Click a question, get the exact clicks. Checked against the July 2026 desktop build.
Two questions about any job on your plate: does this need my judgement, or just my time? › does it repeat?
Hand over first what eats time, runs the same way each time, and does not need your judgement to reach a first draft. Enquiry replies. Notes into a summary. This month's numbers in last month's shape.
Keep anything where the judgement is the work: pricing, the hard conversation, the final read before it goes out with your name on it. And note that it drafts, it does not send. You keep the last call even on the jobs you hand over.
the full test, with a week sorted →
Next: set up a project for it → · keep it once it repeats →
Projects in the sidebar › New project top right › Start from scratch, Import from a Claude project, or Use an existing folder › name it.
Already have a claude.ai project with your business docs in it? Import from a Claude project brings its files and instructions across, so you are not retyping what you already set up.
Name it after an area of your business, not a job. "Clients" still makes sense in six months. "Quote for Sarah" won't.
why a chat window is not a system →
Next: connect its folder → · give it standing instructions →
Open the project › Project or folder under the message box › Add a folder, or type its name to search.
Put the documents you keep re-explaining in there: your offer, your pricing, who you serve, how you write. Desktop only.
folder, instructions and memory compared →
the four files it needs from you →
Next: what to put in instructions → · why this beats a clever prompt →
Open the project › Instructions panel on the right › the pencil ✏️.
Three things belong there: what the project is for, where files get saved, and the corrections you're tired of making.
what belongs in project instructions →
Next: rules for everything instead → · instructions vs memory →
Settings › Cowork › Edit next to Global instructions › type › Save.
For things true across your whole business: spelling, tone, formats you never want. If it's only true for one area, put it in that project's instructions instead.
Next: rules for one project only →
The mode selector in the message box, next to Project or folder › pick a mode.
Manual asks before each action. Auto lets Claude self-review for safety, and uses more of your usage. Skip runs without checks. Stay on Manual while you're learning.
Next: the rest of keeping it safe → · why Auto costs more →
New in the sidebar › pick the project in Project or folder › describe what you want done.
Picking the project first keeps the sidebar tidy. Started it in the wrong place? Move it →
picking the right project first →
Next: make the project first → · started it in the wrong place? →
Hover the task › click the ⋮ that appears › Pin. Or press P.
Pinned is for current work only. Unpin (same clicks) the moment it's finished.
Next: pin a project, or reorder → · unpinning on a Friday →
Projects and artifacts pin the same way: hover › ⋮ › Pin. To reorder: hover a pinned item › ⋮ › Move up / Move down.
Order it deliberately: this week's work at the top, reference cards like this one at the bottom.
ordering Pinned so it means something →
Next: pinning a single task →
Hover the task › ⋮ › Rename. Or press R.
Verb, object, qualifier: "Draft July newsletter" beats "Newsletter". Rename the moment a task stops matching what you first asked.
naming so you can find things →
Next: why naming is what makes search work →
Hover the task › ⋮ › Change project › type the first letters of the project's name.
Works any time, even on tasks from before you had projects.
the twenty-minute filing pass →
Next: then group the sidebar by project →
The magnifier 🔍 at the top of the sidebar › type what you remember.
This is why renaming matters: you'll search for your words, not Cowork's auto-name.
why naming is what makes search work →
Next: rename it so you find it next time →
Drag it into the message box, or use the + to upload.
For anything you'll use repeatedly, put it in the project's connected folder instead. Uploading is for one-offs.
Just type. You don't have to wait for it to finish.
Course-correct early. Watching it go the wrong way for ten minutes and starting again costs you more than one sentence now.
Highlight the text in the draft › click Edit with Claude › say what to change.
Far better than "rewrite it but change the third paragraph", which usually changes everything else too.
Open the Cowork tab in the mobile app. Your tasks are there, same as on desktop, and you can reply directly.
The rule that decides what actually works: connectors keep working with your laptop shut, local folders do not. A task using Gmail, Calendar or Drive runs fine while you are out. A task that needs a folder on your computer needs the desktop app awake on that computer.
Two ways to work from your phone. Either keep the files it needs in Drive, so the whole thing runs in the cloud. Or start the task at your desk with the folder connected, leave the desktop awake, and reply from the Cowork tab while you are out.
cloud sessions and local files →
Next: set up Gmail, Calendar or Drive → · why a scheduled task cannot see files →
Ask for it plainly: "put this in a spreadsheet with a tab per month and a total row".
It can build real formulas, conditional formatting and multiple tabs, not just a table. Say what you want it to calculate, not just what to list.
Point it at the source: "turn these meeting notes into a ten-slide deck for a client".
Give it the audience and the length. Without those it defaults to something generic.
Say the format and where it goes: "write this as a Word document and save it to clients/acme".
Naming the destination folder in your project instructions once saves you saying it every time.
Ask for it as an artifact: "save this as an artifact called Weekly Numbers". Find it under Artifacts in the sidebar.
Artifacts are for things you reopen: dashboards, trackers, reference cards. This card is one.
Next: one that updates itself →
Ask for a live artifact instead of a plain one: "build this as a live artifact, refreshing from [folder or connector]". It gets its own Live artifacts tab in the sidebar, not buried inside a chat.
Different from the artifact above: a live artifact pulls current data each time you open it and keeps a version history, so a sales tracker or bookings dashboard stays current without you asking again.
Worth knowing it exists. A live dashboard that still holds up in three months — right numbers, right places, doesn't break when a spreadsheet changes shape — is a build job, not a prompt. That's the kind of thing I set up in Prism.
