---
title: "Use projects, files, and tools"
description: "You choose an appropriate place for a task, provide only the context and tools it needs, and inspect a generated file before accepting it."
reviewedOn: 2026-09-08
sourceRefs: [evidence-lab-methodology]
---

## Result

You choose an appropriate place for a task, provide only the context and tools it needs, and inspect a generated file before accepting it.

## Selection guidance

### Include when

Use this module when you cannot decide between a standalone chat, a ChatGPT project, and a local project, or when you cannot show which files and tools a task can use.

### Skip when

Skip it when you can independently create a focused project, supply relevant context, and review a generated file in the desktop app.

## Prerequisites

You can navigate Chat, Work, and Codex. Prepare two short, non-sensitive source files about one topic. They may contain open or synthetic material.

## Explanation

Choose the smallest useful workspace:

- Start a **standalone chat** when one request is self-contained and does not need shared context.
- Use a **ChatGPT project** when several chats need the same uploaded files, instructions, or connected sources.
- Use a **local project** when the desktop task needs to read or change one or more folders on your computer.

A project organizes context; it does not make every file or pinned chat automatically relevant. Attach a file to one chat when it applies only there. Add it to project context when several chats need it. Connect a plugin or other tool only when the task requires information or actions that the local project does not already provide.

The desktop app can preview generated documents, presentations, spreadsheets, PDFs, and supported web files beside the chat. A visible preview helps review the result, but it does not prove that the content, calculations, citations, or underlying source file are correct.

## Actions

1. Decide whether the practice will continue across several chats. If yes, create a project; if not, start a standalone chat.
2. If the task needs local folders, create or select a focused local project. Do not attach a broad home or cloud-drive root.
3. Add the two prepared source files. Record whether they are attached to one chat, stored in project context, or available through a local folder.
4. List the tools currently available to the task. Keep plugins, browser access, and external services disabled unless the practice task needs them.
5. Ask ChatGPT to create a one-page source summary with three sections: confirmed points, differences between the sources, and open questions. Require a reference to the source file for every point.
6. Locate the generated file and open its preview or viewer.
7. Check the structure, each source reference, and whether the original files remained unchanged.
8. Record the source files, enabled tools, output path or file name, and completed checks.

## Practice

Start a second chat in the same project and ask for a different output based on the same sources: a five-row comparison table. Confirm that shared context is available without adding irrelevant files or tools. Then start a standalone chat and explain what context it does not inherit.

## Deliverables

- A focused practice project or local folder.
- One generated file reviewed in the desktop preview or appropriate viewer.
- A context and tool inventory for the practice task.

## Check

- You choose a standalone chat for self-contained work and a project for work that needs shared context.
- Only relevant files and tools are attached or enabled.
- You can identify the source files, generated file, and review location.
- You check the generated file against its required structure and source material before accepting it.

## If it fails

- **A new chat cannot find the source files.** Check whether the files were attached only to the previous chat rather than added to the project or local folder.
- **The local project exposes unrelated files.** Remove broad folders and attach only the directory the task needs.
- **A plugin is installed but unavailable in the chat.** Start a new chat if required and verify any connector authentication separately.
- **The preview looks correct but the file is wrong.** Inspect the underlying file where possible and verify content, calculations, or citations against the sources.

## Sources and verification

Sources: `openai.chatgpt.desktop-app`, `openai.chatgpt.projects`, `openai.chatgpt.files`, `openai.chatgpt.use-chatgpt`.

Project, file, and preview behavior was checked against official OpenAI documentation on 8 September 2026. Available previews, plugins, local access, and connected context can vary by surface and workspace. The exercise has not yet been field-validated with a learner.

**Next:** [Understand Work as a delivery mode](/en/onboarding/understand-work-as-a-delivery-mode/).