How to use ChatGPT? Your Complete Guide for Beginner to Pro Users

Do you know ChatGPT but have never been to the app?

If you are eager to use this chatbot in your daily life, but don’t know where to start, you’ve come to the right place.

ChatGPT is an application developed by OpenAI that allows you to interact in natural language. The chatbot can understand the context of your request and adjust the content it generates based on the content of the exchanges.

Whether it’s for writing documents, asking questions, or simply chatting, this tool can be very useful.

This article is divided into two parts. The first one introduces ChatGPT and how to start your first conversation with the chatbot. The second one covers the advanced features of the application.

What can ChatGPT do?

ChatGPT primarily addresses the blank page problem. It allows you to create a first version of almost any type of personal or professional document.

• • Create content: Whether it’s for emails, cover letters, professional reports or blog posts.

• • Answering Questions: You can ask questions on a variety of topics and get detailed answers.

• • Language support: Translation of texts, improvement of grammar and writing style.

• • Programming Assistance: Help write code, fix bugs, and provide syntax examples.

What can’t ChatGPT do?

Although very versatile, ChatGPT has its limitations and should not be confused with a search engine like Google. Always verify the information provided by the AI ​​and use the answers as a starting point, but especially not as absolute truth. Finally, do not share sensitive or confidential data with the chatbot, these could be assimilated by the language model (LLM) and used for training purposes.

• • Fact-checking: ChatGPT is not reliable for verifying accurate information or recent facts. It may provide incorrect or outdated information.

• • Tasks Requiring Ethical or Legal Judgments: ChatGPT should not be used to make important legal, medical, or ethical decisions.

• • Bias and limitations: ChatGPT responses may reflect biases present in the training data and may not always be objective.

• • Data Privacy: ChatGPT should not be used to share sensitive or confidential information.

PART 1: Beginner’s Guide

This first part will guide you through your first steps with ChatGPT. You will learn how to create your account on the platform and how to make your first request.

How to access ChatGPT?

ChatGPT is accessible from a web browser and on iOS and Android smartphones.

On your computer

To start using ChatGPT, you first need to create an account (it’s free).

To do this, go to chatgpt.com, and click Sign Up. You can use an email address or sign in with your Google, Microsoft or Apple account.

If you use an email address, you will need to verify by phone. Please note that a phone number can only create one account.

Already have an OpenAI account? Click Login to start chatting with the chatbot.

On your smartphone

To install the ChatGPT application on your iOS or Android smartphone: 

1. 1. Go to the iOS App Store or Android Play Store and search for ChatGPT
2. 2. Download the app
3. 3. Create your account

ChatGPT Interface

1. 1. Chat with ChatGPT: This is where you ask your questions.
2. 2. Start a new chat: For a new exchange, click on “New chat” to start a new conversation.
3. 3. Chat History: Find your previous chats in the history bar. You can resume a saved conversation here at any time.
4. 4. Personalise your experience: Adjust ChatGPT settings to your preferences by clicking on your profile picture

Now that you know the ChatGPT interface, it’s time to ask it your first question.

Examples of queries you can make

ChatGPT is a versatile tool that can meet a wide variety of personal and professional needs. Here are four sample types of queries you can submit to it:

• • Write a complaint email for a computer I bought online, detailing the power supply problem and requesting a refund or replacement.

• • Build a weekly fitness program for beginners, including varied exercises to improve strength, endurance and flexibility.

• • Write an engaging LinkedIn post to announce the launch of our new product, a project management software, highlighting its key features and benefits for businesses: real-time task management, simplified collaboration, performance analysis.

• • Write a professional email to ask my manager for a raise, highlighting the achievements I have made and my added value to the company.

First exchange with ChatGPT

There are several ways you can submit your first query to ChatGPT.

By sending a message

Type your ChatGPT question (text query) into the message bar on the home page and press Enter (or click the Send Message icon, which looks like an up arrow).

With advanced voice control

ChatGPT’s advanced voice mode provides more natural interaction (available on desktop and mobile). 

By tapping the headset icon next to the message field, you can ask your questions orally, a particularly useful option on smartphones. 

