I’d like to suggest adding a “Recently Deleted” or short undo/recovery period for deleted ChatGPT conversations.
I accidentally deleted an archived conversation while intending to unarchive it. Although ChatGPT displays a confirmation warning before deletion, a single mistaken confirmation permanently removes the conversation with no user-accessible recovery mechanism.
I think deletion would be safer if ChatGPT used a model similar to many other applications:
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Deleted chats move to “Recently Deleted” for a limited period, such as 7–30 days.
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Users can restore them during that period.
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Users can still choose “Delete Permanently” immediately if desired.
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Archived chats and deleted chats remain clearly separated.
This would not need to change the existing backend deletion/retention policy substantially; it would primarily add a user-facing recovery layer before permanent deletion.
For long-running ChatGPT conversations, accidental deletion can destroy a significant amount of accumulated work and context. A confirmation dialog helps, but it does not protect against misclicks or users confusing “Unarchive” and “Delete.”
An alternative lightweight design would be an “Undo” action available for several minutes immediately after deletion.
I think either mechanism would make chat management substantially more fault-tolerant.