Next: a plain one you just keep →
The filter icon top right of Recents › Group by › Project.
Set once. While you're there, set Status to Active so finished work stops crowding the list.
why grouping by project works →
Next: file the strays first → · archive what is done →
Hover the task › ⋮ › Archive. Or press A.
Archive, not Delete. Archive keeps it retrievable. Delete needs your explicit confirmation and is permanent — treat it as gone the moment you click it.
archive versus delete, in full →
Next: retire a whole project → · rescue it before you archive →
Open the project › the Memory panel on the right, under Instructions.
Instructions are what you decided. Memory is what has accumulated. Check Memory before rewriting instructions. Memory works in projects only, and nothing from your ordinary Claude chats carries in.
Next: instructions are the other half → · memory about you, not the project →
Projects › the project's ⋮ › Archive. It moves to the Archived tab at the top of the Projects view.
Archiving removes it from the interface only. Your folder and every file in it stay exactly where they are on your computer.
what archiving does and does not remove →
Next: archive a single task instead →
There's no merge. Paste this into the messy task first:
"Write a handover note to [folder]/handover-[topic].md. Cover what we decided and why, what we tried that didn't work, what's still open, and the exact next step. Assume the reader has no memory of this conversation."
Then Archive it, start fresh in the right project, and open with "read the handover note and pick up from the next step".
Next: then archive the old one → · start the fresh one properly →
Some suggestions, not rules — take what fits how you work:
Claude also asks your explicit approval before permanently deleting any file, whichever mode you're on.
Anthropic's own safety guidance →
Next: set the approval mode → · connector permissions →
Open the task › click the ⌄ next to its name at the top › Turn into skill.
The second-time rule: the second time you ask for something, keep it. Get the output right first; a messy task makes a messy skill.
the second-time rule explained →
Next: or teach it by showing → · or a schedule, if the calendar decides →
Type /schedule in the task, or open the task › ⌄ next to its name › Schedule. Prefer to be walked through it: Scheduled in the sidebar › New task › Create with Claude asks a few multiple-choice questions and builds it for you.
You decide when → skill. The calendar decides → schedule. Scheduled tasks run remotely, so they go ahead whether or not your computer is on.
A routine that's wrong once a month in a way you don't notice is worse than no routine. If you want a schedule built and checked properly rather than set-and-forget, that's exactly what I do in Prism.
Next: or a skill, if you decide when → · if it cannot find your files →
Because it is set to run on your computer, and your computer was asleep.
Open Scheduled and turn on Keep awake. Tasks marked as running on your computer only run while it is awake and online. If the laptop has to be shut, build that routine around files in your Claude account and your connectors instead.
Next: back to setting one up → · connectors work with the laptop shut →
Ten minutes on a Friday: unpin the finished › file the strays › archive the done › rename the vague › ask what you repeated this week.
Worth scheduling as a task itself.
Next: unpin the finished → · file the strays → · keep what you repeated →
Settings › Connectors (under Customize) › pick the one you want. The + in the message box also reaches them.
Each connector can be set to Always allow, Needs approval, or Blocked. Start anything that writes or sends on Needs approval.
Next: which ones to leave on approval → · why these keep working from your phone →
Settings › Skills (under Customize) › Browse for ready-made ones, or Add to make your own.
Add gives you four ways: Create with Claude, Write skill instructions, Upload a skill, or Record your screen. The last one is the easiest by a distance. See below.
Next: the easiest way, by a distance → · turn a finished job into one →
Settings › Plugins (under Customize) › Browse to find one, or Add to install your own.
A plugin is a bundle of skills, and sometimes connectors, installed in one go. The list shows how many skills each one brings and when it was last updated.
Settings › Usage.
Worth a look before you start something long. Auto approval mode uses more than Manual, because Claude reviews its own actions as it goes.
Next: Manual uses less than Auto →
Settings › Memory (under Customize) › type it into the box at the bottom.
This is about you and carries across your work. A project's own Memory panel is separate and stays inside that project.
Next: a project has its own, separate →
Settings › Skills › Add › Record your screen. It also sits in the + menu as Record a skill.
Do the job once at normal speed and talk through it as you go, saying why as well as what: "I am checking this first so the invoice matches the quote." Claude watches, then writes the skill for you. No prompt to craft, nothing technical.
Two cautions. Claude sees your whole screen, so close anything with client details, passwords or private messages first. And stay on task; every click gets recorded, so wandering off makes a worse skill.
Paid plans only, and at the time of writing this was a Mac feature.
The second-time rule still applies here. Record the job once you know it repeats, not the first time you do it — you're still working out what you actually want on attempt one.
Next: the second-time rule → · the other three ways →
Mostly you do not. You give it what it is missing.
A long, clever instruction is what you write when the tool does not know your business. Once your offer, pricing, clients and voice are in a project folder, the ask gets shorter: "draft a reply to this enquiry" is enough, because everything it needed was already there.
Say what you want and who it is for, then correct the first draft rather than engineering the request. The corrections are worth keeping, so put the recurring ones in the project instructions.
Next: give it your business instead → · park the recurring corrections →
Nothing matches that. Try one word: pin, folder, skill, archive...
Every answer on this card is yours to use, free. But if what you want is the outcome rather than the project, that is what I am for — one tool set up properly around your actual business, instead of five half-implemented.
Cowork artifacts can't be shared between accounts, so you make your own copy. About a minute:
Save this file as an artifact called How Do I, exactly as it isP to pin it.You just used an artifact and the pin. Two answers from this card, done already.