ChatGPT not only responds but also picks up on nuances in your voice, like tone or emotion, and adjusts its responses accordingly for a more personal conversation. 

Accompany your request with a document

Upload a document by clicking the paperclip icon in the message bar, upload the document you want to share and enter your query… You can also drag and drop the document into the message bar. 

Interacting with ChatGPT responses

In a few seconds, ChatGPT produces a response that you can read or listen to. You also have a number of options. 

Edit your original message

Hover over your query and click the Edit Message icon that appears (it looks like a pencil). Edit your message, then click Send.

Enter a new query

One of the key features of ChatGPT – and the one that makes it feel like a real dialogue – is that it can “remember” the conversation you’re having with it. This means you can ask ChatGPT to change its response without having to repeat yourself or start from scratch. ChatGPT simply refers to what you’ve discussed before and will use that to inform its response.

Copy the answer

If you like ChatGPT’s answer and want to share it with others, click the Copy icon below the answer you want to copy. The icon will change to a “checked” sign indicating that the answer has been copied successfully.

Get a new answer

If the answer isn’t quite what you’re looking for and you want to use the same query, click the Regenerate icon below the most recent answer. The downside is that you can only regenerate an answer from the most recent ChatGPT answer. 

Another interesting feature, apart from regenerating, is that you may also change the model of ChatGPT so that it is the model which is best suited for your type of query.

You don’t like the answer

Since ChatGPT doesn’t have the ability to interpret your shakes, it can’t determine for itself whether the response it generated is wrong. Instead, it relies on humans to provide that data to help it learn. So if the response was unhelpful or inaccurate, click the Thumbs Down icon to disapprove it.

Share your conversation

Instead of taking a screenshot of part of your ChatGPT conversation to share with your friends and colleagues, share the entire conversation. The easiest way to do this is to click on the Share Conversation icon, which looks like an upward-facing arrow. This will give you a unique URL for that specific conversation, which you can then copy and share.

Change language model

For ChatGPT Plus users (paid subscription), you have the option to change the language model used to generate the response. To do this, click on the Language Model Name icon. The paid subscription gives access to OpenAI’s most powerful models.

PART 2: Advanced User Guide

To go further in learning ChatGPT, we have written an advanced user guide that covers all the features of the chatbot.

Using the ChatGPT Search feature

ChatGPT now integrates the ChatGPT Search engine directly into its interface, allowing users to access recent and sourced information.

This feature extends the capabilities of AI by going beyond its pre-existing database to query the web in real time, thus providing answers tailored to current topics and recent events.

Currently reserved for Premium version users, it will be deployed soon for all users.

Using Deep Search Feature in ChatGPT

After DeepSeek, ChatGPT has also introduced the reasoning feature. The Reason feature in ChatGPT helps it think more carefully before answering. When you turn it on, ChatGPT takes a little extra time to give a better and more accurate response, especially for tricky or detailed questions or for writing code.

Using Canvas in ChatGPT

ChatGPT canvases provide an interactive visual space to organise and edit documents or code, making it easier to manage projects in a more collaborative way.

To use canvas, you must enable the GPT-4o with canvas model in the LLM selection.

Canvas for writing

Writing canvases help improve the quality of your documents with instant editing tools. Whether you’re writing a report, an email, or an article, ChatGPT helps you adjust the content to your needs with handy shortcuts, called shortcodes.

Shortcodes available for editing:

• • Suggest edits: ChatGPT provides online suggestions to improve content.
• • Adjust Length: Changes the length of a text to suit your needs (longer or shorter).
• • Change Reading Level: Adjusts the comprehension level of the text, ranging from kindergarten to college.
• • Add finishing touches: Checks grammar, clarity, and consistency for a perfect finish.
• • Add Emojis: Insert relevant emojis to illustrate and make the text more attractive.

Canvas for Code Development

Code canvases make it easier to create, review, and correct programs. 

Shortcodes available for the code:

• • Review the code: ChatGPT suggests improvements directly in the code.
• • Add logs: Inserts print or other statements to help debug and understand the code.
• • Add Comments: Adds comments to make the code easier to understand.
• • Fix Bugs: Automatically detects and fixes errors in the code.
• • Port to another language: Translate the code into languages ​​such as JavaScript, Python, Java, C++ or PHP.

