Claude memory settings let you review what the assistant remembers, correct individual entries, pause memory or reset it. In the current web layout, open Settings, choose Your Claude and select Manage beside Your memory. Anthropic also documents an older Settings menu labelled Memory. The useful distinction is between stored memory, searchable chat history and the context of one conversation: changing one does not automatically erase the others.
These instructions follow Anthropic's current memory and chat search help page, checked on 8 November 2026 at 22:59 IST. They are checked against the public documentation, rather than a signed-in account. Menu labels and availability can differ, particularly for organisations still using the legacy memory experience.
| Control | What it changes |
|---|---|
| Manage memory | Review, edit or delete saved topics |
| Pause memory | Keep existing entries while stopping their use and new memory |
| Reset memory | Permanently delete memories, including project memories |
| Search and reference chats | Control searching earlier conversations |
| Memory off for one chat | Start a conversation without using or adding memory |
Where are Claude memory settings?
On the web, go to Settings and then Your Claude. To see saved material, select Manage next to Your memory. Anthropic says entries appear under Topics. Open a topic to read it, use its edit icon to correct it, or choose Delete to remove it. In the older layout, look under Settings and Memory instead.
This is the first place to check when Claude repeatedly uses an old deadline, an outdated role or a writing preference you no longer want. Correct the actual entry rather than repeatedly explaining the same change. The help page says a change to a topic applies to subsequent conversations.
You can also ask for a correction in chat. An original example for updating a project detail is: “Remember that my community newsletter now closes on Thursday evening. Replace the old Friday deadline.” Its purpose is to make the new fact and the superseded fact explicit. Afterward, inspect the saved topic to check what was retained.
How do pause and reset differ?
Find the Generate memory from chats control in Your Claude, or in Memory in the older layout. Turning it off presents separate pause and reset choices. Pause keeps existing memory but stops Claude using it or creating new memories. Conversations while memory is paused are not added to memory if you later resume it.
Reset is permanent. Anthropic says it deletes memories, including project memories, and that re-enabling the feature starts from scratch. A pause is therefore useful for a temporary break; a reset has a different consequence and deserves a careful read of the confirmation screen. Neither should be described simply as “delete my chats”.
For a more targeted correction, use a prompt such as: “Forget the saved preference that all my replies should be brief. Keep my other writing preferences.” This original prompt is intended to identify one unwanted preference. Check Manage afterward, because the visible entries give you something concrete to review.
Can I turn memory off for just one chat?
Yes. Start a new chat, click the plus menu in the message box and select Memory to turn it off before sending the first message. Anthropic says the choice cannot be changed after the conversation begins. If you have already started, open another new chat and set the control there.
A chat begun this way does not use or add memory, and does not search past chats from within that conversation. However, it remains in chat history and can be found by searches from other conversations. That makes it different from Claude incognito chats and their retention rules. Choose the control according to the specific outcome you need.
Does deleting a chat delete Claude memory?
The current help page says memory entries generated from a deleted conversation are not automatically removed. To remove a saved fact, review memory and delete the relevant entry separately. This detail matters if you delete an old planning conversation and expect its dates or preferences to disappear from future answers.
Chat search has its own control, called Search and reference chats, under Your Claude or the older Memory menu. Anthropic lists past-chat search for paid plans. A search can link back to the original conversation, which helps you inspect where a detail came from. Stored memory and retrieved chat content are different routes by which earlier information can affect a response.
Projects add another boundary. Each project has memory, and the current documentation describes a Use account memory control for keeping a project's memory fully separate. Read our Claude Projects guide for the wider workspace setup. For a copy of your account material, our Claude data export guide explains a separate process.
If a control is missing on a work account, check the organisation's settings with its administrator. Anthropic says owners control whether memory is available. The practical habit is simple: review saved topics after an important correction, and check both memory and chat history before assuming that an old detail has gone.
