Import history from claude.ai

Import brings a copy of your claude.ai conversations and projects into Claude Desktop on third-party (3P), along with any Cowork and Claude Code sessions already on this machine from an earlier install. Everything lands in the local session store described in User identity and local data, so you can pick up work you started on claude.ai and continue it against your organization’s own inference provider. Each import is a one-time copy. New activity on claude.ai after you import does not appear in Claude Desktop unless you import again, and importing from claude.ai again does not create duplicates. To take your Claude Desktop data to a new device, see Move your data to another device.

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Automatic import of earlier third-party sessions

Claude Desktop can automatically copy into your history the Cowork, Chat, and Code sessions it stored on this computer under an earlier third-party configuration. In an organization managed from the Enterprise Admin Console, this automatic copy is on unless it’s turned off in your organization’s settings. In any other deployment it runs only if your administrator turns it on. Along with the sessions, the automatic copy brings over other things you had under the earlier configuration:

• Projects: your Cowork projects. New tasks use a project’s instructions only after you accept them.
• Memory and instructions: your Cowork memory, unless you paused it, and your global instructions. New tasks use them right away. Your Instructions for Claude (Settings → General) come over too. Instructions you already set under the new configuration are kept.
• Scheduled tasks: your scheduled tasks from Cowork and Code. Each stays on or off as it was.
• Uploaded plugins: plugins you uploaded, unless your administrator has turned off plugin uploads (userPluginUploadsEnabled). Each stays on or off as it was.
• Saved skills: skills you saved, unless your administrator has turned off skill creation (skillCreationEnabled).
• Your organization’s optional plugins: the ones you had turned on are turned on again, if they come from your organization’s plugins directory or from a marketplace hosted at the address of its gateway or bootstrap server. With Claude Desktop 2.42304.0 or later, plugins from other marketplaces, such as a git repository, are turned on again too, if your administrator offers the marketplace from the same repository or URL as before. On a computer where the copy already ran, they’re turned on the first time the app starts on 2.42304.0 or later.
• Artifacts: your Cowork artifacts.

The copy runs once on each computer, in the background shortly after the app starts, and the sessions then appear in the sidebar. Your original sessions stay where they were, and sessions you already imported are skipped. The copy is listed under Import history in Settings → Import & export, where the Remove button deletes the copied sessions and the projects copied with them. The app doesn’t copy them again later. Use the import wizard for your claude.ai conversations and projects, and for any local sessions the automatic copy left out.

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Before you open the import wizard

• Your administrator has turned import on by setting claudeAiImport with enabled set to true in the managed configuration. The import wizard is off by default; until then, Settings → Import & export has no Import… button and reports that import isn’t enabled for this deployment. The automatic import of earlier third-party sessions doesn’t depend on this setting.
• If your administrator lists the claude.ai organizations you may import from, with allowedOrganizationUuids under claudeAiImport, you can import only by signing in to claude.ai, and only from a listed organization. A sign-in to any other organization or to a personal account is refused, and the wizard’s options to import from a file or from earlier sessions on this computer are turned off. The automatic import of earlier third-party sessions isn’t affected by this list.
• Claude Desktop is installed and running in third-party mode. See Installation and setup.
• To bring history over from a claude.ai Team or Enterprise workspace, an owner of that workspace has enabled member data export, which isn’t possible in a HIPAA-ready organization. Personal claude.ai accounts can always export.

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Enable member data export (admins)

On Team and Enterprise workspaces, member data export is off by default. To enable member data export, a workspace owner goes to Organization settings > Data and privacy on claude.ai and turns on the Allow members to export their own data toggle. Members of the workspace can then export their own conversations. The toggle does not expose one member’s data to another; each member can download only their own history.

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Open the import wizard

In Claude Desktop, go to Settings → Import & export and click Import… to open the Import from Claude wizard. The wizard has three steps: Chats (your claude.ai export), Cowork & Code (local sessions on this machine), and Review. Skip any step you don’t need. A fourth step, Duplicates, appears after the import only when an imported project has the same name as one you already have. See If a project already exists.

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Step 1: claude.ai chats and projects

You can pull your claude.ai history straight into the wizard by signing in, or download it from claude.ai yourself and choose the file. Click Continue, or Skip this step if you only want to bring in local sessions.

