Getting Started with Claude

During sign-up, Claude may ask you to select a department and pick focus areas. Skip these or pick anything. They do not matter.

During setup, your admin may handle part of this centrally. If Claude asks for generic profile details, you can skip them or pick anything.

Download on all your devices

• Desktop (required): Go to claude.com/download and install for Mac or Windows. This is where you'll spend most of your time.
• Mobile: Search "Claude by Anthropic" in the App Store or Google Play.
• Web: Bookmark claude.ai — always available.

Sign in on every device with the same email. Your conversations, Projects, and preferences sync automatically.

Claude gets better when it has access to the information you already work with. Start with your main platform, then add the other tools you use often.

Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace

• Open Claude (web or desktop app).
• Click the menu icon (bottom-left) to open Settings.
• Go to Settings → Connectors.
• Find Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace and click Connect.
• Sign in with your company credentials and click Accept.

All connector permissions are read-only by default. Claude can search and read your files but cannot edit, delete, or send anything unless you later enable a tool that allows it.

For Teams accounts, connector access still follows your own permissions. Claude can only see what you already have access to.

Connect everything else

Once your main file system is connected, add the other services that matter. I’d start with read-only access until you know how you want to use it. Common connectors include:

• Slack — search messages and channels
• Notion — search your wiki, docs, and databases
• Asana / Jira / Linear — search tasks and project boards
• GitHub — search repos, issues, and PRs
• Salesforce / HubSpot — search CRM data and contacts

If a connector is not listed, ask Claude whether it supports that service. Anthropic changes the connector list often.

Memory helps Claude remember your preferences, working style, and useful context over time. Without it, you end up repeating yourself. Memory is not on by default, so switch it on during setup.

• Open Claude (web or desktop app).
• Click the menu icon (bottom-left) to open Settings.
• Go to Settings → Capabilities.
• Find the Memory toggle and switch it on for both "Search and reference chat" and "Generate memory from chat history". If you don't see these exact options, search for "Memory" in Settings — Anthropic occasionally reorganises the settings layout.

Once enabled, Claude builds up useful context based on your conversations. Each Project also builds its own separate memory, which helps keep work organised.

Once enabled, Claude builds up useful context for your account and your Projects. Teams users still keep their own private chat history and memory.

Your memory is private to your account. Other users and admins cannot see it. You can view and edit what Claude has remembered at any time in Settings → Capabilities → View and edit memory.

Projects are where Claude starts becoming useful for ongoing work. Each Project has Project Instructions for context, plus Project Knowledge for reference material. When you work inside a Project, Claude has a much better sense of your world.

The easiest way to do this is to let Claude draft the Project Instructions for you. Once your connectors are live, ask it to review your setup and build a first pass.

Claude will pull together a first draft based on the material it can access. Review it, fix anything that feels off, and paste the final version into your Project instructions. It saves time and gives Claude a better starting point than writing from scratch.

To create a Project:

To create or join a Team Project:

• Click Projects in the left sidebar.
• Click Create Project.
• Add a Project name and short description so it is easy to recognise later.
• Paste the instructions Claude has generated into the Instructions field.
• Upload any reference docs, templates, policies, or playbooks to Files.

• Click Projects in the left sidebar.
• Create a Team Project or open the one your admin has already made.
• Add a Project name and short description so it is easy to recognise later.
• Paste the instructions Claude has generated into the Instructions field, or review the version your admin prepared.
• Upload key reference docs, templates, policies, or playbooks to Files.

Tip: Star your main Project so it stays easy to find. For work tasks, start inside a Project. Outside of one, Claude is missing most of the context that makes it useful.

Tip: Create your Projects in chat first so they are available on web and mobile as well. You can then bring that same Project into Cowork later.

• Open your Project.
• Click Start a new chat.
• Ask your question or describe your task.

• Open your Team Project.
• Click Start a new chat.
• Ask your question or describe your task.

Example prompts by role

Sales / Business Development

• "Research [company name] and assess whether they'd be a good fit for our services"
• "Draft an introductory email to [prospect] focusing on [value proposition]"
• "Search SharePoint/Drive for the latest proposal template"

Operations / Delivery

• "Pull up the latest documents for the [project name] project"
• "What are the compliance requirements for our next quarterly report?"
• "Draft a project status update for [project] covering milestones and risks"

Leadership / Strategy

• "Draft a weekly update covering this week's progress across all projects"
• "Summarise our pipeline status across all active engagements"
• "Draft board talking points for our Q2 strategy review"

Searching company files & the web

Claude can search SharePoint, Google Drive, Outlook, Gmail, and other connected services directly. It can also search the web for research and current information. For anything important, check the source yourself.

Cowork takes Claude beyond chat. Instead of just answering questions, Cowork lets Claude work directly on files sitting on your computer — reading, organising, creating, and editing documents in a folder you choose.

How to use Cowork

Work in a project means giving Claude access to a specific folder on your computer so it can read, create, and organise files for the task you want done. A clean way to start is to create a new folder in your Documents folder for the work you want Claude to help with.

• Open the Claude desktop app.
• Click the Cowork tab at the top.
• Click Create Project, then choose Import from chat so you can bring in the Project you already set up.
• Click "Work in a project" and select a folder. If you are not sure where to start, create a fresh folder in Documents for this work.
• Select your Project so Cowork has the same company context as your chat-based setup.
• Describe your task. Claude will plan and execute.

Ideas to get started

• Sales: "Read these five prospect briefs and create a summary spreadsheet with company name, size, industry, and fit score."
• Ops: "Organise the files in this folder by project, rename them consistently, and flag any that look incomplete."
• Leadership: "Turn my rough notes into a polished weekly update — professional, concise, and quantified where possible."

