Subject: Formal Feedback: Removal of Projects Feature without Recovery Strategy – Impact on Professional Users

ChatGPT Feature requests
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1

Dear OpenAI Team,

I am writing to express my strong dissatisfaction and frustration regarding the recent removal of the Projects feature in ChatGPT without prior notice, without a migration option, and without a transparent communication strategy.

As a long-term paying customer (22+ EUR/month since early 2024) and a professional user, I have relied heavily on this feature to:

Organize long-term development and design projects

Structure and archive essential conversations and creative processes

Maintain continuity in the development of complex projects (such as my ongoing AI development project)

The sudden disappearance of all my saved project data, without any option for automatic recovery or manual migration, is unacceptable.
This action demonstrates a lack of professional data management standards and disregards the needs of serious, productive users who use ChatGPT not casually but as an essential, structured work platform.

I formally request:

  1. An official statement regarding the removal of the Projects feature

  2. A clear explanation why no automated recovery or migration strategy was offered

  3. Information if there is any way to restore previous Projects data

  4. A commitment to inform paying customers in advance about such major changes in the future

  5. Consideration to implement or restore a structured data management solution (like Projects or a professional Canvas system) across all platforms, including mobile

I want to underline that this decision has caused a severe loss of important data and work results which were stored in good faith under a paid subscription.
This incident has seriously impacted my trust in the long-term usability and reliability of your platform.

I kindly expect a professional and transparent response.

Sincerely, Willi Reisdorf

2

Update (April 2025):

I would like to update my previous feedback regarding the removal of the Projects feature:

After contacting OpenAI Support, I was informed that the Projects feature has not been removed.
It was temporarily unavailable in the mobile app (Android/iOS), which caused confusion and concern.
I can now confirm that my saved Projects are still accessible in the Web version and have also reappeared in the Android app.

While I still believe that better communication about such temporary UI changes is essential — especially for professional, paying users — I want to clarify that the data was not deleted.

For other users who experienced the same issue: Please check the Web version and ensure you are logged in with a paid plan.
Your Projects should still be there.

I am now in the process of cleaning up unnecessary conversations and organizing my Projects again — also hoping that this will improve performance and memory usage.