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Step 2: local Cowork and Code sessions

The wizard scans this machine for Cowork and Claude Code sessions from an earlier Claude Desktop install and lists what it finds. Choose how far back to include, and add any other folder that holds sessions (for example, a backup or a folder copied from another machine). On Windows, the folder has to be on a local disk. The wizard can’t import one from a network share or a mapped network drive, so copy it to the computer first. Sessions are copied, not moved. Your original history stays where it is. If you add the same folder again, the wizard skips the sessions it marks as already imported and copies the rest. A session that changed after you imported it is copied again as a separate session, and a project can arrive a second time with a number after its name, such as Northwind (1). On Claude Desktop versions before 3.1623.0, the wizard copies every session again. To undo an import, go to Settings → Import & export and click Remove next to it under Import history.

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Step 3: review and import

The Review step summarizes what will be added. Click Import to copy everything into your local session store.

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If a project already exists

When an imported project has the same name as a project already in Claude Desktop, the wizard adds a Duplicates step after the import finishes. This happens, for example, when you set up Northwind on this machine and then bring over history from another machine that also has a Northwind project. The step lists each match with two choices.

• Merge into existing moves the imported chats and sessions into your existing project and removes the duplicate. Folders you attached to the duplicate move with them. If your existing project has no instructions of its own, the imported project’s instructions are shown there for you to review and accept. Later imports from the same source go into the existing project as well, except from a folder you added, where the wizard asks again. For a Claude Desktop export, the wizard also asks again unless you click Import as my own each time.
• Keep separate leaves both projects in place. The imported one keeps a numbered name, such as Northwind (1), and Claude Desktop stops offering to merge it.

The Projects page offers the same two choices, in a row under the duplicate project’s card and at the top of the duplicate project’s own page. Decide there if your history was brought over automatically when you signed in, so you never saw the wizard, or if you closed the wizard before choosing.

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Continue an imported conversation

Open any imported conversation from the sidebar and keep chatting. The first time you send a message in an imported session, Claude Desktop asks you to confirm before it continues. The reply then comes from your configured inference provider, not from claude.ai.

• A session from this app’s earlier third-party configuration on this computer shows a Continue this conversation? prompt. Click Continue to send your message.
• Any other imported conversation or session shows a Resume imported session? prompt. Click Trust and resume to continue.

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Make an imported project folder readable in Chat

When an import brings over a project, it puts a folder on the project. In Chat, Claude can’t read that folder until you add it to the project again. Add the folder once for each imported project. Importing the project again doesn’t make its folder readable. If you remove the import under Import history in Settings > Import & export, or archive the project, and then import from claude.ai again, the new project uses the same folder. Add the folder to the new project again. Your administrator can also limit which folders Claude reads. See Project folders in Chat.

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Move your data to another device

There are two ways to take your work to a new device. Your administrator copies your data, or you export it to a zip file and import the file on the new device. Ask your administrator which way your organization uses. For an export, they must first turn on export and import. Your data stays on the old device, so keep that device until you finish the move. For an export, both devices need Claude Desktop 4.23118.0 or later, the same operating system (macOS, Windows, or Linux), and the same organization. If either device runs an earlier version, update it first. Otherwise, the export moves only sessions, their output files, and project names.

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What a Claude Desktop export moves

Moves:

• Chats and Cowork tasks
• Their attached files and output files. If a session has more than 100 MB of either, those files don’t move.
• Memory, including project memory. If you paused memory on the old device, it’s in the file but isn’t imported.
• Some app preferences, such as keep-awake settings and prompt suggestions

Moves, but needs a step from you:

• Projects. Accept each project’s instructions on the project’s page.
• The files of each project whose folder is in the default location, ~/Claude/Projects, if they total under 100 MB and 10,000 items. To use them in Chat, add the folder to the project again. Hidden files and symbolic links don’t move, and some files arrive under another name, such as CLAUDE.md.txt.
• Code sessions and Code scheduled tasks. Copy and trust their folders before you import.
• Skills you saved, plugins you uploaded, and scheduled tasks. Turn on the ones you want.
• Local MCP servers that you added, if your organization allows them. Enter the values of their environment variables again.

Doesn’t move:

• Other folders that your projects, Cowork tasks, and Cowork scheduled tasks use. Copy them yourself, then choose them again, or ask your administrator to copy your data.
• The settings Global instructions (Settings > Cowork) and Instructions for Claude (Settings > General). Copy their text to the new device yourself.
• Artifacts
• Sign-ins, saved API keys, connectors, and tool permissions such as Always allow and Blocked
• Desktop extensions, other plugins and marketplaces, plugin settings, other app preferences such as language, theme, and notifications, environment variables for Code sessions, and the values of environment variables for the local MCP servers that you added
• Plugins that you uploaded in the Code tab on a version before 4.23118.0. Upload them again on the new device.
• On Windows, Code sessions and Code scheduled tasks whose folder is on a mapped network drive
• Claude Code sessions that you started in a terminal, and Claude Code’s own settings and plugins

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Export your data from the old device

1. Go to Settings > Import & export and click Export….
2. Select how far back to include sessions, then click Export.
3. Choose where to save the zip file.
4. Check the last screen, which lists what the export left out.
5. Copy the zip file to the new device in a way that your organization allows.

