Ask Vista preferences and memory

Preferences tell Ask Vista who you are and how you like to work. Add a few lines once, such as your role, the brands you manage and how long captions should be, and Ask Vista uses them in every chat. You stop repeating yourself, and answers come back in the format you want from the first message.

This article covers how to add Preferences, how "remember that" works, how to import what ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini already knows about you, and the other settings that control what Ask Vista remembers.

What are Preferences?

Preferences are a short note about you that Ask Vista reads before every reply. They are:

• Personal. Only you see your Preferences, and they only shape your chats. Your teammates have their own.
• Used in every chat. Every chat you start uses them, including chats in Slack and Microsoft Teams. Agents follow their own instructions instead, so put anything an agent needs in the agent itself or in Brain.
• Short. You can save up to 4,000 characters, which is plenty for 20 to 30 clear lines.

Good things to put in your Preferences:

• Your role and team: "I'm the social lead at Northwind Agency and manage three restaurant brands."
• Answer format: "Show numbers as tables, with last week next to this week."
• Writing style: "Keep captions under 150 characters unless I ask for long form."
• Defaults: "When I say 'my clients', I mean the profile groups I manage."
• Habits: "I post to LinkedIn on Tuesdays and Thursdays."

How to add Preferences in Settings

1. Open Ask Vista by pressing X on your keyboard.
2. Click Settings in the Ask Vista sidebar.
3. Under Preferences, type a few lines about you and how you like answers. Put one idea on each line.
4. Click Save.

Ask Vista uses your Preferences from your next message. The counter under the box shows how many lines and characters you have used.

Say "remember that" in any chat

You don't have to visit Settings to add a preference. In any chat, start a sentence with "remember that" and Ask Vista adds it for you. A small confirmation shows what changed, with Undo if it got it wrong and View to open your Preferences.

Try saying:

• "Remember that I always want engagement rate, not raw likes."
• "Remember that our TikTok audience is mostly 18 to 24."
• "Remember that I prefer British spelling."
• "Forget the line about British spelling."

You can also ask Ask Vista to update or remove a line: "Change my caption limit to 200 characters."

Import what ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini knows about you

If you already use another AI assistant, it has probably learned a lot about how you work. Bring that over in about a minute instead of typing it again.

1. In Ask Vista Settings, click Import next to "Bring what ChatGPT or Claude knows."
2. Copy the prompt and send it to ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini. You can also open it there with the prompt filled in.
3. Paste the full answer back into Ask Vista.
4. Ask Vista sorts the answer into lines. Untick anything you don't want to keep.
5. Click Add to save the lines to your Preferences.

Ask Vista skips lines that don't help with your social media work, and you can review those too. If the import would take you over 4,000 characters, untick a few lines or shorten your Preferences first.

Memory, sounds and your home page

Ask Vista settings include a few more options under For you:

• Memory: When Memory is on, Ask Vista can look up your past chats and offer one when it's relevant. When it's off, Ask Vista only uses the chat you are in. Preferences still apply either way.
• Sound notifications: Plays a sound when a reply is ready, so you can work on something else while Ask Vista finishes a longer task.
• Open Ask Vista first: Uses Ask Vista as your home page instead of the dashboard.

Preferences or Brain?

Preferences and Brain both shape how Ask Vista answers, but they do different jobs.

• Preferences are about you and how you like answers. Only you see them, and they shape your chats. Examples: your role, answer format, caption length.
• Brain is about a brand or client. Your whole team shares it, and it shapes all chats and agents for that profile group. Examples: products, prices, FAQs, brand voice, escalation rules.

When the two disagree, Brain wins. For example, if your Preferences say "use emojis" but a client's Brain says "never use emojis," Ask Vista follows the client's rule. Put anything about a client, their products or their voice in Brain, not in your Preferences.

Important notes

• Don't put passwords, API keys or other secrets in your Preferences.
• Preferences belong to your user, so they follow you across every workspace and profile group you can access.
• Preferences don't change what you can see or do. Ask Vista always works with your permissions.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Can my teammates see my Preferences?

A: No. Preferences are only for you. Use Brain for rules and facts the whole team should share.

Q: How long can my Preferences be?

A: Up to 4,000 characters. Short, specific lines work best.

Q: How do I remove something Ask Vista remembered?

A: Click Undo on the confirmation right after it saves, ask Ask Vista to "forget" the line, or open Settings and delete it from your Preferences.

Q: Which AI assistants can I import from?

A: The import prompt works with ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini, and with most other assistants that can answer a prompt.

Q: What happens when I turn Memory off?

A: Ask Vista stops looking up your earlier chats and only uses the chat you are in. Your Preferences still apply.

Q: Do Preferences work in Slack and Microsoft Teams?

A: Yes. Ask Vista uses your Preferences wherever you chat with it.

Q: Do my agents use my Preferences?

A: No. Agents follow the instructions you gave them, so they behave the same no matter who looks at the results. Put rules an agent must follow in the agent's instructions or in Brain.

Need help?

Reach out to our support team, and we are happy to help.

Related Reading:

Getting started with Ask Vista

Introducing Ask Vista

Brain (formerly AI Training & Knowledge): Getting Started

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