ChatGPT Projects visible on chatgpt.com but missing from desktop sidebar after ChatGPT/Codex merge (macOS 26.707.30751)
What version of the Codex App are you using (From “About Codex” dialog)?
ChatGPT Desktop 26.707.30751
What subscription do you have?
ChatGPT Plus
What platform is your computer?
macOS
What issue are you seeing?
After updating to the new ChatGPT desktop application that integrates Codex, my ChatGPT Projects no longer appear in the desktop sidebar.
The projects are still available on chatgpt.com, and chats inside those projects can be found using the desktop app search and opened normally. However, the Projects section itself is missing from the desktop application, which only displays local Codex projects/workspaces.
What steps can reproduce the bug?
- Install or update to ChatGPT Desktop 26.707.30751 on macOS.
- Sign in with an account that already has multiple ChatGPT Projects.
- Open the desktop application.
- Observe that the sidebar only shows Work/Codex projects.
- Open chatgpt.com in a browser using the same account.
- Observe that all ChatGPT Projects are present in the web interface.
- In the desktop app, use Search to find a chat that belongs to one of those projects.
- The chat is found and opens correctly, but the corresponding Project is still not displayed in the sidebar.
What is the expected behavior?
The desktop application should display the same ChatGPT Projects that are available on chatgpt.com.
If project chats are searchable and accessible from the desktop application, the associated ChatGPT Projects should also be visible and navigable from the desktop sidebar, providing the same organizational experience as the web interface.
Additional information
Environment:
- macOS
- ChatGPT Desktop 26.707.30751
- ChatGPT Plus
Additional observations:
- No ChatGPT Projects have been lost.
- All projects are visible on chatgpt.com.
- Project chats are searchable and can be opened from the desktop app.
- The issue only affects the desktop sidebar.
I also inspected ~/.codex in read-only mode.
Findings:
- state_5.sqlite is consistent with the local rollout files.
- No evidence of a missing local index.
- No synchronization failures detected.
- No local cache of ChatGPT cloud Project IDs was found.
This suggests the issue is likely related to how the new desktop application renders the sidebar after the ChatGPT/Codex merge, rather than data corruption or synchronization failure.
12 Comments
Potential duplicates detected. Please review them and close your issue if it is a duplicate.
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Ran into the same - based on the "potential duplicates" seems like this is a multi-platform bug affecting a large number of users.
https://community.openai.com/t/where-did-my-chatgpt-projects-go/1386177/2
I had ChatGPT desktop app and Codex app both installed. Removed both and installed the new unified ChatGPT + Codex app - chose the Codex logo.
MacOS 2026-07-09 version, Version 26.707.31428
Sidebar has the Work/Codex switcher, New task, Scheduled, Plugins, Sites, Chat, Projects (Codex), Tasks
After a brief panic attack, I realized I am still able to see my Pinned, Projects, and Chats in the web browser version. Immediately started an "Export all my data".
Expected: Desktop App lists Codex Projects separately from ChatGPT Projects.
I have a very similar issue on Desktop 26.707.31428 (macOS).
In my case, it is not only Projects that are missing.
The desktop application only shows Work and Codex.
There is no Personal workspace at all, so I cannot access:
Personal chat history
Personal Projects
Everything is still available on chatgpt.com with the same account.
I have already submitted in-app feedback:
Feedback ID: no-active-thread-019f4e12-a37c-74e0-bd71-bd762d498c9e
<img width="540" height="1004" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/1fe23d5a-5e38-437e-a12b-7ed28b1e52a4" />
I can confirm that I am experiencing the same issue on macOS.
Additional observations from my testing:
I initially thought my projects had been deleted.
To verify this, I restored ChatGPT Classic from Time Machine. After signing in with the same account, all projects immediately reappeared.
This strongly suggests that the project data still exists and that the issue is limited to how ChatGPT Work displays existing ChatGPT Projects.
Same Problem. No solution.
Confirming I'm seeing this on:
macOS
ChatGPT Desktop 26.707.62119
ChatGPT Plus
Additional observations:
Browser shows all Projects correctly.
Desktop Recent Chats popup shows my conversations.
Existing conversations open normally.
New conversations sync immediately with the browser.
The desktop app downloaded local project- and conversation- data.
Renaming/rebuilding ~/Library/Application Support/com.openai.chat did not resolve the issue.
Feedback ID:
no-active-thread-019f5b23-5ccd-7ce3-bf7b-b1930fccc435
I also confirmed the following:
The desktop app downloads local project-g- folders and conversation- folders under ~/Library/Application Support/com.openai.chat.
Opening chats from the Recent Chats popup loads the full conversation correctly.
New messages created in the desktop app appear immediately in the web app.
This suggests the data sync is working and the issue appears isolated to the sidebar/project navigation UI.
I can confirm I'm seeing the same issue on the latest version.
Environment
Additional observations
New conversations sync correctly.
This suggests conversation synchronization is working, but the desktop app is not displaying or synchronizing the ChatGPT Project containers.
Same issue confirmed by the support who went silent after I bought them print screens. 2 upgrades to the desktop app followed since, and none really solved the issue. OpenAI should have learned from the mistake Antigravity did with its migration from v1.x to v2.x, yet it seems they were too busy building stuff, from learning from them not to mess with their users experience, confuse them, and make fun of their time and investment... Yes we all know we can use the old app, but to make this merge without properly migrating existing projects in ChatGPT, to CHATpgt Work side of the app, is a bad move, and a poor decision in the OpenAI development team!
I confirm the same infuriating experience!
macOS Tahoe 26.5.2
ChatGPT Powered by Codex & OWL Version 26.707.62119
Released Jul 12, 2026
This makes the desktop app completely worthless until resolved.
Same class of issue on Windows 10 here. Adding another data point:
This feels like the new sidebar only implements the "Chat" and "Codex" navigation views without porting over the "Projects" section from the ChatGPT Classic sidebar. Since projects are a first-class organizational primitive in the web app, this is a significant workflow gap for anyone who uses Projects to organize their chats.
Same problem here