Import your data from Claude for Government Web

Who this is for: Anyone who used Claude for Government Web (the web app) and now uses Claude Desktop connected to Claude for Government.

The import copies your conversations, their attached files, and the projects you created, including each project’s files and instructions. It does not copy projects that other people shared with you.

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Before you begin

Transcript

Claude Desktop is installed and connected for you by your agency. You sign in with your work account. No separate Claude account is needed.Open Claude. The sign-in screen says the app runs through your organization. Choose Sign in with your organization.Claude shows a pairing code, and opens your browser. The code works for a few minutes. If it expires, just start again.In the browser, enter your work email and select Continue. Then sign in the way you always do at your agency.Next comes the system use notification. Read it, and acknowledge it.Compare the code with the one in Claude, then select Approve. The page confirms you’re signed in. Go back to Claude.You arrive on Home. Home and Code sit at the top of the sidebar, above your projects and recent chats.If your organization offers both Chat and Cowork, you pick one in the message box. The model picker is at the bottom right. Your seat decides which models it lists, so a colleague may see others.Code is for software work, in a folder you choose on your computer.If you can sign in but the model picker is empty, you have no seat yet. Ask your organization’s owner to assign you one.

• You have an account on the web app. It must use the same work email address as your account in Claude Desktop.
• You are signed in to the web app in your default browser. The import opens a browser tab there and asks for a one-time code, which expires after a few minutes.

For administrators: Anthropic enables the import for each organization. If a member’s Import & export page says import is not enabled and their app is up to date, contact your Anthropic representative. The import needs Claude Desktop to download a component, so on a network that blocks downloads.claude.ai, deploy the offline installer described under Installer and packaging in the Windows fleet checklist. To remind members to run the import, turn on the Show the Claude for Government Web import banner switch on the Config page.

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Run the import

Transcript

If you used Claude for Government - Web, you can copy your chats and projects into Claude Desktop. First, sign in to the web app in your browser with the same work email you use in Claude Desktop.In Claude Desktop, open Settings from the account menu at the bottom of the sidebar, then Import and export, and select Import. The app does not prompt you to do this. Run it when you are ready.Select Sign in to Claude for Government Web, then Sign in. Claude shows a one-time code and opens the web app in your browser.In the browser tab that opens, sign in if you are asked, enter the code from Claude, and approve the connection. Then go back to Claude.Check that the email shown is yours, then select Fetch export. The web app gathers your chats and projects, and Claude downloads them.Select Continue, review what will be added, then select Import. When it finishes, the dialog reports what came over. Select Done.Your conversations appear in the sidebar with their files, and your projects under Projects with their files and instructions. Projects other people shared with you do not come over.Imported chats open in Chat. The first time you continue one, Claude asks whether to resume the imported session. Select Trust and resume to continue the conversation.A project that had instructions shows a notice. Claude won’t follow imported instructions until you accept them: select Review instructions, check them, and save, or choose Use as is.The import only copies. Your chats and projects stay in the web app too. You can run it again, and chats already imported are skipped. If the Import page says import isn’t enabled, ask your administrator.

You start the import yourself from Settings, whenever you are ready. If Claude Desktop’s home screen shows a Pick up where you left off in Claude for Government Web banner, its Start import button takes you to the Import & export page in Settings. If you click Skip for now or close the banner, it can come back a few days later, until you run the import or have skipped it a few times. Claude Desktop versions earlier than 2.16120.0 hide the banner permanently after one skip.

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Continue an imported conversation

Imported conversations open in Chat. The first time you send a message in one, Claude Desktop shows a Resume imported session? prompt. Click Trust and resume to continue.

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Review imported project instructions

If a project had instructions in the web app, open it after the import. Its page shows a notice that the instructions came from an import, and Claude does not follow them until you accept them. Click Review instructions to edit and save them, or Use as is to accept them unchanged. They then appear under Instructions on the project’s page.

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Remove an import

To delete what an import added, open Settings, then the Import & export page. Under Import history, click Remove next to the import, or Remove all to remove every import listed. Before you confirm, the dialog shows how many conversations and projects it will delete.

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Troubleshooting

For anything else, try the import again; if it keeps failing, contact your administrator.

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Things to know

• You can run the import again. Conversations you already imported are skipped.
• Conversations can arrive as Cowork tasks. If Chat in Claude Desktop is turned off for your organization under Product availability when you run the import, your conversations are imported as Cowork tasks instead and open only on computers where Cowork is available.
• Projects other people shared with you are not imported. Only the projects you created come over, with their files and instructions.