--- title: "A guided tour of the ChatGPT workspace" description: "The workspace at a glance (September 2026) ChatGPT runs on the web (chatgpt.com), desktop apps for macOS and Windows, iOS and Android, and inside…" url: https://optimizeall.com/learn/mastering-chatgpt/chatgpt-workspace-tour updated: 2026-10-05 --- Mastering ChatGPT (OpenAI) · ChatGPT foundations · lesson 3 of 19 · 14 min # A guided tour of the ChatGPT workspace ## The workspace at a glance (September 2026) ChatGPT runs on the web (chatgpt.com), desktop apps for macOS and Windows, iOS and Android, and inside OpenAI's **ChatGPT Atlas** browser. Labels move and features depend on plan and region, so treat this as a map. - **Composer:** type, attach files and images, use voice, and open the **+** menu for tools such as web search, deep research, image creation, thinking, canvas and connected apps. - **Model picker (paid plans):** choose fast or thinking behaviour and, on higher plans, Pro models. - **Sidebar:** chats, **Projects**, **GPTs**, **Codex**, images library, and the agent experience for longer tasks (**ChatGPT Work** on eligible plans). - **Settings:** personalisation (custom instructions, personality, memory), **Apps** (connected apps and permissions), data controls, security (including multi-factor authentication) and account. ## Plans in brief OpenAI offers **Free**, **Go** (a low-cost plan in many countries), **Plus**, **Pro**, **Business** (the team plan, formerly called Team), **Enterprise** and **Edu**. Higher plans add more usage, more capable models, longer tasks and business controls. Prices and inclusions change and vary by country; check OpenAI's pricing page before advising anyone. ## A 25-minute setup and first workflow **Step 1: Security (3 min).** Turn on multi-factor authentication. Check which devices are logged in. **Step 2: Personalisation (5 min).** Write custom instructions (Lesson 2.1), choose a personality if you like, and review what memory has saved. **Step 3: Data controls (3 min).** Decide the "Improve the model for everyone" setting, find **Temporary Chat**, and check shared links. **Step 4: Apps (3 min).** Open Settings → Apps. Note the default permission ("Allow low-risk actions" is the current default for many apps) and decide whether you want ChatGPT to ask before acting. **Step 5: First workflow (8 min).** Start a chat, attach a non-confidential document and ask: ```text Summarise this for a busy manager: 1. Purpose in one sentence 2. Five key points with page/section references 3. Decisions or actions required 4. Anything unclear, missing or contradictory Then suggest the next document I should create from it. ``` Ask ChatGPT to turn the summary into a one-page brief in **canvas**, make two targeted edits, and export or copy it. **Step 6: Save (3 min).** Put the prompts that worked into your prompt library, or start a Project for this workstream. ## Mobile superpowers - **Camera input:** photograph a whiteboard, receipt, menu or product label and ask about it. - **Voice:** think out loud on a walk, rehearse a pitch, or capture ideas, then ask for a written summary. - **Share sheet:** send articles or screenshots from other apps straight into ChatGPT. ## Worked example: a first week that sticks A new sales manager in Riyadh spends 25 minutes on setup: MFA on, custom instructions saying she sells B2B logistics software and prefers bullet summaries, memory reviewed, apps set to ask before acting. Her first workflow turns a 30-page RFP into a requirement list; she moves that into a Project for the deal. By Friday she has a Project per active deal and a five-prompt library. ## Where the advanced features live | You want to... | Go to | |---|---| | Keep files and chats for a client together | Projects (Lesson 2.2) | | Give colleagues a reusable assistant | GPTs (Lesson 5.1) | | Edit a long document or code with targeted changes | Canvas (Lesson 5.2) | | Get a cited, multi-source report | Deep research (Lesson 4.2) | | Let ChatGPT work through a multi-step task across apps | ChatGPT Work / agent (Lesson 5.3) | | Connect Google Drive, Slack, a CRM and more | Apps and plugins (Lesson 6.1) | | Delegate coding tasks | Codex (Lesson 6.2) | | Build ChatGPT into your own software | The OpenAI API (Module 7) | ## Keyboard and workflow habits - **Shift+Enter** for new lines so you can write structured prompts. - **Edit and resend** rather than stacking corrections. - **Rename chats** with searchable titles; search history when you need an old answer. - **Archive or delete** chats you no longer need; it keeps history useful and reduces data you store. ## Pitfalls - Skipping data controls and connecting work apps to a personal account. - One endless chat for everything. - Assuming every feature is on every plan. ## How to measure success Within a week you start routine work from saved prompts or Projects, your settings reflect a deliberate privacy choice, and you know where each feature lives. ## Video lecture: A guided tour of the ChatGPT workspace Lecture coming soon · 16 chapters · about 8 minutes. Read the full transcript below. 