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ChatGPT File Upload Not Working? Fixes and Upload Limits

Short answer: If ChatGPT won't upload a file or can't read it, first check OpenAI Status, then check OpenAI's file size and upload-rate limits. OpenAI had a file upload incident on November 3, 2026 (00:46 to 05:39 UTC) and marked it resolved.

TL;DR: quick fix

Check if ChatGPT is down for everyone.
Check the file against OpenAI's limits: 512 MB per file, 2 million tokens per text or document file, about 50 MB for CSV files and spreadsheets, and 20 MB per image.
If you see "upload limit reached", wait until the retry time shown in the message.

Is ChatGPT down?

Before you change settings, check OpenAI Status. If there's an outage, wait it out.

How to fix it: step by step

Check whether ChatGPT is down for everyone: open status.openai.com. OpenAI says to check its status page for incidents that may affect uploads, and its November 3, 2026 incident "File upload errors in ChatGPT" is now marked resolved.
Check the file against OpenAI's limits: 512 MB per file, 2 million tokens per text or document file, about 50 MB for CSV files and spreadsheets, and 20 MB per image.
If you see "upload limit reached", wait until the retry time shown in the message. OpenAI allows up to 80 files every 3 hours (Free users: 3 uploads per day), may lower limits at peak times, and says failed attempts can count toward the limit.
Confirm you're signed in to the correct account and subscription plan.
On the web, open Settings > Storage to check saved-file storage. Storage is capped at 25 GB per user and 100 GB per organization, and is separate from the upload-rate limit.
Use a supported format: DOCX, PDF or TXT for documents (export a Google Doc as PDF or DOCX first), XLSX, XLS, CSV or TSV for spreadsheets, and PPTX for presentations.
If it still fails, contact OpenAI Support with your account email, a screenshot, the time and time zone, your platform or browser, and the request ID if shown.

FAQ

Was ChatGPT file upload down today?

Yes, for some users. OpenAI's status page says some users had trouble uploading files to ChatGPT or getting ChatGPT to read uploaded files from 00:46 UTC on November 3, 2026 (7:46 PM ET on November 2). OpenAI applied a mitigation and marked it resolved at 05:39 UTC (12:39 AM ET).

Why does ChatGPT say "upload limit reached" when I barely uploaded anything?

OpenAI says failed upload attempts can sometimes count toward the rolling upload-rate limit, and that ChatGPT doesn't currently show how much of that quota you have left. Wait for the retry time in the message.

Can I upload a Google Doc to ChatGPT?

Not directly. OpenAI says you can't upload a .gdoc file; export it as PDF or DOCX and upload that.

How many files can I upload on the free plan?

OpenAI says Free users are limited to 3 file uploads per day.

More ChatGPT fixes

Last checked Nov 3, 2026 against the official help page: OpenAI Help Center. Menus can differ by app version; follow the official page if a step doesn't match.