TechTipADay
AI tools cheat sheet
A printable cheat sheet for ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini. Skip any row whose control is missing on your account. Work and school logins often hide personalization.
Set Instructions for Claude in Settings
Click your initials at the lower left, then Settings, then Instructions for Claude. Easy. About 3 min. Claude on the web.
Why it matters. The rules for how you want to be answered apply to ordinary chats without being pasted every time.
- In Claude, click your initials at the lower left.
- Choose Settings.
- Under Instructions for Claude, write how you want answers shaped and what to skip.
- Keep secrets out of the box. Use a project when the rules only apply to one job.
Use a temporary ChatGPT chat when you do not want it saved
Turn Temporary chat on before you type. It is not added to history and it does not update memory. Easy. About 1 min. ChatGPT.
Why it matters. A one-off question stays out of your chat list and does not become a memory the next chat can see.
- Start a new chat.
- Turn Temporary chat on before you type. The control is at the top of a new chat. If you do not see it, open the chat options and look for Temporary.
- Leave personalization off for that chat if you also do not want existing custom instructions and memories pulled in.
- Do not paste passwords, identity numbers, or private keys. Temporary is not a vault.
Set ChatGPT custom instructions once
Settings > Personalization, or Customize ChatGPT. Keep it short, and leave secrets out. Easy. About 3 min. ChatGPT on the web, desktop, iOS, and Android.
Why it matters. Every new chat inherits the format you actually want, instead of the default essay.
- Open ChatGPT Settings.
- Open Personalization, or Customize ChatGPT if that is the label.
- Turn customization on and write how you want answers: short, steps first, say when unsure. Do not put your address, workplace secrets, or passwords in the box.
- Save. Start a new chat and check that the shape of the answer changed.
Ask for steps you can check, and stop when one is missing
Tell it to number the taps and to flag any menu name that might have changed. Easy. About 1 min. ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini.
Why it matters. A paragraph you cannot test is how a wrong setting gets recommended with confidence.
- After you describe the job, add: Give me numbered steps I can check on the screen.
- Add: If a menu name might have changed, say so. Do not invent a path.
- Follow step one. If step two is not on the screen, stop.
- Reply with the labels you actually see and ask it to continue from those.
Tell the chatbot your exact device and version first
One line, like iPhone, iOS 26, or Pixel, Android 16, stops it inventing a menu from a different year. Easy. About 1 min. ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini.
Why it matters. Menu names change between versions. A model that does not know yours will guess a plausible path.
- Find the version. iPhone: Settings > General > About. Android: Settings > About phone. Windows: Settings > System > About. Mac: Apple menu > About This Mac.
- Start the request with that fact. Example: Pixel, Android 16.
- Add: If you are not sure the menu still has this name, say so instead of guessing.
- Check the first real screen against the answer before you follow the rest.
Set standing instructions in Gemini, if your account has them
Look for Instructions for Gemini in Settings. Work and school accounts often do not have it. A Gem ignores it. Easy. About 3 min. Gemini on the web.
Why it matters. You stop repeating how you want the answer shaped, on accounts where the setting exists.
- Open Gemini on the web and open Settings.
- Look for Instructions for Gemini. On the web it is under Personal Intelligence.
- Write the format you want and tell it to say when it is unsure of a menu name. Leave out secrets.
- If the setting is missing, your account type does not include it. Put the same lines at the top of the chat instead.
Put one piece of work in a Claude project
Project instructions stay in that project. They do not leak into every chat. Moderate. About 3 min. Claude on the web.
Why it matters. Standing rules for one client or one repo stop showing up when you ask an unrelated question.
- In Claude, open Projects from the sidebar and create one.
- If you see a project instructions field, write the rules for that work only.
- Start new chats from inside the project so those rules apply.
- If there is no instructions field, paste the same rules at the top of the chat. Your plan does not include the field.