1. The ChatGPT workspace 2. Why a tour matters 3. Where ChatGPT runs 4. The map 5. Plans in one breath 6. Setup: security and personalisation 7. Setup: data and apps 8. First workflow 9. Mobile superpowers 10. Simple example 11. Worked example: a sales manager in Riyadh 12. Where advanced features live 13. Try this now 14. Watch me do it, part 1 15. Watch me do it, part 2 16. Recap and next step ## Lecture transcript ### The ChatGPT workspace ChatGPT has quietly become a whole workspace, with projects, custom GPTs, agents, coding tools, connected apps and a browser of its own. In the next few minutes you will get a map of where everything lives in September twenty twenty six, set it up securely, and complete a first real workflow. ### Why a tour matters Why start with a tour? Because most people use a tiny fraction of what ChatGPT can do. They type into the box and never discover Projects, canvas, deep research or connected apps. It is like owning a smartphone and only making calls. Knowing the map changes how you work, because when a task comes up, you know which tool fits. This lecture gives you that map, plus the settings that keep your work safe. ### Where ChatGPT runs ChatGPT runs on the web, in desktop apps for Mac and Windows, on iOS and Android, and inside OpenAI's own browser called ChatGPT Atlas. The core experience is the same everywhere, but mobile adds the camera and voice, and desktop is better for files and longer work. ### The map Here is the map. The composer is where you type, attach files and use voice, and its plus menu holds tools like web search, deep research, image creation, thinking, canvas and connected apps. Paid plans have a model picker. The sidebar holds your chats, Projects, GPTs, Codex, your images, and on eligible plans the agent experience for longer tasks called ChatGPT Work. Settings holds personalisation, apps, data controls and security. ### Plans in one breath Plans run from Free and a low cost plan called Go, through Plus and Pro for individuals, to Business, formerly called Team, and Enterprise and Edu for organisations. Higher plans add usage, more capable models, longer tasks and business controls. Prices and inclusions vary by country and change often, so always check OpenAI's pricing page. ### Setup: security and personalisation Now setup. Step one, security. Turn on multi factor authentication and check which devices are logged in. Step two, personalisation. Write custom instructions, pick a personality if you like, and look at what memory has saved about you. We go deeper on these in the next module. ### Setup: data and apps Step three, data controls. Decide whether your chats can be used to improve models, find Temporary Chat for sensitive one off questions, and review any shared links. Step four, apps. In Settings, open Apps and look at the default permission. Many apps now default to allow low risk actions, where ChatGPT acts without asking unless something is sensitive. Decide whether you would rather it always asked first. ### First workflow Step five, a first workflow. Attach a non confidential document and ask for a structured summary, purpose, five key points with references, decisions required, and anything unclear or missing. Then ask ChatGPT to turn it into a one page brief in canvas, make two targeted edits by highlighting text, and copy or export it. Step six, save the prompts that worked, or start a Project for that workstream. ### Mobile superpowers Do not forget mobile. Photograph a whiteboard, a receipt or a product label and ask about it. Use voice to think out loud on a walk or rehearse a pitch, then ask for a written summary. And use the share sheet to send articles or screenshots straight into ChatGPT. ### Simple example A simple example of the workspace at its best. You are at a restaurant in Dubai with an Arabic only menu. Open ChatGPT on your phone, take a photo, and ask it to translate the menu and suggest three vegetarian dishes under sixty dirhams. In a few seconds you have translated names, prices and suggestions. Camera, vision and reasoning working together, with no typing. That same combination works for receipts, product labels, whiteboards and handwritten notes at work. ### Worked example: a sales manager in Riyadh A new sales manager in Riyadh spends twenty five minutes on setup. Multi factor authentication on, custom instructions saying she sells B2B logistics software and prefers bullet summaries, memory reviewed, apps set to ask before acting. Her first workflow turns a thirty page RFP into a requirement list, which she moves into a Project for that deal. By Friday she has a Project for every active deal and a five prompt library. What made her week work was not any single feature. It was the order. Security first, so nothing leaked. Personalisation second, so every answer fitted her role. A Project third, so each deal had a home. And a prompt library last, so