[macOS] Web Project hierarchy missing in the desktop app, while hidden Work chats remain partially discoverable via @

ChatGPT Bugs
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I am trying to understand how ChatGPT Projects on the web relate to Chat, Work, and Codex tasks in the new desktop app. Conversations created inside the same Web Project are currently represented differently on desktop, and their original Project structure is not consistently preserved. The version of my ChatGPT app on macOS is 26.707.91948.

The documentation explains that:

  • Chat conversations sync between web and desktop;
  • cloud Work conversations do not appear in desktop Work at launch;
  • one ChatGPT Project can contain both Chat and Work conversations;
  • the desktop Projects view is intended to include ChatGPT Projects and local projects.

Sources: ChatGPT Work and Codex and Projects, chats, and tasks.

OpenAI Support has described missing Projects and other absent features as current feature-parity gaps. That explains the missing UI, but not why a hidden cloud conversation can still be referenced from Codex or what that reference includes.

I therefore understand why a cloud Work conversation does not become a native desktop Work task. What remains unclear is why the Project hierarchy disappears while some cross-surface discovery is already possible.

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Minimal reproduction

I created one ChatGPT Project on the web containing:

  • a regular Chat titled Ordinary non-work chat;
  • a Work conversation titled WorkChatTest.

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In the new desktop app:

  1. Ordinary non-work chat appears in Quick Chat’s Recent chats, but without any indication of its parent Project.

  2. WorkChatTest appears in neither Quick Chat nor desktop Work.

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  1. Inside a local Codex task, @ search can find and reference both conversations.

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The @ search itself is unreliable. In this example, @Work finds WorkChatTest, while @WorkChat returns no result.

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This makes it difficult to tell whether a missing result means that a conversation is unsupported or that the search simply failed. It also shows that “not visible in desktop Work” is not the same as “unavailable to the desktop app.” The app does not make clear whether a conversation is merely hidden, searchable, referenceable, synchronized, or inheriting its parent Project context, leaving the user to manage that boundary manually.

Classic is a workaround, not an explanation

Web and ChatGPT Classic still provide access to the original Project hierarchy. However, multiple macOS users report that the update moved the previous app to the Trash, despite the migration documentation saying that the new app “may install alongside” it (example 1, example 2).

Restoring or reinstalling Classic recovers access, but it does not explain the behavior of the new app. I would prefer to adopt the new workflow rather than maintain separate apps simply to find existing work.

Questions

  1. Are Web ChatGPT Projects supposed to appear with their hierarchy in the new desktop Projects view?

  2. Is flattening regular Project chats into Quick Chat’s Recent chats intended?

  3. Is @conversation an officially supported way to reference cloud Chat or Work conversations from Codex? If so, does it include the transcript, attachments, Project Sources, Project instructions, memory, or branch context?

  4. Is an @conversation mention a live reference or a copied snapshot?

  5. How does Add to task differ from an @conversation reference?

  6. How should users discover cloud Work conversations that have no desktop navigation entry and can only be found through an unreliable @ search?

I understand that this may be a staged migration. What would help is a clear description of the intended end state and of what context is—or is not—carried across Chat, Work, Projects, and Codex.

Related discussions

Parts of this issue have been raised separately: