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## Move a user to a new device ### What the user sets up again ### Requirements for the new device ### Copy the data to the new device
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9797The app deletes whole sessions in the background. A chat or Cowork task is deleted with its attached files and outputs, and a Code session with its conversation. Projects, memory, and the files in a Code session's working folder stay, and Code sessions on an SSH host are not affected. A session that is running or open on screen is skipped until a later pass. To suspend all automatic deletion for some users, for example under a legal hold, set [`sessionRetentionHold`](/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/configuration#sessionretentionhold) to `true` for them. While the hold is on, nothing is deleted, and a device that gets its configuration from a server and cannot reach that server also deletes nothing. These keys require Claude Desktop 1.52386.0 or later.
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99## Move a user to a new device
100
101On devices that get their managed configuration from MDM, you can move a user to a new device by copying their data. The copy moves:
102
103* Chats, Cowork tasks, and Code sessions
104* Projects, project instructions, and memory
105* Scheduled tasks, skills, and plugins
106* Attached files
107
108### What the user sets up again
109
110Ask the user to:
111
112* Sign in to the inference provider, if the app asks
113* Reconnect each connector
114* Enter the environment variables for Code sessions from their original source, because the app masks saved values
115* In each project they use from Chat, add folders and file links again
116* Set command permissions for plugins
117
118### Requirements for the new device
119
120The new device needs:
121
122* The same platform (macOS, Windows, or Linux) and CPU architecture as the old device
123* The same OS user name and home-directory path. Otherwise, Code sessions, scheduled tasks, plugins, and project folders stop working.
124* The managed configuration, with the same [`deploymentOrganizationUuid`](/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/configuration#deploymentorganizationuuid), in place before Claude Desktop launches
125* The same Claude Desktop version, or a newer one
126
127### Copy the data to the new device
128
129<Warning>
130 The copy holds full conversations and can hold unencrypted secrets, such as [cloud credentials in Cowork session working directories](#transient-credential-files). Encrypt any intermediate copy, restrict access to it, and delete it when you're done.
131</Warning>
132
1331. Quit Claude Desktop on both devices. Closing its window isn't enough.
1342. If the new device has an application-data directory (see [Where data lives](#where-data-lives)), delete it. This removes anything the user created in it.
1353. Copy these to the same paths. On Windows, use a copy tool that supports paths longer than 260 characters.
136 * The application-data directory, except these files in it, which the app creates again when it needs them:
137 * `host-creds-*.json` and `ccd-session-secrets/`, which hold unencrypted credentials and can remain after a crash
138 * `spaces-present/*/*/link-key`, `ccd-environment-config.json`, and `cowork-enabled-cli-ops.json`, which the new device can't decrypt. If you copied them, quit Claude Desktop on the new device, then delete them.
139 * `~/Claude/`, or `~/Documents/Claude/` on legacy installs
140 * `~/.claude/` and `~/.claude.json`
141 * The folders and repositories that the user's projects, scheduled tasks, and Code sessions use
1424. Make the user the owner of the copied files, with read and write access. Give no other user account access to the application-data directory, `~/Claude/` or `~/Documents/Claude/`, `~/.claude/`, or `~/.claude.json`.
1435. Have the user launch Claude Desktop, and confirm that their chats, Cowork tasks, Code sessions, and projects appear. If they don't, check that the managed configuration has the old device's `deploymentOrganizationUuid` and that the user owns the copied files. Soon after launch, a scheduled task runs once if it recently missed a run.
1446. Have the user [set up what the copy doesn't move](#what-the-user-sets-up-again).
1457. If the old device stays in use, its enabled scheduled tasks run on both devices. Retire the old device, or turn off its scheduled tasks in Claude Desktop there. To remove the user's data from it, see [Removing data](#removing-data).
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99147## Removing data
100148
101149To fully reset a device's Claude Desktop on 3P state, delete the application-data directory above and the `~/Claude/` user-files folder. Code session transcripts are in Claude Code's store at `~/.claude/projects/`, which Claude Code in the terminal also uses, so delete them there separately if you need to remove them. For [SSH remote sessions](/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/ssh-remote-sessions#host-requirements), transcripts are in `~/.claude/projects/` and attached files in `~/.claude/uploads/` in the SSH user's home directory on the remote host. Claude Desktop also copies those transcripts to the device, into folders in `~/.claude/projects/` whose names start with `ssh-`, so delete them in both places.
third-party/claude-desktop/import Changed · +2 / -0 lines
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148148When your administrator also sets `exportEnabled` to `true` under `claudeAiImport`, **Settings → Import & export** offers **Export…**, which writes this computer's chats, Cowork tasks, and Code sessions (not terminal Claude Code sessions) to a zip file. On the other device, open the import wizard and select that zip with **Choose file…**; the wizard lists its sessions in the [Cowork & Code step](#step-2-local-cowork-and-code-sessions). The export is a one-time snapshot, not a sync, and the zip contains full conversation content, so handle it as sensitive data.
149149
150The zip includes sessions, project names, and each session's output files when they total 100 MB or less. It leaves out project instructions, memory, scheduled tasks, skills, plugins, and attached files. To move those, your administrator can [copy your data to the new device](/docs/third-party/claude-desktop/data-storage#move-a-user-to-a-new-device). Sign-ins and connector connections don't move either way.
151
150152## What is and isn't included
151153
152154* **Your data only.** An export contains your own conversations, projects, and memory. Other workspace members' content is not included.