AI Tools Field Guide

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Beginner — Use AI tools at work

Projects and libraries, tool by tool

Lesson 10 of 16≈4 min

Each tool now has two places to keep things. A project is a desk for one job: files, standing instructions and the chats about it. A library is a shelf: every file you uploaded or made, across all your chats. Use a project for work you return to, and the library to find a file again.

Side by side

Checked on the public products, 25 September 2026.

ChatGPT Grok Gemini Claude
Projects Yes Yes Not on the public app; use a Gem for saved instructions and files Yes
What a project holds Chats, files (Sources tab), instructions, a memory setting Chats, files, instructions, and its own automations Chats, knowledge files, instructions (Anthropic)
Share button on a project Yes Yes
Library Files you can attach to any chat (Add library files) Media, projects, apps and files, with Upload files Documents and media Gemini made for you

Features spread between vendors every month, so treat the blanks as "not seen on this date".

ChatGPT

ChatGPT's Create project dialog: a project name box, the note that projects keep chats, files and custom instructions in one place, a Default memory setting and a Create project button.
Create project: a name, the reminder that "projects keep chats, files, and custom instructions in one place", and a memory setting, shown as Default memory. Open it before you press Create project; it decides how the project uses ChatGPT's memory of your other chats.

Screenshot by the author, 25 September 2026.

Inside a new ChatGPT project named New: a Share button and a menu at top right, a chat box reading New chat in New with the Instant setting, Chats and Sources tabs, and No chats yet, Chats in New will live here.
Inside a project: a Share button, a chat box that already knows the project (set here to Instant, the fast model), and Chats and Sources tabs.

Screenshot by the author, 25 September 2026.

The files go under Sources, the instructions under the menu at top right. In the plus menu of any chat, Work in a project starts a chat inside one and Add library files pulls a file from the Library without uploading it again.

Grok

Grok's Create Project dialog: a project name box, an Add button for files, and Create.
Create Project in Grok: a name, and Add for files. Instructions come after.

Screenshot by the author, 25 September 2026.

A new Grok project named Project 1: a chat box on the left, and on the right the project's settings: Instructions to customize Grok's responses, Your Automations to schedule recurring tasks that run in this project, and Files for Grok to use in this project, with a drop zone.
A new Grok project and its settings: Instructions, Your Automations (recurring tasks that run inside this project) and Files.

Screenshot by the author, 25 September 2026.

A Grok project can carry its own automations, so a Monday summary can run inside the project that holds the files it summarizes. From any chat, the plus menu offers Add to project.

Grok's Library: tabs for All, Media, Projects, Apps and Files, an Upload files button, and Your library is empty, upload files to keep them within reach.
Grok's Library, with tabs for Media, Projects, Apps and Files.

Screenshot by the author, 25 September 2026.

Gemini

Gemini's Library page, empty: Any documents or media you create will appear here, with a New chat button.
Gemini's Library, from the sidebar, empty: "Any documents or media you create will appear here."

Screenshot by the author, 25 September 2026.

Gemini has no projects on the public app. For the same job, build a Gem: a saved helper with instructions and files, which GPTs, agents and skills covers.

Which one to use

You want to… Use
Keep one job's files and rules together for weeks A project (ChatGPT, Grok or Claude), or a Gem in Gemini
Find the chart you made last Tuesday The Library
Reuse one file across many unrelated chats ChatGPT's Library, then Add library files
Run a weekly job over a project's files A Grok project's automations

Vendor facts checked ; re-verify before relying on them.