You may also even run the code by clicking the Run button in the top-right corner.

Using Custom Instructions on ChatGPT

As mentioned earlier, ChatGPT can keep a history of your conversations to refine results over time. However, to provide more context and enable even more relevant responses, OpenAI has introduced a feature that is available to all users, whether they are using the free or paid version: personalised instructions.

This option allows you to add preferences or conditions that will be taken into account by ChatGPT when producing its responses. In other words, the chatbot memorises some key information and uses it every time it produces a result.

For example, you can tell him:

• • Your profession, your hometown or your interests,
• • The format of the responses (text, table, etc.),
• • The tone of the responses (formal, casual, etc.),
• • The length of the answers.

By providing these instructions in advance, you can achieve radically different results. Above all, this feature represents a significant time saving on a daily basis, avoiding you having to specify your situation, the context of your request or the expected tone for each request.

To enable and configure custom instructions, follow these steps:

1. 1. Click on your profile picture or username at the top right of the screen.
2. 2. Click on Customise ChatGPT
3. 3. Fill in the information that ChatGPT should take into account in the dedicated fields, as well as the guidelines to follow.
4. 4. Click Save

Create Custom Chatbots with Custom GPT

To meet user demand for more ways to customise ChatGPT to their specific needs, OpenAI launched Custom GPT chatbots in November 2023.

This feature, available to ChatGPT Plus subscribers, allows you to preconfigure chatbots for specific tasks such as generating movie recommendations, writing posts for social networks or optimising a site’s natural referencing on search engines.

To enable and configure a Custom GPT, follow these steps:

1. 1. Click on your profile picture or username at the top right of the screen.
2. 2. Click on My GPTs
3. 3. Click Create GPT
4. 4. Fill in the information that your Custom GPT should take into account in the dedicated fields, as well as the guidelines to follow.
5. 5. Click the Create button located at the top right of the screen

Since January 2024, the most useful custom chatbots, created by users or by OpenAI partners, are accessible in the GPT Store.

You can access it through the ChatGPT interface by clicking on the Explore GPTs button located at the top left.

Reply to a specific part of text with ChatGPT

ChatGPT now allows you to target your responses to a specific section of text by selecting it with the mouse. 

This feature is particularly useful for getting clarification or more in-depth information on a specific passage without having to deal with the entire content.

To use text selection, follow these steps:

1. 1. Use the mouse to select the passage of text that interests you in the conversation.
2. 2. Once you have made your selection, ask your question or request an explanation of the selected passage.
3. 3. ChatGPT will interpret your next question or request by focusing only on that part.

How to manage your data in ChatGPT 

There are several ways to manage your data in ChatGPT. The steps vary depending on what you want to do and the device you are using.

How to disable LLM training on your data?

Another default setting of ChatGPT is that your conversations and memories can be used as training data to improve OpenAI’s language models.

If you want to turn off this setting, here’s how to do it on the web and mobile app.

1. 1. Click on your profile, then click Settings.
2. 2. Click on Data Management.
3. 3. Click Improve model for all.
4. 4. Click the button next to Improve model for all and uncheck the box.
5. 5. Click Done. 

How to use Temporary Chat?

If you want to have a casual conversation without ChatGPT or Custom GPTs recording it in your history, use a short-lived conversation. Note that if you have custom instructions enabled, ChatGPT will always follow those instructions.

To activate a temporary chat, follow these steps: 

1. 1. When a new or existing conversation is open, click on ‘ChatGPT’ located at the top left of the screen.
2. 2. Click the button next to Temporary Chat.
3. 3. Click Continue.

While temporary conversations don’t appear in your chat history, OpenAI may retain a copy of them for up to 30 days for security purposes. This data is not used for training language models as OpenAI states.

How to delete your ChatGPT conversations from desktop?

Here’s how to delete all your past conversations at once using the web app. 

