Export Claude’s memory and keep a readable copy

You can export Claude’s memory by copying its saved text into a local document. Review the text before transferring it, and keep the original conversations separately when their wording matters.

Know what the memory copy contains

Memory carries useful context into later conversations. In the current system, Claude records individual topics and updates them during chats. That replaced the daily summary in the memory update.

As of November 2026, memory is enabled by default on Free, Pro, Max, and Ultra. Team and Enterprise availability depends on organization controls. Prompted past-chat search is a separate paid feature.

A saved preference to use UK English in customer reports is useful background. It isn’t the original conversation explaining a particular report’s findings. Choose a memory copy for reusable context, and search the chat history when you need the precise exchange.

View and correct the saved entries

Follow Anthropic’s memory management route:

1. Open Settings → Your Claude.
2. Select Manage beside Your memory.

If your older Settings layout has Memory, open that section instead.

The current memory system lists entries under Topics. Open a topic, then edit or delete an entry that needs changing.

If your account still shows a single memory summary, use its pencil control to add a correction. Older layouts put this under Settings → Capabilities → View and manage memory. This is the legacy experience, still used by some organizations.

Save a dated copy, then make a transfer copy

Copy the text into a plain-text or Markdown file you control. Alternatively, ask Claude to display the memories exactly as stored and copy that answer. Keep its wording when the goal is a backup.

Add the saved date and whether the text came from your account memory or a named project note. Use a recognizable filename such as claude-memory_2026-11-03.md. Open the file after saving and compare its first and last entries with the source.

Above the copied entries, record the account or workspace and any limit you’ve applied, such as “writing preferences only.” Keep that note separate from Claude’s text.

Suppose you’re moving the context used for a quarterly customer report. Your hypothetical saved entries include:

• “Use US spelling in internal notes.”
• “Write customer reports in UK English.”
• “The next report is due 15 November.”

Keep the two language preferences separate because they apply to different documents. Check the deadline against your calendar before carrying it into another assistant. If it belongs to a finished report, leave it out of the transfer copy rather than making it a standing rule.

Save the untouched backup and the trimmed transfer version under different names. The transfer version should say which preferences still apply and explain abbreviations that made sense only in the old conversations. Don’t make the next assistant guess what “the usual report” means.

Import memory from another assistant

Claude’s native import flow works on the web and Claude Desktop.

1. Copy the memory text from your previous assistant.
2. Review it and remove details you don’t want to transfer.
3. In Settings → Your Claude, choose Start import.
4. Paste the text into the import box.
5. Click Add to memory.
6. Open the resulting entries and check the details you need.

Imports are experimental and may miss information. For the report example, check that the two spelling preferences remain attached to the right documents. If one becomes a blanket rule for all writing, correct it.

Ask which spelling convention applies to each document before starting the next report. Keep the original transfer text handy while making corrections.

If you’re taking the saved text out of Claude, keep the same distinction between backup and transfer copies. Give the receiving assistant only the context for your next task. To move an active discussion too, use the conversation handoff guide.

Keep project memories with their project

Under the current project memory rules, a project has its own memories and can also use your account memory. It doesn’t pull memory from other projects. New project memories can also be referenced in ordinary chats when memory is on.

Turn off Use account memory under Memory on the project page to keep that project’s memory separate from your account memory.

Keep a separate handoff note for each project you’re moving. For the customer report, that note should identify the report, its deadline, and the source files. Your general writing preferences can go in the copy of your account memory.

Don’t mix a past client’s terminology into a general preference for every future report. Name the project beside each requirement so you can place it correctly after the move.

Pause memory or exclude one conversation

In Settings → Your Claude, use the memory switch to turn it on. When switching it off, choose Pause memory or Reset memory. Pausing keeps the saved entries but stops using and updating them. Resetting permanently deletes them, including project memories. Team and Enterprise members must enable memory individually when their organization permits it.

Save the text you want before a reset.

For one regular chat, turn off Memory in the + menu before sending your first message. The conversation stays in history. Incognito chats use no saved memory, add none, and stay out of your history.

If you need a lasting copy of an incognito exchange, save its text before closing it.

Keep the conversations behind the memory

Memory helps you reuse context. Original conversations tell you what you asked, what Claude answered, and which correction changed the result. For the customer report, save the final instructions and any exchange that explains a disputed number.

Use the account-history export guide for a broader archive. Anthropic’s data-export instructions say that archive cannot be imported into another personal Claude account. Pasting memory text into an import flow is a different operation.

Keep the memory file beside the relevant chat copies, following your chat backup routine. Before changing accounts, open the transfer copy and check that another reader could understand its instructions without the original conversation.

Questions