How Project Folders Supercharged My AI Comms Workflow (And How They’ll Transform Yours Too)

When OpenAI introduced Project Folders to ChatGPT in December 2024, it was a small but mighty upgrade: instantly transforming how I organised client work, AI experiments, and content drafts. It followed Claude (Anthropic’s AI assistant), which had already begun offering similar folder features earlier that year.

As someone who now regularly bounces between both platforms, I’ve made Project Folders the backbone of my comms workflow.

If you’re still just relying on memory, bookmarks, or endless scrolling, you’re missing out. Here’s how and why folders have become essential for getting real value from generative AI, especially when it comes to communications, consultancy, and creative work.

The Problem: AI Clutter Happens Fast

AI tools encourage experimentation: capturing fleeting ideas, spinning up drafts, refining messaging, and reviewing to further shape your thoughts. Very quickly, however, your workspace can fill up and descend into a jumble of “Untitled” chats, partial drafts, and promising experiments lost to the feed. Important work gets buried. Refinding a client brief or last week’s brainstorm becomes a headache.

For anyone regularly using ChatGPT or Claude – especially if you work across multiple clients or projects – this quickly becomes unsustainable.

Enter Project Folders: Organising & Optimising Your Comms AI workflow

Folders in Claude were the first real solution to AI clutter. Now that ChatGPT offers a similar feature, you can (and absolutely should) create a coherent system across both platforms.

What does this mean in practice?

• For every new project, client, or experiment, I spin up a folder in either ChatGPT and Claude – sometimes both, if I want to get alternate responses and choose the best.
• I then create project instructions: a concise description that can include the overall purpose, how I want ChatGPT or Claude to assist me, granular details about the plan and intended results, plus anything else which may be useful. (Such as using UK English!)
• Importantly, you can upload files (or in the case of Claude link directly to those in your Google Drive) for constant reference on your project work. This allows you to provide existing documents such as a client’s strategy plan, brand positioning, list of key stakeholders – you name it.
• Conversations, drafts, and attachments all live in one place: no more frantic searching or accidental “where did I say that?” moments. ChatGPT and Claude can then access and refer to this data, creating a handy one-stop knowledge bank.
• When it’s time to revisit an ongoing piece of work, I pick up exactly where I left off, whether I’m in ChatGPT or Claude. For good hygiene, I’ll rename the conversations so I can easily spot where relevant work exists.
• I also can then create certain conversations to quickly help: such as a ‘jargon buster’ where I have set instructions so that I only need to copy and paste an unwieldy acroynym or niche detail, and it will comb through the archive to detail its meaning and specific relevance.

How I Use Folders Across ChatGPT and Claude

1. Folder Structures

I use the same structure and naming conventions in both platforms. For example:

• “Faur – Applied Comms AI”
• “Client Name – Press Briefings”
• “Newsletter Drafts – 2025”

This makes switching between tools seamless. If I start a strategy outline in ChatGPT but want to use Claude for further ideation, everything is easy to locate and reference.

For larger client projects, I will create several folders for distinct workstreams, whereas for potential new clients or smaller pieces of work, I can create one folder as a singular point of focus.

2. Segmentation by Workstream

I separate folders by:

• Client/project (consulting, retainer work, etc.)
• Experiments and R&D (prompt building, tool reviews)
• Content creation (articles, newsletters, social posting)
• Learning and reference (AI guides, research digests)

At the same time, I do often like to keep folders generally relevant, rather than getting too niche – it can be helpful for cross-referencing and ensuring consistency.

3. Collaborative Handover

When sharing outputs or briefing notes, it’s far easier to locate and copy everything when it’s grouped together. Even for solo work, knowing where everything lives reduces friction and mental load.

Practical Tips for Power Users

• Use Consistent Naming: Start folder titles with the client or project name, then the type of work. E.g., “Client X – Stakeholder Mapping.”
• Regular Reviews: Archive or delete folders you’re no longer using—AI workspace clutter can build up fast. Also ensure that the documents and project instructions continue to be relevant, deleting or replacing as necessary.
• Backup Important Threads: Since folders don’t sync across platforms (yet), export or copy vital information between ChatGPT and Claude as needed.
• Make Folders Your Default: Even for “just testing” ideas, drop them into a dedicated folder. You never know when you’ll want to revisit an experiment, plus you can then prompt to surface random and/or relevant ideas from the past.

What’s Still Missing?

Project Folders are a big step forward, but there’s more to do:

• Folder Organisation: Currently it’s just a big old list, rather than being able to have folders within folders, and introduce more structure.
• Permissions and Sharing: Right now, folders are personal. It would be brilliant to see shared folders for collaborative projects in future updates.
• Attachments & Rich Media: Handling files is improving, but neither platform has nailed seamless file organisation within folders yet. Popular formats such as Word and PDFs are okay, but it can become a bit of a lottery beyond those.
• Cross-Platform Sync: Currently, there’s no way to sync folders between ChatGPT and Claude. If you use both, you’ll need to manually mirror your organisation.

Why This Matters (Especially for Comms Pros)

Communications, PR, and consulting work is inherently multi-threaded and fast-moving. You’re juggling clients, campaigns, brainstorms, and a ton of raw and partially formed ideas. If your AI workspace is a mess, you’ll waste time and lose momentum.

By using Project Folders on ChatGPT and Claude – or though any other Gen AI option which provides the functionality – you create order, speed, and focus. You’ll find it easier to deliver polished work, revisit old ideas, and demonstrate value to clients (or your own team).

Final Word: A Simple Step Forward, With Substantial Benefits

AI tools continue to become more powerful, but sometimes, it’s the simple (and classic!) features that deliver the most value. Folders sound basic, but for anyone working with AI at scale, they can be transformational. They help you move beyond scattered experiments and into sustained, professional, efficient and effective use.

If you haven’t set up folders on both ChatGPT and Claude yet, I recommend carving out 10 minutes to do it now. There is plenty of room for improvement, but it provides a substantial step closer to these tools becoming the helpful AI assistant who is consistently on the ball, and sometimes ahead of the game. You’ll thank yourself the next time you need to quickly draft up a great new idea for an impending client meeting, or pick up a project right where you left off.

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