Guide: How to set up Claude memory between chats and Cowork for a team

On August 25, 2026, Anthropic updated Claude's memory system. Now memory works across regular chats and cloud Cowork: information that Claude remembered in a chat can be used when performing tasks in Cowork, and vice versa.

How to enable memory

Open Settings → Memory and enable Generate memory from chats. Claude will save information from conversations as separate topics that can be viewed, edited, or deleted. You can also directly write in the chat: “Remember this” — Claude will save the specified information in memory.

For Free, Pro, and Max users, memory is enabled by default. In Team and Enterprise, it is disabled by default and must be enabled by the organization owner.

You can check saved data in Settings → Memory. If Claude starts using outdated information, it can be edited or deleted. If necessary, memory can be paused. The Reset memory option completely deletes memory, including project memory, and this action cannot be undone.

What exactly should be saved

Memory is best used for information that remains relevant for a long time. For example:

— work style and format
— user preferences
— text preparation rules
— standard report structure
— company terminology
— document formatting requirements
— workflow specifics.

For example, instead of telling Claude every time “answer briefly, use Russian, and do not add unverified facts,” you can ask it to remember this once.

But important team rules are better not stored only in personal memory. They should be added to project instructions. This way, they will be tied to the workspace rather than to a specific employee.

How to configure memory for a team

Create a separate project for a specific process: for example, “Content”, “Marketing”, “Research”, or “Sales”.

In the project instructions, immediately specify:

What the team does: for example, prepares news and analytical materials.

What result is needed: an article, post, report, presentation, and so on.

In what format: language, volume, structure, style, link formatting.

Which rules are mandatory: for example, do not invent facts, use only verified sources, keep product names untranslated.

You can also add necessary files, links, and other materials to the project. Projects have their own instructions, context, and memory. At the same time, project memory is separate from other projects: information that Claude received in one project is not automatically transferred to another.

How to use memory together with Cowork

Cowork is designed for tasks where Claude should not just write an answer, but perform several actions: process files, gather information, prepare a document, analyze data, or perform another sequence of tasks.

Now cloud Cowork uses what Claude has already remembered in regular chats. For example, if in chats Claude knows that your team writes reports in a certain format, when launching a corresponding task in cloud Cowork, this context can be used automatically. Information that appeared during a Cowork task can also go back into memory available in chats.

To launch Cowork, open Claude, select Cowork instead of Chat, and describe the final result you need to get. For example: “Take documents from this folder, highlight the main changes for the month, and prepare a report in the format of our monthly digest.”

Important: this connection works specifically for cloud Cowork sessions. If Cowork runs locally on a computer, memory from regular chats is not transferred there.

Optimal scheme for a team

If Claude is used regularly, it is enough to set up the system once:

1. Settings → Memory — enable memory.

2. Personal memory — save individual employee preferences.

3. Project Instructions — add common team rules.

4. Project files — upload documents, templates, brand book, and other sources.

5. Cowork — use for multi-step tasks where Claude needs to independently work with files and perform a sequence of actions.

The main rule is not to try to store everything in memory. What changes rarely and relates personally to the user can be saved in Memory. Rules of a specific team are better kept in the project, and factual information — in documents and knowledge base.

This way, Claude will not have to “retrain” every time: personal preferences will be pulled from memory, work rules — from the project, and current information — from files.