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Custom Instructions help you control ChatGPT’s tone, depth, and style so every new chat starts the way you prefer.
Setting them up is simple. Enable personalization by filling in what ChatGPT should know and decide how it should respond.
Clear and concise rules yield better results by saving time, reducing the need for repeated prompts, and enhancing consistency.
ChatGPT has received several upgrades ever since its release. The chatbot’s most useful feature is its ability to personalize replies. The Custom Instructions upgrade highlights how ChatGPT understands and responds, allowing each conversation to start with a specific tone, format, and response depth.
Found in the Settings, this option allows personalization through background details and specific response guidelines. These settings are carried over to all new interactions, ensuring consistency and customization throughout.
Open Settings and click on Customize ChatGPT or Custom Instructions. Then make sure that personalization or customization is enabled so that preferences apply to new conversations automatically. On the web or mobile, the personalization section appears alongside other profile and data controls, along with options such as selecting a personality or managing Memory, if the feature is available for the region or account tier.
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Add role, domain, audience, objectives, constraints, and recurring context (for example, “content writer in travel and digital marketing who prefers sources and SEO-ready formats”) so replies skip generic onboarding and match the intended use cases. Define tone, length, structure, formatting, and citation style to ensure consistent outputs across chats.
Go to Settings and click on Custom Instructions and Personalization. Enable customization and fill both fields. After finishing this step, click Save and start a new chat to test and improve the responses until they meet expectations. If the results feel too strong or rigid, consider reducing specificity or softening directives. Short, direct rules often work best and are easier to maintain over time.
Users should be accurate and careful about tone, depth, and structure to improve the usefulness of outputs. Keeping core rules universal and adding task‑specific rules in the chat prompt when needed helps. Revisiting instructions quarterly, monitoring editing time, and adjusting them to bolster workflows and tools is necessary.
Avoid adding sensitive data in profile fields, and keep private identifiers and credentials out of instructions. In Data Controls, the option “Improve the model for everyone” can be disabled if chats should not be used for training, which helps balance personalization with privacy preferences.
“Content writer specializing in travel and digital marketing; writes SEO articles, landing pages, and product reviews; prioritizes accurate, up‑to‑date references; audience is US‑India travelers and marketing teams; prefers concise, scannable outputs”.
“Use a professional yet friendly tone; start with a 1–2 sentence answer; organize with H3 headers; include bullet points; suggest keywords and CTAs; avoid fluff; if uncertain, say so and propose what to verify”.
Safety and uncertainty handling: Request explicit uncertainty handling (e.g., “state unknowns, suggest verification steps”) to minimize confident errors in niche topics.
Formatting defaults: Specify default elements, such as summaries, tables for comparisons, or inline citations, to reduce repetitive prompting in each chat.
Keep current with product updates: Evolution within personalization, personalities, Memory, and instruction surfaces unfolds regularly. Leveraging release notes enables comprehensive use of fresh capabilities.
Ensure customization is toggled on and the fields are saved. Start a new chat so that the latest profile applies from the first turn. Add hard constraints (e.g., “≤200 words; 3 bullets; no moralizing; no generic disclaimers”) and remove vague adjectives like “detailed” that expand length. Add a rule inviting pushback and critical evaluation, so drafts get constructive friction instead of blanket affirmation.
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Use a simple template with sections for role, audience, goals, constraints, tone, structure, safety, and verification to standardize across teams. Update instructions when adopting new tools or requirements (e.g., analytics dashboards, compliance reviews), and align with formatting expectations for structured outputs.
Practitioner guides provide practical phrasings and patterns that can be adapted to match a preferred voice and specific deliverables. Users should do their own research to ensure maximum prompt satisfaction and effectiveness.
Custom Instructions is a feature that enables ChatGPT to receive predefined context and response preferences, ensuring each conversation begins with the desired tone, structure, and details.
The feature is available under Settings, inside the Customize ChatGPT or Custom Instructions section. It can be accessed on both web and mobile versions.
The first field explains what ChatGPT should know, such as the role, audience, or recurring context. The second field guides how responses should be delivered, including tone, length, formatting, and structure.
Enabling personalization allows ChatGPT to apply saved preferences across new conversations, reducing repetitive prompts and creating more consistent outputs.
Details such as role, domain, audience, objectives, constraints, and specific writing or task context can be added to help ChatGPT tailor responses more precisely.
