Chat on the desktop
How chatting in the desktop app differs from the browser: files, projects, the tray, offline history and diagrams
Chat works as it does in the browser: same conversations, same projects, same custom GPTs, same models, synced across every device you sign in on. Chat documents the features themselves. This page covers what is different on the desktop.
Attaching files
Drag files from Explorer or Finder straight onto the conversation, or paste them from the clipboard. The app reads them from disk, so a large PDF does not go through an upload dialog first.
An image that only exists in the clipboard, a screenshot you have not saved yet, has no file on
disk. Paste it directly with Cmd/Ctrl+V instead of dropping it.
Projects
Projects work exactly as in the browser and are documented under Projects: a project holds related conversations under one shared context, with instructions and files that every chat inside it uses.
On the desktop:
- Projects appear in the sidebar. New project creates one, with a name, an icon and a colour.
- A project's window has two tabs: Configuration for instructions and files, and Conversations for the chats inside it.
- Drop files onto the project window to add them as project files.
- A conversation can be moved into a project, into a different project, or back into the plain history, either from the sidebar row or from the row inside the project.
Searching
Cmd/Ctrl+K searches your conversations. It matches titles and, unless your organization has switched that off, the text of the messages, so you can find a chat by something that was said in it rather than by its title.
Diagrams
If a reply contains a Mermaid diagram, it is rendered as an actual diagram rather than shown as code, with a switch in the header between the diagram and its source. This works in Chat, in Code and in Cowork.
Asking for one is enough: "draw me the flow as a diagram".
The window lives in the tray
Closing the window with Cmd/Ctrl+W hides it, it does not quit the app. That is deliberate: the system-wide shortcuts, reminders and scheduled runs only work while the app is running. Quit it properly from the tray icon (Quit) when you really want it gone.
The tray icon also opens the quick input without bringing the whole window forward.
Offline
Conversations you opened recently stay readable without a connection, since the app keeps a local cache. Sending a new message needs the server, and the app says so with a banner instead of failing silently.
If the connection breaks, the banner names the actual reason (DNS, TLS, timeout, HTTP status) and offers a full diagnosis you can copy or send to support. That report is the fastest way to tell a proxy problem from an outage.
Notifications and reminders
Long-running work reports back through the operating system's notifications, and you can ask the assistant for a reminder in any mode. Both are covered on Reminders and notifications, and switched on under Notification settings.
Appearance and zoom
Settings, General holds the light, dark and system choice, the interface language, and a zoom control that scales the whole interface. These are per device, not per account. See General settings.