If the export shows an error or leaves out something that you need, see Problems when you move to another device.

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Import your data on the new device

Set up Claude Desktop on the new device first. The import adds to the data there and replaces nothing. If you import the same file again, you don’t get duplicates. If you export again, a session that changed on the old device since the last export arrives as a separate session.

1. If you use the Code tab, copy the folders of your Code sessions and Code scheduled tasks to the same paths on the new device, or to the same place under your new home folder if its path changed. Then open each folder in the Code tab and click Trust workspace.
2. Go to Settings > Import & export, click Import…, click Choose file…, and select the zip file.
3. Continue to the Review step and click Import.
4. When Claude Desktop asks whether the file is your own export, click Import as my own. Click it only for a file that you made yourself. Import sessions only imports the sessions, and only the projects and attached files that they use.
5. If the file has local MCP servers, a second dialog lists up to five of them with their commands. If you click Add, Claude Desktop tries to start all the listed servers right away, so click it only if you recognize every command. If a message then says that a server couldn’t start, close it and finish the import. If you click Don’t add, the rest of the import continues.
6. Note the folders that the last screen lists. If it lists Local MCP servers not imported yet, import the same file again.
7. Finish the setup:
   • Accept each project’s instructions.
   • Copy your folders, and add them again under Context in each project.
   • Turn on the plugins, skills, and scheduled tasks that you want.
   • Set up your local MCP servers.
   • Reconnect your connectors.

If the import shows an error, or something is missing afterward, see Problems when you move to another device.

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Turn on imported plugins, skills, and scheduled tasks

Plugins, skills, and scheduled tasks from an export file are turned off, even if they were on before. The import’s last screen names the ones that were on. Before you turn on a scheduled task, turn it off on the old device, or it runs on both devices. Turn on the ones you want:

• Plugins: go to Customize > Plugins. Enter any keys or settings the plugin needs.
• Skills: go to Customize > Skills
• Cowork scheduled tasks: go to Scheduled in Cowork. If a task used folders or files, choose them again.
• Code scheduled tasks: go to Routines in the Code tab

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Set up imported local MCP servers

The programs that the servers run don’t move, and each server’s command keeps the paths of the old device. Install the programs at the same paths, or change the paths in the config file. Tools that you blocked on the old device aren’t blocked on the new one. To block them again, go to Customize > Connectors. The export leaves the values of these servers’ environment variables empty. Until you enter the values, a server might not work, or might run without a limit that you set in a variable. To enter the values or change a path:

1. Go to Settings > Developer and click Edit config to find the config file.
2. Quit Claude Desktop. If you edit the file while the app is open, the app can overwrite your changes.
3. Open the file in a text editor, make your changes, and save it. The values are in the same file on the old device.
4. Open Claude Desktop again.

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What a claude.ai import includes

For an export file from another device, see What a Claude Desktop export moves.

• Your data only. An export contains your own conversations, projects, and memory. Other workspace members’ content is not included.
• Chats and projects come over. Each imported project appears on the Projects page. If the project has custom instructions, Claude Desktop shows them in the project for you to review and accept before they take effect. In Chat, Claude can’t read a folder that the import put on a project until you add the folder to the project again.
• Artifacts come over as files. For artifacts Claude created in a conversation, and files Claude wrote with its file-creation tool, the import saves the final version as one of the imported conversation’s output files. Earlier versions aren’t kept. Past a size limit, the rest of a conversation’s artifact content isn’t imported, and the conversation says so.
• Project knowledge files and conversation attachments do not. A member’s own export never includes the contents of files uploaded to a project’s knowledge or attached to a conversation. This is a security policy on claude.ai, and it applies to both the Sign in to claude.ai and Choose a downloaded file paths. Imported chats keep the messages that referenced an attachment, but not the file itself. The only export that includes file contents is an organization-level export, which only a workspace owner can request.
• One-time copy. Imported history does not stay in sync with claude.ai. Run the import again to pick up newer conversations; existing imports are matched and skipped, so you won’t get duplicates.
• Download links expire. The email link from claude.ai is valid for 24 hours. Request a new export if it lapses.

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Troubleshoot an import or export

For an export file from another device, see Problems when you move to another device. Claude Desktop runs each claude.ai import through the Claude CLI binary, the helper program that also runs your conversations. Unless your organization deploys the offline installer, Claude Desktop downloads the version of the binary it needs separately from the app, when you start a new conversation or task. If this computer doesn’t have that version when you click Import, Claude Desktop 4.23118.0 or later tries to download it first, and the wizard shows Downloading the program that converts your chats… while you wait.

