Projects are broken, file_search and cross chat reference failing since May 7

Hi everyone,

I’m reporting what appears to be a system-wide regression in the ChatGPT Projects feature—specifically involving file search and cross-chat functionality, which has rendered a large, structured creative project of mine unusable.

I’m a GPT Plus subscriber ($20/month) using the official iOS ChatGPT app on both iPhone and iPad (App Version: 1.2025.119). I started building a multi-threaded tournament simulation project in mid-April that relied heavily on the Projects system: structured chats for simulations, a matchday archive, media features, an operational database, etc.

Everything was working beautifully for about three weeks.

Then, around May 7, something broke:

What’s No Longer Working:
1. file_search has stopped functioning across chats.
• Files uploaded into one chat are no longer searchable from others in the same project—even when properly referenced and formatted.
• This includes new files uploaded into clean threads.
2. Cross-chat context awareness is also failing.
• Chat A does not “see” Chat B, even in the same project.
• Phrases like “refer to the Operational Database chat” no longer produce any results or recognition.
3. Creating a brand-new Project and reuploading files did not solve the issue.
• Even clean uploads of .docx files into a fresh Project fail to register via file_search in new chats.
• The issue is reproducible across multiple devices and threads.

Why This Matters:

I subscribed to GPT Plus specifically for Projects—to enable modular, memory-based work across multiple linked chats. This was something I had used successfully for weeks and was the core reason I began paying.

Without file search or cross-chat visibility, the Projects feature no longer functions as advertised. I’ve tried every reasonable workaround:
• Reuploads
• New chats
• New Projects
• App reinstalls
• Memory resets

None have restored core functionality.

What I’m Asking:
• Can OpenAI staff or other users confirm if this is a known bug or regression?
• Is there a roadmap for restoring proper Project functionality—especially cross-chat file_search and chat awareness?
• Are there any safe workarounds for restoring structured, multi-chat continuity?

This issue has not just disrupted convenience—it has completely halted a 100+ hour creative project I was building for myself and my Discord community. I’ve also filed feedback and a support escalation through the in-app system, but so far, no resolution.

If others are experiencing the same thing, please add your voice here.

Thanks for reading.

— A GPT Plus user trying to rebuild a project that used to work flawlessly

Just wanted to add that, as of 5/14/25, the feature still isn’t working. I submitted a bug report via the support page on the website on 5/7, I made this forum post on 5/11, and I also left a review on the appstore making a note of the problem on 5/11. I still haven’t heard back from anybody or seen any improvement with the new update in version 1.2025.126. I would really appreciate if anyone can let me know if they are experiencing this issue inside projects with file_search not working when the files are uploaded to one chat, and you asking a different chat within the project to search it, or if it is just a feature that was quietly sunset within the GPT+ $19.99 per month version.

5/20/2025 update: after updating to version 1.2025.133 of the app, the file_search and indexing feature in pojects is still not working. I created several new projects to try in a clean slate, and I also tried some trickeration with the AI to see if it was simply getting stuck in a loop. I had the AI forget that it wasn’t working, made it believe it was working, then had it try to file_search across chats inside a project again. It still returned no results meaning it is a system failure. I’m baffled as to how it is so long without being fixed, especially since this is a core promise of projects and why we’d buy chat GPT+ in the first place.