OpenAI Shares 5 ChatGPT Work Prompts That Can Save Hours Every Week

OpenAI's ChatGPT Prompts: A large part of the day disappears into reading emails, checking messages, preparing meetings, updating spreadsheets and chasing pending tasks.

With the launch of ChatGPT Work, OpenAI is positioning its artificial intelligence (AI) model as more than just a chatbot. The tool is designed to act like a digital workplace assistant. It can connect with the apps and files users choose to share, pull together information from different sources, and prepare useful outputs such as reports, presentations, spreadsheets, websites and meeting briefings.

The shift reflects a broader change in how people are using AI. OpenAI says ChatGPT Work and Codex now have more than 10 million active users, suggesting professionals are increasingly relying on AI to complete meaningful tasks rather than simply answer questions.

To help users get started, OpenAI has shared five practical prompts that can simplify everyday office work and free up valuable time.

Start The Day With A Complete Briefing

Instead of opening multiple apps every morning, users can ask ChatGPT Work to review emails, calendar events, unread workplace messages and pending tasks from the past 24 hours.

The prompt asks the AI to identify urgent work, highlight pending decisions, point out anything at risk of being missed and create a realistic plan for the day. It also instructs ChatGPT to cite the source of every important update and avoid taking any action without the user's approval.

Create Weekly Updates In Minutes

Preparing weekly status reports often means searching through emails, meeting notes and project trackers.

Using a single prompt, ChatGPT Work can review project emails, messages, meeting notes, shared documents and task trackers to draft a concise weekly update. It summarises completed work, ongoing tasks, key decisions, current roadblocks and priorities for the following week while flagging anything that appears unclear or contradictory.

Clean Up Messy Spreadsheets

Spreadsheet maintenance can be one of the most time-consuming office tasks.

ChatGPT Work can review a spreadsheet for duplicate entries, missing information, inconsistent formatting, broken formulas and unusual data. It creates a cleaned version without changing the original file, explains every correction, highlights important trends, generates suitable charts and identifies items that still require manual verification.

Catch Up After Taking Leave

Returning from a holiday or business trip often means reading hundreds of messages.

ChatGPT Work can review emails, messages, meetings and shared files from a selected period and prepare a concise summary. It groups related updates together, highlights important decisions, identifies changes that need attention and lists the highest-priority tasks, while citing the source of each update.

Walk Into Meetings Fully Prepared

Preparing for important meetings becomes easier with AI.

The prompt asks ChatGPT Work to review the meeting agenda, previous notes, related emails, shared documents and available performance data. It then creates a briefing covering the background, recent developments, unresolved issues, likely discussion points and decisions that may need to be taken. It also suggests five relevant questions to ask during the meeting.

OpenAI says users remain in control of what ChatGPT Work can access. The company recommends connecting only the apps and files required for a particular task and clearly specifying which actions need user approval before anything is sent or changed.

The company also advises users to begin with one repetitive task that consumes too much time. Providing clear instructions, sufficient context and the expected output helps ChatGPT Work handle routine preparation, allowing professionals to spend more time on decision-making and high-value work.