't ask it riddles: give it material.

Weak

Write an email for my client.

Better

Write an email for my client who has been waiting two weeks for his invoice. I apologize for the delay, I offer a transfer before Friday, polite tone but not grovelling.

Chapter 03 / 06 · 2 min

Find the 5 useful spots

No need to understand everything. These five are enough to get started.

ChatGPT+ New chat1Projects32You+4Ask anything●5
  1. New chat: a blank page.
  2. History: your conversations, to reopen whenever you want.
  3. Projects: one folder per topic, with its files.
  4. The +: attach a photo, a PDF, a spreadsheet.
  5. The mic: you talk instead of typing.

Chapter 04 / 06 · 7 min

Do your first real task

Pick a real thing from your week: an annoying email, a delicate message, a text that's too long. The test is that you'd actually send it.

Your first task
Here is [paste your text, or attach the file]. It's for [who], because [why]. Give me a version ready to send, then tell me what you changed and why.

Read its version. Doesn't sound like you? Tell it: "Shorter, more direct, I never say Dear Sir." It fixes it.

Chapter 05 / 06 · 5 min

Set it up so it knows you (5 min, whenever you want)

You don't need this chapter to get started. But two settings, and its answers are about you, not about a stranger.

  1. Step 5.1: Click your name or photo, then "Settings".
  2. Step 5.2: Open the "Personalization" tab.
  3. Step 5.3: In a new conversation, paste the prompt below and answer its questions.
  4. Step 5.4: Copy the text it writes for you into "Custom instructions", and save.
  5. Step 5.5: In the same tab, see whether "Memory" is turned on.
ChatGPT+ New chatProjectsYou1+Ask anything●Upgrade planSettings2HelpLog out
  1. Your name or photo, in the corner of the menu.
  2. "Settings".
ChatGPTSettingsGeneralNotificationsPersonalization1Data controlsSecurityCustom instructions2Memory
  1. The "Personalization" tab.
  2. The "Custom instructions".
To paste into a new conversation
Ask me 10 questions, one at a time, to find out who I am, what I do, and how I want you to answer me (length, tone, what I never want to read). Then write a 10-line text that introduces me, ready to paste into my settings.
Plan BIf you get stuck

Can't find "Custom instructions"? Menus move around from one version to the next. Ask it: "Where do I set my custom instructions?". It will guide you.

Chapter 06 / 06 · 3 min

Keep these habits

  • Check the numbers. It sometimes makes things up, with the same confidence as when it's right. A date, an amount, a law: check elsewhere.
  • Never a password. No card code, no access key in a conversation.
  • Choose what it learns from you. In "Settings", "Data controls", "Improve the model for everyone" is on by default on a personal account (Free, Plus, Pro). You can turn it off and keep your history.
  • For a private topic, start a "Temporary chat": it doesn't show up in your history, doesn't create memories and isn't used to train the model. OpenAI may keep a copy for up to 30 days for safety.

The cheat sheet

The whole guide in 7 lines

Copy it into your notes.

Cheat sheet · ChatGPT, the chat
1. Account: chatgpt.com, "Continue with Google", you're set. Free.
2. First request: say who you are, what you want, who it's for. No riddles.
3. On the left: new chat, history, Projects. At the bottom: the + and the mic.
4. A real task = your text + who it's for + why + the result you want.
5. Your name > Settings > Personalization: custom instructions and Memory.
6. Check the numbers, never a password, Temporary chat for private stuff.
7. Text is unlimited on free. Files, images and voice have a quota that resets.
Next guide · level 0Claude, the chat