How to Use ChatGPT: A Step-by-Step Guide

With OpenAI's constant rollout of impressive new features, ChatGPT is further cementing its position as the go-to AI assistant for millions of users worldwide. It helps with all aspects of work—from brainstorming new ideas to analyzing spreadsheets and even acting as a writing coach.

If you're eager to leverage ChatGPT in your daily workflows, but you're not sure how to start, you're in the right place. This comprehensive guide covers everything you need to know about how to use ChatGPT effectively, from basic setup to advanced features that can transform your productivity.

Getting started with ChatGPT is straightforward. Here's a summary of the process:

1. Go to chat.com or the mobile app, and log in or sign up (it's free).
2. If you're on a paid plan, choose the AI model that you want to use.
3. Enter your text, image, or audio prompt on the ChatGPT home page.
4. Once ChatGPT spits out a response, you have a handful of options:
   • Edit your original prompt
   • Enter or say a new prompt
   • Review the sources
   • Copy the response
   • Regenerate the response
   • Like or dislike the response
   • Share the response
   • Edit the response in a separate canvas

Now let's take a closer look at the finer details of using ChatGPT.

Step 1: Create Your OpenAI Account

To get started with ChatGPT, you first need to create an OpenAI account (it's free). To do this, go to chat.com, and click Sign up. You can use an email address, or you can sign in with your Google or Microsoft account. If you use an email address, you'll be required to do a phone verification to confirm that you're really a human and not, ironically, a bot.

Already have an OpenAI account? Click Log in to start chatting.

Step 2: Choose Your AI Model

If you're on a paid tier, you can choose which AI model you want to power your ChatGPT. Click the model dropdown in your conversation window, and then select the model you want to use.

Step 3: Ask ChatGPT a Question

You can prompt ChatGPT in several ways:

Step 4: Interact with ChatGPT's Responses

In a matter of seconds, ChatGPT will spit out a reply, and you can read or listen to the response. Apart from that, you have a number of other options:

Edit your original prompt. Hover over the prompt and click the Edit message icon that appears (it looks like a pencil). Edit your prompt, and then hit Enter.

Enter (or say) a new prompt. Ask ChatGPT to modify its response. ChatGPT will refer back to whatever you were discussing before and use that to inform its response, so you don't have to repeat yourself.

Review the sources. Hover over any source pill in the answer to learn more about the source used to inform ChatGPT's response. Click it if you want to go directly to the source.

Copy the response. If you like ChatGPT's answer and want to share it somewhere else, click the Copy icon beneath the response you want to copy.

Get a new response. If the response isn't quite what you're looking for, and you want to use the same prompt, click Try again.

Like or dislike the response. Since ChatGPT doesn't have the ability to interpret your headshaking, it can't determine if the response it generated is good or bad on its own. Instead, it relies on humans to provide that data to help it learn. Click the Good response or Bad response icon to let it know.

Edit in a separate canvas. If you want to pull the response out into its own document, click the Edit in Canvas icon. That will open up a new canvas where you can work on the response in detail.

Share your conversation. Instead of screenshotting bits and pieces of your conversation with ChatGPT to share with your friends and colleagues, share the entire conversation. Click Share at the top of your chat window. This will generate a unique URL for that specific conversation.

You also have the option to make your chat public (it'll appear in web searches). If you want to do this, click the box next to Make this chat discoverable.

If you find yourself prompting ChatGPT with the same instructions every time you interact with it—like "Write the response in Python" or "Keep the tone casual"—you don't have to. Here's how to customize ChatGPT on a free or paid plan.

How to Use Custom Instructions in ChatGPT

For users on a free plan, you can set up custom instructions in ChatGPT. This lets you program ChatGPT with instructions you want it to always keep in mind when generating a response. Here's how to set it up:

1. Click on your profile, and then click Customize ChatGPT.
2. In the popup that appears, click the toggle next to Enable for new chats.
3. Enter any relevant details to help ChatGPT tailor its responses. For example, if you know your writing style, enter those details under What traits should ChatGPT have?
4. Click Save.

Unless you explicitly tell it otherwise in a prompt or you disable custom instructions, ChatGPT will automatically keep your custom instructions in mind every time it generates a response.

How to Create a Custom GPT

If you're on a paid tier, you can use natural language to create a custom ChatGPT (also known as a GPT)—each programmed with its own set of instructions—or use prebuilt ones, such as Data Analyst. Note: If you're on a free plan, you can use GPTs, but you can't create them.

A custom GPT example.

Here's the short version of how to create a custom GPT (for more details, check out the beginner's guide):

1. With ChatGPT open, click GPTs in the side panel.
2. Click Create in the top-right corner.
3. Enter your instructions in the message bar of the Create page. Chat with the GPT builder until you get the results you want.
4. Click Configure to add advanced customizations to your AI assistant.
5. Click Create, and select how you want to share your custom GPT.
6. Click Update.

You can also interact with these GPTs from any conversation—just enter @[GPTname] followed by your prompt in the message bar of an existing GPT chat.

Custom GPTs are great for tailoring how ChatGPT responds inside the app. But if you want a chatbot that can also interact with the rest of your tools—like updating your CRM, sending messages, or surfacing insights across platforms—use Zapier Chatbots instead.

Learn more about how to use Zapier Chatbots, or get started with one of these pre-made chatbot templates.

You can also add an image to your chat and discuss it with ChatGPT.

How to Upload Images from the Web App

1. Click the plus icon in the message bar, and then select Add photos & files. You can also drag and drop the files from your computer into the message bar. Or you can add an image directly from Google Drive or OneDrive.
2. Select the image(s) you want to add.
3. Enter your accompanying prompt.
4. Hit Enter.

How to Upload Images from the Desktop App

1. Click the plus icon (+) in the message bar.
2. Select how you want to add your image—you can upload a photo, or take a photo or screenshot directly from the app.
3. Enter your accompanying prompt.
4. Hit Enter.

How to Upload Images from the Mobile App

1. Tap the plus icon (+) in the message bar.
2. Select how you want to add your image: You can upload an image from your phone or take a photo.
   
3. If there's a specific part of the image you want to discuss, you can circle the image or annotate it however you want.
4. Tap Next.
   
5. Enter your accompanying prompt. Tap Send.

For its part, OpenAI has expressed its commitment to keeping AI "safe and broadly beneficial." To do this, they've introduced various safeguards, including the ability for ChatGPT to reject inappropriate, offensive, or illegal content.

ChatGPT has explained that it won't respond to prompts that involve:

• Harmful or unsafe requests — Instructions for making weapons, explosives, or dangerous substances, nor content promoting self-harm, suicide, or violence.
• Private or sensitive information — Generating or exposing personal, confidential, or financial data, private communications, or impersonations of real people.
• Ethical and legal restrictions — Creating deepfakes of real people without consent, plagiarized or copyrighted material, or illegal advice.
• Inappropriate or adult content — Sexually explicit content involving real people, harassment or hate speech, or graphic gore and violence.
• Misuse of capabilities — Continuously monitoring files or accounts, providing exhaustive listings of documents, or pretending to be a professional it's not.

To be clear, this isn't a complete list of rejection-worthy prompts. But if you're ever wondering about ChatGPT's limits, just ask it yourself—but take it with a grain of salt.

While ChatGPT is impressive on its own, you can put ChatGPT to work even more by integrating it with your other software. On Zapier, you can connect ChatGPT with thousands of other apps, so you can layer AI into every step of your workflows.

Learn more about how to automate ChatGPT, or click on any of the pre-made templates to get started.