ChatGPT is a useful tool, but its privacy policy may raise concerns, and you may not like the idea of having all your conversations stored on remote servers. These servers can be hacked, or the data could potentially be accessed by governments or other authorities.
This plugin allows you to export your chat history from ChatGPT and import it into Joplin. Your conversations are then stored locally in your notes, either kept offline or securely synchronised using end-to-end encryption. Once your chats are safely archived in Joplin, you can delete them from ChatGPT with peace of mind.
Because ChatGPT exports can be large, and you may prefer to synchronise them differently from your regular notes (or not synchronise them at all), you might want to create a new profile dedicated to this data.
Installation
Search for "ChatGPT Import" from Joplin and install the plugin.
Features
Import ChatGPT export archives (ZIP files) directly into Joplin
Preserves conversation structure with user/assistant messages
Imports attached images, audio, and video files as Joplin resources
Configurable note titles with date/time formatting
Optional collapsible sections for tool outputs
Preserves original conversation timestamps
Usage
Export your data from ChatGPT:
Go to ChatGPT Settings > Data Controls > Export Data
Wait for the export email and download the ZIP file
Import into Joplin:
Go to File > Import > ChatGPT Export (ZIP)
Select your downloaded ZIP file
Wait for the import to complete
All conversations will be imported into a new "ChatGPT Import" notebook.
Settings
Configure the plugin in Tools > Options > ChatGPT Import:
Setting
Description
Default
User name
Display name for user messages
User
Assistant name
Display name for assistant messages
ChatGPT
Note title format
Format string for note titles (see below)
{date} {title}
Show date in note body
Display conversation date below the title
false
Use collapsible sections
Wrap tool outputs in collapsible <details> tags
true
Include thinking/reasoning
Include internal thinking messages from the assistant
false
Quote user messages
Display user messages in blockquotes
true
Title Format Placeholders
{title} - The conversation title
{date} - Date in YYYY-MM-DD format
{date:FORMAT} - Date with custom format
{time} - Time in HH:MM format
Custom date FORMAT can use: YYYY, YY, MM, M, DD, D
Examples:
{date} {title} → "2024-01-15 My Conversation"
{title} ({date:MM/DD/YY}) → "My Conversation (01/15/24)"
{date} {time} - {title} → "2024-01-15 14:30 - My Conversation"
Interesting if the chats are truly deleted from OpenAI servers, or just marked as deleted.
Obviously they have some retention policies even if you delete the chats, last time I read it was up to a year or something (30 days is what I find at the moment though).
At the end of the day it’s not like they store whole conversations, I would assume only prompts are stored - and prompts only is not a lot of data especially if compressed and archived.
If prompts are clearly wiped out after certain period - this new feature really makes sense and avoids potential profiling of users to certain extent. Otherwise if prompts are kept forever no matter if you delete them or not - this feature at least maintains a copy of useful historical snapshots you might need to find in future.
Thanks to everybody involved in developing this feature!
Yes they are indeed permanently deleted after 30 days.
They definitely store both prompt and answers - you can verify this by connecting to chatGPT from a second device - your complete chat history, prompts and answers will be available.
The plugin indeed seems like a good idea. Are there any plans to support other providers? (Gemini, Grok, Anthropic, etc).
I have an issue concerning installation. When searching for the plugin on Tools/Plugins, I get a “Please upgrade Joplin to version 3.6.4 or later to use this plugin.”
I checked GitHub, latest release is 3.5.13, and version 3.6.4 is in pre-release. Is version 3.6.4 really needed, or is there a possibility to support older releases?
I personnally have 3.5.13, but note that not everyone is willing to install pre-release version, and also many people don’t have a rolling release Linux distribution.
very nice idea for a plugin, Laurant! I highly appreciate it as I am setting up some workflows for paperless-ngx on an old laptop at the moment. And I‘m only able to do that on Linux with support from chatgpt, as I have nearly no coding experience. It works well, but I already thought about archiving the conversations in a way, I can reuse them, when my system or certain functions run into malfunctions. At the same time I start to think about leaving OpenAI for issues that are not related to their products but to their behaviour…all in all: Thanks and I‘m hoping to be able to use it/other plugins for other LLM/AI services in the future.
