Memory, privacy and your data

Claude can remember useful details across chats, and you decide how much it keeps. This article explains how memory works, how to review or turn it off, and which privacy settings matter if you use Claude for work. It is written for everyday users, not lawyers: for the binding details, read Anthropic’s privacy policy and your plan’s terms.

What memory does

With memory on, Claude picks up useful facts from your chats as you go, such as your role, the projects you work on and how you like answers formatted. Later chats can use that knowledge, so you repeat yourself less.

Memory is organised in topics you can read and edit. Each Project has its own separate memory, so details from one client’s Project do not leak into another’s.

Plan	Memory by default
Free, Pro, Max	On
Team, Enterprise	Off until the organisation allows it and you switch it on

View, edit or turn off memory

1. Open Settings and go to Memory.
2. Browse the topics Claude has saved.
3. Open a topic to read it, then edit or delete it if it is wrong or too personal.
4. To stop Claude from remembering anything new, switch memory off on the same page.

Tip: Every few months, read through your memory topics. Remove old jobs, finished projects and anything you would not want in a fresh chat.

Search past chats

On paid plans Claude can also search your earlier conversations when you ask, for example “What did we decide about the homepage last week?”. You can switch this off in the Memory settings with the option to search and reference chats.

Use an incognito chat

For a one-off conversation you do not want saved, start an incognito chat (look for the ghost icon when you start a new chat).

• It does not appear in your chat history.
• Claude does not add it to memory or find it in later chat searches.
• On Team and Enterprise plans, your organisation’s retention policy can still apply.

Incognito is useful for a quick personal question on a work account, or for testing a prompt without it shaping Claude’s memory.

Model training and your chats

This is the setting most people miss.

Free, Pro and Max

These plans run under Anthropic’s consumer terms. In Settings, under Privacy, there is an option that controls whether your chats and coding sessions may be used to improve Claude (train future models). You can switch it on or off at any time. How long Anthropic keeps your data also depends on this choice; the privacy policy lists the current periods.

1. Open Settings and go to Privacy.
2. Find the option about helping to improve Claude.
3. Set it the way you want.

Team and Enterprise

These plans run under Anthropic’s commercial terms. The consumer training setting does not apply; your organisation’s agreement covers how data is handled. Owners on Enterprise can also set custom data retention.

Warning: Before you paste client material, check two things: which plan you are on, and what your contract with the client allows. A personal Free or Pro account is rarely the right place for confidential client data.

What not to share

Whatever your plan, keep these out of chats:

• Passwords, API keys, recovery codes and bank details.
• Other people’s sensitive personal data (health, ID numbers, financial records) unless you have a clear legal basis and a business plan that covers it.
• Anything under NDA that your agreement does not let you process with an AI tool.

When you only need help with structure or wording, replace names and numbers with placeholders such as [client] or [amount].

Connectors and privacy

Connectors let Claude read from tools such as Gmail or Google Drive. Claude only reads what a request needs, but it can see whatever your account can see. Connect the narrowest access that works, and disconnect tools you no longer use.

Delete or export your data

• Delete a single chat from the chat menu.
• Delete a Project, with its chats and files, from the Project menu.
• In the privacy settings you can request an export of your data.
• Closing your account removes your access; see Anthropic’s help centre for what happens to stored data.

Next steps

• Choose the right Claude plan
• Give Claude lasting context with Projects
• Connect Claude to your tools
• Share logins and access safely