ChatGPT Quick Start Guide.

Install the desktop app for the broadest agent features. Work handles supported multi-step tasks in a browser, but some newer agent features are desktop-only. OpenAI app guide.

1. Go to chatgpt.com/download. On a phone, search ChatGPT and confirm the publisher is OpenAI.
2. Install the app for your device: Mac, Windows, iPhone or Android.
3. Open the app and choose Log in. Enter your full campus email address, the one ending in .edu.
4. Finish your campus sign-in.

Signed in with a personal email? Log out and sign in again with your .edu address so you get your campus plan and its data privacy.

Quick win: Connect an approved document service, find five recent documents and ask for a one-line summary of each.

A Project is a folder for chats, files and instructions about one job. Every new chat in it starts with that context, so you stop re-explaining.

1. Pick one recurring job, such as a course, committee or weekly report.
2. Create a project and name it after that job.
3. Add two or three reference files and a few lines of instructions.
4. Move related chats into the project. They pick up its instructions and files.

Share a project with Edit or Chat access when a colleague needs the same context. Use approved, de-identified files and follow your student-data policy.

Raise effort only after a result fails your check. Higher effort takes more time and usage. Menu labels and models vary by account and campus settings.

Open the AI Model Value Map→

Family and model: Apple’s A-series includes different chip tiers. The iPhone 16 uses A18, while the iPhone 16 Pro uses A18 Pro. Similarly, GPT-6 Luna and GPT-6 Sol offer different capability tiers within an AI family.

Version: A newer chip generation can be both more powerful and more efficient. Apple reported that A18 Pro offered up to 15% faster CPU performance, or the same workload using 20% less power, compared with A17 Pro. AI releases can improve capability and efficiency in a similar way. Apple’s announcement

Effort: The same chip can handle a quick calculation or spend more computation processing a video. Likewise, you can give an AI model Low, Medium, or High effort, even for the same question.

Usage: Moving from Luna to Sol can cost more per token. Increasing effort generally uses more reasoning tokens and takes longer. A stronger model does not necessarily use more tokens, but each token can be more expensive. OpenAI’s reasoning guide

Choose the capability the task needs, then give it enough effort to produce a reliable result.

In the desktop app, open your profile menu > Settings > Usage & billing. Check that you are in CES ChatGPT. The monthly credits, five-hour limit and weekly limit are separate controls; read each remaining amount and reset time.

This allowance covers ChatGPT Work and Codex on plans that share credits. Regular Chat has separate limits. Credits are billing units, not tokens or a fixed number of messages. If a limit is reached, follow the reset or request options shown in your account; campus settings determine access.

1. Open Scheduled when available, or describe the task and when it should run.
2. Choose a one-time or recurring schedule. Supported connected apps may offer event triggers.
3. Review the account, sources, instructions and permissions before relying on a run.
4. Check results and paused tasks in Scheduled.

Computer-bound tasks need that device available. Cloud tasks have different requirements. If a task's model retires, update it before the next run.

In the desktop app, select the Customize icon circled on page 1, then choose Plugins. Select Public to browse, CES ChatGPT for shared CES tools, or Personal for plugins you created or received.

1. Select CES ChatGPT. Open the plugin or use its + button, then choose Install plugin if prompted. Complete any required app connection.
2. Start or open a chat in Work. In that chat, type @ and select the installed plugin, or use + > Plugins where shown. Then describe the task.
3. For example, select AI Token Saver (ChatGPT Only) and ask: Help me choose a model and effort for this task. In a supported Codex task view, use Sources > Use plugins.

Installing a plugin adds it to your toolbox. Selecting it in a chat brings it to that chat’s workbench, so it can help with the current task using only the connections and permissions available there.

Example: If both apps are available and connected, select Outlook Calendar and SharePoint in one chat. Ask: “Find three open 30-minute slots next week and use our SharePoint kickoff brief to draft an agenda. Cite the brief. Don’t schedule an event or edit the document.”

Open the CES setup guide→

Also check Calendar, SharePoint, Slack, Teams and Notion. Availability varies. Use approved campus services and de-identified examples; follow your student-data policy.

1. Name one repeated task and its required result.
2. Use Skill Creator where available. Describe the goal, steps and output format.
3. Test with de-identified examples and refine the instructions.
4. Share where your workspace permits. Name a maintainer and provide example prompts.

Good first skills: meeting notes to action items, policy-template checks or clearer help articles.

• Name the task, the tools and the result you want.
• Ask ChatGPT to challenge your request if it is unclear.
• Keep a short handoff in each project: done, next and open questions.
• Verify facts and saves before you rely on them.
• Search for an existing tool before you build one.
• Add one new habit at a time.

Custom GPT retirement is scheduled for December 11, 2026.

Follow your account or campus notice. For affected Enterprise workspaces, October 26 is the planned end of new GPT creation.

Codex is a third mode for code, tests and repositories. It is a great tool if you want to use AI to create an app or website. Try it once Chat and Work feel routine.

Use Codex only with code and data your campus allows. Review every change before you use it.