1. 1. Click on your profile, then click Settings.
2. 2. By default, this will show your general settings. Click Delete All next to Delete All Chats.
3. 3. Click Confirm Delete. (There is no cancel button.) 

Want to delete specific conversations instead? 

1. 1. In the ChatGPT side panel, hover over the name of the conversation you want to delete. 
2. 2. Click the Options icon, which looks like an ellipse (…).
3. 3. Click Delete.
4. 4. In the pop-up window that appears, click Delete to confirm.

How to archive your ChatGPT conversations from a desktop computer?

Let’s say you want your sidebar to display only specific conversations, but you don’t necessarily want to delete the others. You can archive the less relevant conversations in a separate location, which you can restore later. 

1. 1. On the side panel, hover over the name of the conversation you want to archive. 
2. 2. Click the Options icon, which looks like an ellipse (…).
3. 3. Click Archive. 

You can also archive all your conversations at once. 

1. 1. Click on your profile, then click Settings.
2. 2. Next to Archive All Chats, click Archive All.
3. 3. Click Confirm Archiving to confirm. 

To view or restore an archived chat, return to your settings. 

1. 1. Next to Archived Chats, click Manage. 
2. 2. You then have three options: 

• • View. Click on the conversation name to view it. You will have the option to unarchive it directly from the conversation, if you wish.
• • Unarchive. Click the Unarchive Conversation icon, which looks like an upward-facing arrow.
• • Delete. Click the Delete icon, which looks like a trash can.

How to delete your ChatGPT conversations from the mobile app?

Here’s how to delete all your past conversations at once using the mobile app. 

1. 1. Tap your profile to open your settings. 
2. 2. Tap Data Management.
3. 3. Tap Delete All Chats (iOS) or Clear Chat History (Android).
4. 4. Press Confirm.

Here’s how to delete specific conversations from the mobile app.

• • In the ChatGPT side panel, long-touch the name of the conversation you want to delete.
• • Press Delete.
• • Press Delete again to confirm.

How to archive your ChatGPT conversations from the mobile app?

Here’s how to archive individual conversations in ChatGPT.

1. 1. Tap and hold the name of the conversation you want to archive. 
2. 2. Press Archive.
3. 3. Press Archive again to confirm. 

And here’s how to archive all your conversations at once. 

1. 1. Tap your profile to open your settings.
2. 2. Tap Data Management.
3. 3. Tap Archive All Chats (iOS) or Archive Chat History (Android). 

Here’s how to view or restore an archived conversation. 

1. 1. Tap your profile to open your settings.
2. 2. Tap Archived Chats.
3. 3. Tap the conversation you want to view or restore, then tap View or Unarchive. You can also tap Delete to permanently delete it. 

Communicate better with ChatGPT

As you will have understood, the relevance of the answers provided by ChatGPT depends on various parameters, but especially on the prompt, the term designating the request formulated by the user. Indeed, several methods and techniques allow to optimise the writing of prompts, a practice known as prompt engineering.

To help you better understand the tool and obtain more satisfactory results, we have written several best practices that we recommend you consult: 

• • Prompt Engineering Techniques: Discover the best prompt engineering techniques: the art of asking the right questions to an LLM.
• • Prompt frameworks: Prompt frameworks are models of prompts that provide a structured framework to influence the responses generated by LLMs. The methodical approach of prompt frameworks helps guide the model’s behavior to achieve more relevant results, tailored to various tasks.

Precautions to take with ChatGPT

As seen at the beginning of the article, ChatGPT has its limits. Several precautions must be taken in order to interact effectively with the chatbot.

We invite you to consult these two articles which will teach you more about the risks of consumer generative AI and the precautions to take in business: 

• • The Risks of Consumer Generative AI: The power and ease of use of generative AI solutions make them very attractive to employees, but their uncontrolled use can pose challenges for companies in terms of security and reliability. Should companies take the plunge and use consumer AI solutions? What are the impacts of uncontrolled use by employees?
• • Why ChatGPT Is Not Right for My Business: Considering integrating ChatGPT into your business? Before you jump into the world of chatbots, let’s take a moment to think. While ChatGPT is a revolutionary tool, implementing it into your business requires careful evaluation.

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