A gentle tour of the screen

Apps change their look from time to time, so your screen may not match this description exactly. Don’t worry. The main parts stay the same, and they’re usually in roughly the same places.

On a computer

① The message box (bottom middle) This is where you type. Press Enter to send. To start a new line without sending, hold Shift and press Enter.

② The + or 📎 button (inside or next to the message box) Lets you add a file or photo: a letter you’ve scanned, a PDF, a picture from your computer. ChatGPT can read it and help you with it.

③ The microphone 🎙️ (in or near the message box) Lets you speak instead of type. Very handy if typing is slow or tiring.

④ New chat (top left, often a ✏️ pencil or “+ New chat”) Starts a fresh conversation. Use it whenever you change topic, just like starting a new page in a notebook.

⑤ Your past chats (down the left-hand side) Every conversation is saved here so you can go back to it. (On a small screen you may need to click the ☰ menu icon to see them.)

⑥ Projects (in the left-hand menu) Folders where ChatGPT keeps background information for a topic, like “My Business” or “House Move”. We’ll use these in Chapter 10.

⑦ Your profile picture or name (bottom left or top right) Click here for Settings, where you’ll find privacy, personalisation and more. We’ll visit this in the next chapter.

⑧ The model choice (sometimes at the top) You may see a model name or a drop-down. These are different versions of ChatGPT. You can ignore this. The standard choice is fine for everything in this guide.

On a phone or tablet

It’s the same idea, just arranged to fit a smaller screen:

• Message box at the bottom, with the + (add a photo or file) and 🎙️ microphone beside it
• ☰ Menu (three lines, top left) opens your past chats, Projects and Settings
• ✏️ New chat icon (usually top right)
• A voice conversation button (it often looks like a sound wave or headphones) lets you have a spoken, back-and-forth chat, just like a phone call

The answer itself

When ChatGPT replies, you’ll often see small icons underneath the answer:

• Copy 📋: copies the answer so you can paste it into an email or document
• Try again 🔄: asks for a different version of the same answer
• 👍 / 👎: tells the company whether the answer was good (optional)

💡 Tip: You don’t have to use any of these. Simply typing “try again” or “make it shorter” works just as well.

Try it: a little treasure hunt

Tick each one as you find it:

• ☐ The message box
• ☐ The + (add file or photo) button
• ☐ The microphone
• ☐ New chat
• ☐ Your list of past chats
• ☐ Settings

Found them all? You now know your way around better than most people. Next: the important bit, your safety settings.