her best prompts were never lost. By the second week, preparing for a new RFP took her under an hour, by her own estimate, where it used to take most of a day. ### Where advanced features live Here is a signpost for the rest of the course. Keep a client's files and chats together in Projects. Give colleagues a reusable assistant with GPTs. Edit long documents in canvas. Get cited reports with deep research. Let ChatGPT work through multi step tasks with the Work agent. Connect Drive, Slack or your CRM through apps and plugins. Delegate coding to Codex. And build ChatGPT's models into your own software with the OpenAI API. Each has its own lesson. ### Try this now Try this now. Block twenty five minutes today. Turn on multi factor authentication. Write your custom instructions. Look at your memory. Decide your data controls setting and find Temporary Chat. Open Settings, then Apps, and choose your default permission. Then run one real workflow, a structured summary of a non confidential document, turned into a one page brief in canvas with two targeted edits. When the timer ends, write down every setting you changed and why, so you can explain your choices to a colleague or manager. ### Watch me do it, part 1 Let me do the Riyadh sales manager's setup on screen. Settings, then security. I switch on multi factor authentication and scan the list of logged in devices. Then personalisation. In custom instructions I type, I sell B2B logistics software in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, I prefer bullet summaries with a one line answer first, flag anything I should verify. I leave personality on the default. Then I open memory, where there is an old entry about a previous job, and I delete it. Three screens, three minutes. ### Watch me do it, part 2 Next, data controls. I decide the improve the model setting, and I find Temporary Chat so I know where it is. Then apps. I set my default permission to ask every time, because I will connect my work email later. Now the first workflow. I attach a thirty page RFP and ask for purpose, key requirements with page references, deadlines and anything unclear. I ask ChatGPT to turn the requirements into a checklist in canvas. I highlight one vague item and ask, split this into two separate requirements, and highlight another to add the page number. That checklist becomes the first file in a new Project for the deal. ### Recap and next step Recap. Know the map, secure your account, personalise deliberately, set your data and app permissions, and run one real workflow before you do anything clever. Your next step is the twenty five minute setup in the lesson. Do it today, and note every setting you changed and why. ## Video transcript Welcome to ChatGPT. Let's turn it from a chat box into your everyday work partner in about twenty minutes. First, personalise it. In settings, find custom instructions. Tell ChatGPT who you are, what you do, and how you like answers: short or detailed, bullet points or paragraphs, which spelling you prefer. This small step improves every future conversation. Second, check your data controls. Look at whether your conversations can be used to improve models, and whether memory is switched on. Make choices that match your comfort level and your company's policy, especially before any client work. Third, create a Project for something you do every month, like a client report. Projects keep related chats, files and instructions together. Now try a real task. Upload a document that isn't confidential and ask for three things: a short executive summary, the five most important facts with where they appear, and the questions you should ask before acting. That last question is where the real value often hides. Then turn the result into something you can use: an email, a brief, or a checklist. Finally, save the prompt that worked. Your prompt library will become one of your most valuable work assets. One reminder before we go: ChatGPT can make mistakes. Check facts and numbers, and never paste passwords or sensitive personal data. You stay in charge. ## Key takeaways - The workspace combines a composer with a + tools menu, a model picker, a sidebar (Projects, GPTs, Codex, Work) and settings. - Set up security (MFA), personalisation, data controls and app permissions before real work. - Mobile camera, voice and share sheet are fast ways to capture and analyse real-world material. - Plans run Free, Go, Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Edu; features and prices vary, so confirm on official pages. ## Try it Complete the 20-minute setup and first workflow. Record the settings you changed and why. - [Previous: Prompting fundamentals that work in ChatGPT](https://optimizeall.com/learn/mastering-chatgpt/prompting-fundamentals-in-chatgpt) - [Next: Custom instructions and memory](https://optimizeall.com/learn/mastering-chatgpt/custom-instructions-and-memory) - [All lessons of Mastering ChatGPT (OpenAI)](https://optimizeall.com/learn/mastering-chatgpt)