I’m writing to give feedback about the recent changes to ChatGPT’s desktop conversation interface.
The previous behaviour was much better for how I use ChatGPT. In particular, I valued being able to navigate through prompts and, when messages had been edited, access the different versions/branches of the conversation. I often go back to old chats simply to revisit them, explore earlier parts of the conversation, or pass the time. The prompt navigator made that much easier.
What frustrates me most about the new behaviour is that when I edit a message, the edited version becomes the main conversation path, while the previous branch is no longer accessible to me. The edited version is mostly the version I actually want to keep as my main chat, and I prefer to keep the underlying branches as memorabilia rather than my main chat. In effect, editing something can make me lose access to the memories created while experimenting.
This has changed the way I use ChatGPT. I am now much more cautious about scrolling through old conversations or editing messages because I worry that I could permanently lose access to something I wanted to keep. I recently had to copy an important section of a message into an Outlook draft before editing it, simply because I wasn’t confident that I would be able to recover the original afterward. Users shouldn’t have to manually create backups just to safely experiment with their own conversations.
I also want to point out that I deliberately preferred using the laptop/desktop version partly because its conversation workflow felt different from the phone version. If desktop is gradually being changed to behave more like mobile, that removes one of the reasons I preferred using the desktop experience in the first place.
Please consider restoring the previous behaviour, or at minimum providing:
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A way to access previous versions/branches after editing a message.
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A clear way to switch between the original and edited conversation paths.
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Reliable prompt navigation in long and older conversations.
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A way to undo or recover an edited message without losing the previous version.
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Clear preservation of conversation history so users can be confident that editing does not permanently remove something they may want later.
I understand that interfaces need to evolve, but updates should ideally improve the experience without taking away functionality that users have built their workflows around. In this case, the change has made me feel less comfortable interacting with my own old conversations.
I can still see version indicators such as 6/6 in some desktop chats, even though the corresponding navigation is now locked/inaccessible. If the underlying message versions still exist, please restore access to them rather than permanently removing/overwrite them. Please also clarify whether existing message versions are being deleted or merely hidden by the new interface.
Please reconsider this change and, if possible, restore the previous branching/version-navigation behavior. It was genuinely useful, and I would much rather have the previous system than the current one.
Sorry if there’s no image evidence, but hopefully my explanation is easy enough to understand.
Cheers
Andy