Windows Codex Desktop: archived tasks cannot be deleted, are missing from the web archive, and the archive-first workflow is misleading

What version of the Codex App are you using (From “About Codex” dialog)?

26.908.9136.0

What subscription do you have?

Business

What platform is your computer?

Microsoft Windows 11, x64 (build 26200)

What issue are you seeing?

Codex Desktop on Windows currently provides no working user-facing method to permanently delete an individual task/thread.

This is not a single missing button. It is a combination of three separate problems that together make deletion impossible and make the intended data-retention behavior unclear.

Problem 1: The Windows desktop app does not provide a Delete action or an archived-task manager

A task created in Codex Desktop has an overflow menu containing actions such as Rename, Pin, Mark as unread, and Archive.

There is no Delete action.

Selecting Archive removes the task from the active sidebar. However, the Windows app's Settings page has no “Archived chats,” “Archived tasks,” or equivalent section. Therefore, after a task has been archived, the user cannot:

• view it in the Windows app;
• restore it through the visible UI;
• permanently delete it;
• inspect where it is stored;
• determine whether it exists locally, in the account, or in both places.

The user is forced to leave the Windows desktop application and search for another interface merely to perform the basic action of deleting a task created in that application.

Problem 2: The documented browser workaround does not contain the archived Codex task

The OpenAI Help Center currently describes the following deletion workflow:

1. Archive the Codex chat.
2. Open Settings.
3. Open Archived chats.
4. Delete the archived chat using the trash icon.

Because the Windows app has no Archived chats page, I signed in to chatgpt.com using the same Business account and workspace.

I then opened:

Settings → Data controls → Archived chats → Manage

The browser archive contained regular ChatGPT conversations, but it did not contain the task that had just been archived in Codex Desktop.

I tested the archive after selecting both modes shown at the top of chatgpt.com:

• Chat
• Work

Switching between Chat and Work did not change the contents of the Archived chats list. The archived Codex Desktop task remained absent.

The task was successfully removed from the active Windows sidebar and is still registered in the Windows host's archived-task state. Therefore, the task was archived rather than deleted. However, neither the Windows app nor the browser provides a visible way to access and permanently delete it.

The result is a dead end:

• The Windows app can archive the task but cannot display or delete archived tasks.
• The browser can display archived ChatGPT chats but does not display the archived Codex Desktop task.
• The user cannot permanently delete the task through either interface.

Problem 3: Requiring “Archive” before “Delete” is misleading and insufficiently explained

Even if the browser synchronization worked, the required archive-first workflow would still be confusing.

“Archive” normally means retaining or preserving data. It is conceptually different from, and often the opposite of, permanent deletion.

A user who wants to delete a conversation should not first be required to select an action that appears to preserve that conversation.

The interface does not explain what happens when Archive is selected. In particular, it does not explain whether archiving:

• creates or retains a local copy;
• creates or retains an account-side copy;
• synchronizes the task with OpenAI systems;
• changes the applicable retention period;
• changes how the task is processed;
• affects data used by connected applications;
• changes any data-use setting or consent;
• moves the task between storage locations;
• merely hides the task from the sidebar.

I am not claiming that clicking Archive necessarily grants additional legal consent. The problem is that the UI does not provide enough information for the user to determine what the action does.

Users should not have to read terms of service, search Help Center articles, inspect local application storage, or experiment with different products merely to understand whether a conversation is being hidden, retained, synchronized, or deleted.

Archive and Delete should be independent actions with clearly described consequences.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

1. Open Codex Desktop on Windows.
2. Create a disposable task or select an existing disposable task.
3. Open the task's overflow menu.
4. Observe that Archive is available but Delete is not.
5. Select Archive.
6. Confirm that the task disappears from the active sidebar.
7. Open the Windows app's Settings page.
8. Observe that there is no Archived chats or Archived tasks section.
9. Open chatgpt.com in a browser.
10. Sign in with the same account and select the same Business workspace.
11. Open Settings → Data controls → Archived chats → Manage.
12. Observe that the archived Codex Desktop task is not listed.
13. Close the settings dialog.
14. Switch from Chat to Work.
15. Reopen Settings → Data controls → Archived chats → Manage.
16. Observe that the archived Codex Desktop task is still not listed.
17. Return to Codex Desktop.
18. Observe that the task is no longer in the active sidebar and that the app still provides no interface for permanently deleting it.

Actual behavior

• Codex Desktop provides Archive but no Delete action.
• Codex Desktop has no visible archived-task manager.
• The task becomes hidden from the active sidebar.
• The archived task does not appear in the ChatGPT web archive.
• Switching the website between Chat and Work does not make it appear.
• The user has no visible way to permanently delete the task.
• The UI does not explain what Archive does to local or account-side data.

What is the expected behavior?

At minimum, Codex Desktop should provide all of the following:

1. A direct Delete action in each task's overflow menu.
2. A confirmation dialog before permanent deletion.
3. An Archived tasks page in the Windows app.
4. A Delete action for each archived task.
5. An option to delete all archived tasks.
6. Clear wording that distinguishes hiding, archiving, local deletion, and account-side deletion.
7. A clear explanation of which local and remote data will be removed.
8. Consistent behavior between Codex Desktop and chatgpt.com.

If OpenAI intentionally requires archiving before deletion, the archived Codex task must appear in the documented archive-management interface. The UI must also explain why archiving is required and what happens to the data during that intermediate state.

Preferably, Archive and Delete should be independent actions. A user who intends to delete a task should not be required to archive it first.

Additional information

Observed on 2026-09-17.

Official documentation describing an archive-first deletion workflow:

https://help.openai.com/en/articles/20001333-how-to-archive-and-delete-codex-chats-in-the-chatgpt-app

Related issues:

• #46182 reports archived Codex cloud tasks displayed in a desktop Archived Chats screen with only an Unarchive action. This report is different because this Windows build exposes no Archived Chats screen at all, and the web archive also omits the archived task.
• #35783 reports an inability to delete and missing synchronization on macOS.
• #25753 requests a direct Delete action next to Archive.
• #43197 describes a different Windows failure in which an Archived chats page exists but its Delete action fails.

This report is specifically about the current Windows build having no archived-task management UI at all, while the ChatGPT web archive does not contain the archived Codex Desktop task.

No conversation contents, account identifiers, local filesystem paths, task IDs, session IDs, or screenshots containing private workspace information are included in this report.

Reproduce the workflow in Codex Desktop on Windows: archive a task, inspect Settings for archived-task management, then compare it with chatgpt.com under both Chat and Work. Trace the desktop archive state and its relationship to the web archive before proposing a solution. Done means users can find, restore, and permanently delete archived tasks with clear behavior and confirmation.