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The import can’t start until a one-time download finishes

The wizard shows this message when this computer has no version of the Claude CLI binary that can import a claude.ai export, and the download isn’t finished. If you sign in to fetch the export, the message can appear right after you click Fetch export, under Couldn’t fetch your export. A running download continues after the message appears. Running the import again retries a failed download. Wait a few minutes, then run the import again. If the message comes back, ask your administrator to follow Cowork workspace or Claude CLI fails to download and to leave any earlier version of the binary in place.

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Import failed with a code under the message

When an import fails and the wizard has no specific message for the cause, it shows a code, such as IMPORTER_EXIT, with Import failed, Your claude.ai export didn’t import, or Couldn’t import this export. If you can import only by signing in, the message asks you to sign in and fetch the export again. On Claude Desktop versions before 4.23118.0, the wizard shows no code, and if you can choose a file, it shows That doesn’t look like a claude.ai export for these failures. Your claude.ai export can still be valid. If you import with Choose file…, use each .zip file as you downloaded it, not renamed or compressed again. On Windows, keep each file’s full path under 260 characters, for example by moving it to your Downloads folder. If you signed in to fetch the export and the wizard still shows Import, click it again without closing the wizard. Closing the wizard deletes the fetched export. There’s a limit on how often you can fetch an export. In any other case, run the import again from Settings > Import & export. If the import still fails, go to Help > Troubleshooting > Generate Diagnostic Report before you quit Claude Desktop, and click Export to file. Review what the report contains, then send your administrator the report’s .zip file and the code, if the wizard shows one. Your administrator can pass them to your Anthropic representative.

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That doesn’t look like a claude.ai export

Choose the .zip file of your claude.ai export as you downloaded it. If the export came as more than one .zip file, choose all of them together. On Claude Desktop versions before 4.23118.0, the message can also appear after you click Import on the Review step. Your claude.ai export can still be valid. Close the wizard, send any message in a new conversation or task, and wait for the reply, so the import can run on the current version of the Claude CLI binary. Closing the wizard deletes an export that you fetched by signing in, so fetch it again. Then follow the steps in Import failed with a code under the message. These versions show no code.

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Importing a claude.ai export needs a newer version of this app

On Claude Desktop versions before 4.23118.0, the wizard shows this message, under Update Claude to import from claude.ai, when this computer has only an earlier version of the Claude CLI binary that can’t import a claude.ai export. You don’t need to update or reinstall Claude Desktop. To download the current version of the binary, follow these steps: If the message is still there, ask your administrator to follow Cowork workspace or Claude CLI fails to download and to leave the earlier version of the binary in place, because your conversations run on it until the download succeeds.

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Problems when you move to another device

If a move to another device goes wrong, find the message or the problem that you see:

• Settings > Import & export has no Export… button. Ask your administrator to turn on export and import.
• This export is over the import limit of 20 GB or 5,000,000 files. If the dialog offers Shorten date range, click it, select a shorter range, and click Export. If it doesn’t, delete sessions from the last 30 days that you no longer need and export again. To move all your sessions, ask your administrator to copy your data.
• The export stopped before it finished, and no file was saved. Click Try again. If it stops again, ask your administrator to copy your data.
• The export’s last screen lists items that you need. On Windows, close other programs and export again, because the export can leave out a file that another program has open. If the items are still listed, ask your administrator to copy your data.
• Couldn’t read that file. Choose a different zip. On Windows, if you chose the file from a network path such as \\server\share, copy the file to a local folder on the new device, or choose it from a mapped network drive such as Z:\. Otherwise, copy the file from the old device again, or export again.
• That export was made in another organization. Choose an export made in this organization. Ask your administrator to check that both devices are in the same organization.
• Only your sessions were imported. Import the same file again, and click Import as my own when Claude Desktop asks. If it doesn’t ask, update both devices to Claude Desktop 4.23118.0 or later and export again.
• Sessions that you imported before are missing their attached files. An export from a version before 4.23118.0 has no attached files, and a later import doesn’t add files to a session that’s already there. Under Import history in Settings > Import & export, remove the earlier import, then import the new file. This also deletes the projects that the earlier import made and anything that you added to those sessions since. A session that isn’t in the new file doesn’t come back.
• A Code session or a Code scheduled task is missing. On Windows, if its folder is on a mapped network drive, it doesn’t move. Ask your administrator to copy your data, or create the task again. Otherwise, copy its folder and trust it, then import the file again. If a Code scheduled task is still missing, create it again.