--- id: chatgpt-first-steps-in-chatgpt lang: en track: chatgpt title: "First steps in ChatGPT" seoTitle: "How to use ChatGPT: first steps" description: "How to use ChatGPT from scratch: signing in to your work account, finding your way around, and sending a first message that gets really useful work back." part: getting-started partTitle: "Getting started with ChatGPT" partOrder: 2 order: 2 level: Beginner durationMinutes: 3 outcome: "Find your way around ChatGPT and get useful output from your very first message." summary: "Sign in with your work account, learn the sidebar and the message box, and write your first message like a brief to a colleague: plain language, some context, a clear ask." draft: false updated: "2026-10-14" furtherReading: - title: "ChatGPT (web app)" url: "https://chatgpt.com" note: "Open it in a tab and follow along as you read." - title: "Download ChatGPT" url: "https://chatgpt.com/download/" note: "The desktop app for Mac and Windows, and the mobile apps." - title: "Moving to the new ChatGPT desktop app" url: "https://help.openai.com/en/articles/20001276-moving-to-the-new-chatgpt-desktop-app" note: "How Chat, Work, and Codex fit together in one app." - title: "Uploading files and audio to ChatGPT" url: "https://help.openai.com/en/articles/8555545-file-uploads-faq" note: "What you can attach, and the size limits." keywords: - how to use ChatGPT - ChatGPT for beginners - ChatGPT tutorial - getting started with ChatGPT - ChatGPT desktop app - first ChatGPT prompt quiz: intro: "Four quick questions. Ace them all and the next lesson unlocks." passScore: 4 questions: - q: "Your company uses ChatGPT Business. How do you make sure your work chats land in the company workspace?" options: - "Sign in with your work account and check the workspace name" - "Sign in with any account; your chats sync to the company workspace anyway" - "Turn on memory so ChatGPT learns you're at work" - "Start every work chat as a Temporary Chat" answer: 0 explain: "The workspace is tied to your work account. Sign in with it, and check that your company's workspace is selected in the account menu. A personal login lands you in a personal plan." - q: "You have been chatting about a client email, and now you want help with an unrelated budget. What is the best move?" options: - "Keep going in the same chat so nothing is lost" - "Delete the old chat before you ask" - "Start a new chat for the budget" - "Raise the thinking level and continue" answer: 2 explain: "One topic per chat. A fresh chat keeps ChatGPT focused on the new job, and the old one stays saved in Recents." - q: "How should you phrase your first message?" options: - "A few keywords, like a search engine query" - "Plain language, a bit of context, and a clear ask" - "In formal English, or it may misunderstand what you mean" - "As short as possible, to save tokens" answer: 1 explain: "Write it like a brief to a sharp colleague: normal sentences, the background that matters, and what you want back. Part 3 turns this into a recipe." - q: "You want ChatGPT to work from a report you already have. What is the quickest way?" options: - "Summarise the report yourself in the message" - "Paste the report's title and let ChatGPT search the web for it" - "Turn on web search so it can find the report" - "Attach the file with the + button in the message box" answer: 3 explain: "The + button attaches files (and opens tools like search and deep research). ChatGPT then reads the real document instead of your summary of it." pass: badge: "Perfect score" title: "You know your way around now." body: "Full marks. You can sign in to the right place, find everything, and send a good first message. Next up: thinking levels and web search, so you know which setting to reach for." retry: "Check the marked answers and give it another go. You've got this." --- > **Level:** Beginner · **Reading time:** ~3 min > > **What you'll be able to do:** find your way around ChatGPT and get something useful out of your very first message. The quickest way to learn ChatGPT is to open it and type. Nothing to install if you do not want to, and nothing you can break. This lesson is the two-minute tour, so your first go feels like using a tool, not poking at one. **Get in first.** Go to [chatgpt.com](https://chatgpt.com) in a browser, or install the [desktop app](https://chatgpt.com/download/) for Mac or Windows and the mobile app. **Sign in with your work account** if your company has ChatGPT Business or Enterprise. That puts you in the company workspace, where your chats are not used for training. Check the workspace name in the account menu; if you see a personal plan instead, you are in the wrong place. ## The screen, in one look ChatGPT's window has two parts, and that is all you need to start. On the **left is the sidebar**: **New chat**, a search box, your **Projects** (folders for ongoing work, a Part 4 topic), **Space** for pages and files, and **Recents**, your past chats with names ChatGPT picks for you. In the **middle is the conversation**, with the **message box** at the bottom. Type, press send, done. The **+ button** attaches files and opens the tools, such as web search and deep research. The **model menu** in the message box sets how hard ChatGPT thinks; that is the next lesson. In the **desktop app** you will also see a switch at the top between **Chat** and **Work**. Chat is the conversation you know. Work hands ChatGPT a bigger job that runs in steps, like a report or a spreadsheet. Codex, for software, sits in its own view. For now, stay in Chat.
ChatGPT in one look A simplified map of the ChatGPT window: a sidebar with New chat, Search, Projects, Space and Recents on the left; the conversation in the middle; and the message box at the bottom with the plus button for files and tools, the model menu, and send. The desktop app adds a Chat and Work switch at the top. ChatGPT in one look SIDEBAR New chat Search Projects Space Recents Chat Work desktop app Plan my working week… Here is a day-by-day plan with time for deep work… THE CONVERSATION + Message ChatGPT Instant ↑
## Your first message One habit matters more than any button: **write to ChatGPT like a sharp colleague, not a search engine.** Full sentences, a little context, a clear ask. "*weekly plan*" gets you something generic. This gets you something useful: ``` Plan my working week. I work Monday to Friday, roughly 9 to 5. I have fixed meetings Tuesday and Thursday mornings. My big goal this week is to finish a client proposal. Give me a day-by-day plan with time for deep work and a buffer for surprises. ``` Same idea, but now ChatGPT knows your hours, your fixed points, and your goal, so the plan fits *your* week. **The context you add turns a generic reply into a useful one.** Part 3 is all about this; for now, just notice the difference. ## Keeping your chats tidy Every chat is **saved automatically** in Recents. You can rename it, pin it, or find it later with search. If you want a chat that leaves no trace, use **Temporary Chat**: it is not saved to your history and does not feed ChatGPT's memory. One small rule pays off fast: **one topic per chat.** ChatGPT reads the whole conversation each time it answers, so a focused chat gets a sharper reply, and a chat that wanders from holidays to tax to lunch gets a muddled one. Steer with plain follow-ups ("shorter", "more formal", "add an example") instead of starting over. And do not chase a perfect first message. It is a conversation, not a vending machine. ## Try it Open ChatGPT, signed in to your work account. Paste the weekly-plan prompt above, but swap in your real hours, meetings, and goal. Read the plan. Then send one follow-up to steer it: "make Wednesday lighter" or "add 30 minutes of email each morning". Notice two things. The context you gave changed the answer. And the follow-up changed it again, without starting over. That back-and-forth is how most real work in ChatGPT gets done. *(General exercise. Role and industry versions come once accounts are in.)* ## Key terms [ChatGPT](/glossary#chatgpt), [Prompt](/glossary#prompt), [Chat](/glossary#chatgpt-chat), [Temporary Chat](/glossary#temporary-chat), [Project](/glossary#chatgpt-project)