I clicked the button expecting it to behave like archiving behaves in Gmail, Notion, or basically any application built in the last 20 years—that is, to remove the item from my main list while preserving access via a dedicated "Archived" section.

Instead, the conversation disappeared. It’s gone from my Recents list. Search doesn’t return it. There’s no visible “Archive” view in the sidebar. There’s no undo, no tooltip, no warning, no recovery. Just… gone.

I dug around and found a Reddit thread about this from 2023. https://www.reddit.com/r/ChatGPT/comments/18ihp2t/chatgpt_archive_button_cant_restore_conversations/ It’s now mid-2025. The issue hasn’t been addressed, and the button still behaves like a silent data trap. No changes. No documentation. No acknowledgement.

What’s baffling is that this isn't some edge case—it’s a core UI action on a product used by millions. One that many trust for long-form thinking, drafts, brainstorming, coding, and deeply personal work.

And yes, I’m aware OpenAI devs are paid top-of-market salaries. I’ve seen the Levels.fyi breakdowns. But I’m not here to rant about that—I’m here to ask a very basic question:

Why is a destructive, unlabeled, and irrecoverable UI action still in production after two years?

If anyone at OpenAI sees this: Please either remove the button or make it behave like an archive.

Some of us out here don’t have infinite resources or second chances. And we use these tools to think. When they discard our work, they discard more than just words.