Scheduled Tasks

Cowork can run tasks on a schedule at set times. To set one up, open the left-hand menu in Cowork and use the scheduling option in the interface.

• Daily Brief (Monday–Friday, 8am): "Scan my inbox, calendar, and Teams/Slack. Summarise what needs my attention today, prioritised by urgency."
• Weekly Wrap (Friday, 4pm): "Scan this week's emails, calendar events, and messages. Compile a polished weekly business update with key wins, risks, and next steps."

Automations

Automations are useful for recurring work that you want Claude to handle in the background. Start with one or two simple routines, then expand once you know what is useful.

Tip: Tell Claude your timezone early by saying something like "My timezone is AEST." That helps with scheduled tasks and time-based summaries.

Once you have the basics working, you can extend Claude with plugins and skills. Think of these as ways to give it more specific capabilities for the kind of work you do.

Anthropic's built-in plugins

Check the plugin marketplace in Cowork for ready-made tools that cover common workflows like productivity, marketing, design, and admin work.

• Open Cowork in the Claude desktop app.
• Open the Plugins or Marketplace area from the left-hand side.
• Browse the available plugins by category or search for the type of workflow you want help with.
• Review what each plugin does, what access it needs, and whether it fits the way you work.
• Install the ones that look useful, then test them on simple tasks first.

Build your own skills

The part that tends to matter most is building skills that match your own workflows. That could be a prospect research routine, a meeting prep process, a reporting format, or anything else you repeat often.

Examples include prospect research briefs, weekly updates, compliance checklists, client onboarding flows, meeting prep packs, and project status dashboards.

Once you spot a workflow you repeat a lot, that’s usually the moment to turn it into a skill. Start simple, then build from there.

Organisational Settings

If you are on Claude Teams, the Primary Owner should review the organisational settings early. This is where you control what your team can access and which shared capabilities are available to everyone.

• Open your Teams admin or organisational settings area as the Primary Owner.
• Review feature access for things like Claude in Chrome, Dispatch, Code, and any other advanced capabilities your team may or may not need.
• Turn on the features that make sense for your business and leave the rest off until you are ready.
• Upload your Global Skills so everyone on the team can access the same shared workflows and standards.
• Test those shared skills with a few real tasks, improve them, then roll them out more broadly across the team.

Anthropic ships quickly. New features appear often, names change, and access can vary by plan. Treat this section as a guide to the extra capabilities worth checking, not a promise that every feature will be visible in every account at all times.

Computer Use

Computer Use lets Claude control your desktop directly, clicking, typing, and moving through apps on your machine. That opens up workflows that go beyond files and connectors.

• Open Settings in the Claude desktop app.
• Enable Computer Use and grant permissions for the apps you want Claude to access.
• Ask Claude to perform a task. It will use connectors first, then fall back to direct screen control where needed.
• Review what it is doing and stop it any time if needed.

• Cross-app workflows: "Export this report as a PDF, attach it to tomorrow's meeting invite, and send a Slack message letting the team know it's ready."
• Legacy software: Claude can operate tools that do not have integrations or APIs.
• Data entry: "Take these 20 new leads from this spreadsheet and enter them into our CRM one by one."

Claude in Chrome

Claude in Chrome brings Claude into your browser workflow. It can help when you are working across web apps, reading pages, researching online, or trying to act on information that lives inside the browser rather than in your local files.

• Open the Claude settings or feature controls where browser features are managed.
• Enable Claude in Chrome if it is available on your plan and device.
• Use it while browsing to summarise pages, pull out key details, or help with browser-based research and tasks.
• Review important information yourself before acting on it.

• Research: summarise a long article, compare a few pages, or extract the key takeaways from a site.
• Browser workflow: use Claude to reduce tab-switching while you work across web tools.
• Checks: sanity-check important details before you copy them into an email or document.

Dispatch

Dispatch is useful when you want to access Claude remotely while away from your main computer. Think of it as a way to reach back into your desktop-powered setup when you are not sitting in front of the machine itself.

• Enable Dispatch if it is available for your plan and setup.
• Make sure the desktop app and the computer you rely on are configured properly and left available.
• Use Dispatch when you need access to workflows tied to your main machine while away from your desk.
• Test simple tasks first so you know what works reliably in your setup.

• Remote access: reach the workflows that depend on your desktop app even when you are away.
• Travel: useful when you need a quick task done without being in front of your main machine.
• Continuity: keep useful desktop-powered workflows available when working from somewhere else.

Remote

Remote features extend Claude beyond the local desktop session. They help bridge the gap between the device where Claude is running and the place where you want to interact with it.

• Review which remote features are available in your account or team settings.
• Turn on only the remote capabilities that are useful for your workflow.
• Test access from another location or device so you understand the limits of your setup.
• Keep your security settings sensible and avoid enabling features you do not need.

• Flexibility: start work in one place and continue it somewhere else.
• Access: keep important workflows available without being tied to one physical machine.
• Practical use: useful for people who move between office, home, and travel often.

Code

The Code tab is for more technical workflows. It is where Claude can help with code, scripts, terminal-based tasks, project structure, hooks, and more advanced setup work that goes beyond standard chat and document drafting.

• Open the Code tab in the desktop app if it is available to you.
• Use it for technical tasks like scripts, code changes, debugging, or implementation support.
• Start with small, reversible tasks until you are comfortable with how it works.
• Review outputs carefully, especially if the work affects live systems or production files.

• Scripts: write or improve small utilities and repetitive technical workflows.
• Debugging: inspect errors, propose fixes, and explain what is going wrong.
• Implementation: help with project structure, hooks, and more advanced technical setup.

Requirements: feature availability depends on your plan, device, and Anthropic's current rollout.

Requirements: feature availability depends on your Teams plan, admin settings, device setup, and Anthropic's current rollout.