Claude memory saves topics as you chat, chat search lets Claude look through earlier conversations on request, and incognito chats are saved to neither. Memory is on by default for Free, Pro and Max. Chat search needs a paid plan. Incognito is available on every plan.
Memory
Anthropic's help article says Claude saves memory as individual topics while you chat, rather than summarizing afterward. You can ask it to remember something. Each project has its own memory, kept separate from other projects, and a project can turn off Use account memory to be fully isolated.
Sensitive topics such as health, religion or politics are not saved by default, and you can opt in. The page lists items never saved, including government ID numbers, financial account numbers, criminal history and immigration status.
Chat search
Chat search is on paid plans (Pro, Max, Team, Enterprise). It covers chats outside projects and conversations within each individual project, but not across different projects. Results include citations to the original chats. To turn it off, switch off Search and reference chats under Settings, then Memory.
Controls
- Pause: keeps existing memory but stops using it and creating new entries.
- Reset: permanently deletes all memory, including project memory.
- Single chat: before your first message, click plus and turn Memory off. It cannot be changed once the chat starts.
- Incognito: click the ghost icon. The chat is not saved to history or memory and not searched later.
Gotchas
Deleting a conversation does not remove memory entries made from it. Delete those entries individually. Memory is included in data exports. On Team and Enterprise, incognito chats are still in data exports and follow retention policies.
Organizations
On Team and Enterprise, owners enable memory under Organization settings, Capabilities, and members opt in. Turning it off permanently deletes all users' memory. Owners cannot view individual members' memories. Memory is unavailable for organizations with HIPAA, public-sector or custom retention agreements, per the page. Toggle changes are logged.
What to do about secrets
Do not rely on memory settings to protect credentials. Never paste API keys, tokens or customer data into a chat. Our ChatGPT conversation data leakage risk post covers the same habit for another assistant.
Safeguard can help find leaked secrets and risky dependencies with a free scan at gold.safeguard.sh/scan.
Choosing the right control
If you want a clean slate for one task, turn memory off for that chat before the first message. If the conversation is sensitive and you do not want it in history, use incognito. If a whole project must stay separate, turn off account memory on its page. If you want everything forgotten, reset memory, remembering that this is permanent. Match the control to the goal rather than switching everything off by default.
Quick check
Does deleting a chat delete its memory?
No. Memory entries generated from it must be deleted individually.
Can I turn memory off for one chat?
Yes, before you send the first message. It cannot be changed afterward.
Sources
Last reviewed: 19 October 2026.
