# How ZeroTwo keeps and deletes your chats and files

> ZeroTwo keeps chats and files until you delete them. Learn how to archive or delete chats, remove files from your Library and what the 30-day trash does.

Source: https://help.zerotwo.ai/en/articles/8983778-how-zerotwo-keeps-and-deletes-your-chats-and-files
Section: ZeroTwo > File uploads
Last updated: 2026-10-05

ZeroTwo keeps your chats until you delete them, and files you attach stay in your Library until you delete them there. There is no Temporary Chat mode and no setting that clears chats on a schedule.

## Chats stay until you delete them

ZeroTwo's privacy notice says it retains the content you store until you delete it, until your workspace is deleted, or until retention is otherwise required for security, fraud prevention, backups or legal compliance.

The one temporary kind of chat is a **side chat**: a scratch conversation you open in the detail panel next to a chat, from the detail panel's + menu or with the "Open side chat" shortcut. Side chats are left out of your normal chat list, and closing a side chat's tab deletes it.

## Remove a chat

- **Archive it** if you only want it out of the way. Open the menu on the chat's row in the sidebar and choose **Archive**. Under Settings > Data Controls > Archived chats > **Manage**, you can **Restore** it or delete it permanently.
- **Delete it** with **Delete** in the same row menu (it reads **Permanently delete** for chats started in Work or Code). ZeroTwo asks "Delete chat?" and explains that this permanently deletes the chat and its messages and cannot be undone. Choose **Delete** to confirm.
- **Delete every chat** with Delete all chats in Data Controls. See [Manage your chats and account data in Data Controls](https://help.zerotwo.ai/en/articles/7730893-manage-your-chats-and-account-data-in-data-controls).

A deleted chat is not moved to a trash folder. There is nothing to restore afterwards.

Projects are different. The "Delete project?" dialog warns that deleting a project permanently deletes all project files and chats, and tells you to move any chats you want to keep to your chat list or another project first. Use **Move to project** on a chat's row menu to move a chat.

## Files live in your Library

Files you attach to a chat or add to a project are saved to your Library. Deleting the chat does not delete them: removing a chat clears its conversation data without touching Library items. To see and remove your files, open Spaces in the rail and choose **All**.

1. Find the file in the Library.
2. Open its menu and choose **Delete**. The file moves to **Recently Deleted**, which you reach from **Trash** in the Spaces sidebar.
3. There, the page says "Items are permanently deleted after 30 days." Choose **Restore** on an item to bring it back before then.

When you move a file to Recently Deleted, ZeroTwo detaches it from the chats and projects that reference it and stops searching it. Restoring it re-indexes it and brings back its references where it can.

## What can remain after you delete something

The privacy notice says backup copies can persist for a limited period before they are overwritten. For deleting the whole account, see [How do I delete my ZeroTwo account?](https://help.zerotwo.ai/en/articles/6378407-how-do-i-delete-my-zerotwo-account)