What is Cowork?
Claude has gone from a chatbot to a co-worker.
Cowork is Claude working directly in your files and your tools. Excel, PowerPoint, Word, Google Docs, your email and calendar, and websites. You don't copy and paste between a chat window and your apps. Claude opens the file and does the work.
In the latest app, Chat and Cowork are one window. You ask for what you need. Claude decides whether that's a quick answer or a proper task.
How to access it
Get access. Cowork is on paid Claude plans: Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise. Pro is enough for one person. Team suits a company. Max is extra usage, not the gate.
Download the desktop app for Mac or Windows. It also works on the web and the mobile apps. Check the current price at claude.com/pricing. The full steps are on Setup.
Why this matters
Until recently, every AI tool worked the same way:
- You open a chat window.
- You copy something from your spreadsheet, document or browser.
- You paste it into the chat.
- AI gives you an answer.
- You copy the answer back into your tool.
That loop is slow. It also breaks the moment the job gets complicated.
Cowork removes the loop. Claude reads your files, knows your context and makes the change in the file itself.
It's the difference between texting someone instructions and having them sit next to you and do it.
Your folder is the key
Under the box that says "How can I help you today?", the left control is Project or folder. The right side is the model and effort (something like Opus 5.5 Medium). See Models, effort and limits.
Select the folder you set up, and set it as the default. In the room the example is 00-Ollie's-Claude. Have it selected for most things, even a basic question. Claude then knows who you are, how you write and why you're asking.
No folder selected, and Claude doesn't see your files or your tone file. That's the usual reason an email comes back sounding generic.
The layout we use is on Context. The Practical AI plugin builds it for you.
What can it do?
Excel and spreadsheets
Claude reads the whole workbook. Every sheet, the formulas, and how the cells depend on each other.
Finance example: you come back from a conference with 50 receipt photos. Drop them in the folder. Claude pulls out every line item, puts them in a spreadsheet by category, adds a pivot table and a short summary, and flags anything it isn't sure of. You check those before the numbers go into the pack.
Forecast example: ask what happens to the year if a cost goes up 8%. Claude follows the formulas that are already there and shows you what else moves. You decide whether to keep the change.
PowerPoint and presentations
Claude reads your slide master. Your templates, fonts, colours and layouts. Then it works inside them.
Example: a 40-slide board deck has grown messy over months of edits. Claude finds the key numbers, cuts the repeated slides, fixes the formatting and gives you an executive-ready version that matches the brand. The argument stays yours.
Sales example:
Create me a pitch deck for [client] from last week's meeting notes.
Claude reads the notes and the client file in your folder, and builds the slides from your template.
Word, Google Docs and other documents
Claude edits the document itself. You don't paste paragraphs into a chat and back again.
Ops example: your process doc is two years out of date. Point Claude at it and the latest team notes. It rewrites the steps, marks what it changed and leaves the rest alone.
If your team is on Google Workspace, Claude can also work in Docs, Sheets and Slides through the Google connectors (in beta).
Email, calendar and your other apps
Connectors link Claude to the tools you already use. Email, calendar, Slack, Drive, your CRM, and whatever else your admin has allowed.
Example:
Draft replies to the three customer emails from yesterday that still need an answer. Use my tone file. Don't send them.
Claude reads the threads and leaves drafts for you to check.
See Connectors.
Websites
For a site with no connector, Claude can open a browser, read the page, click and fill in forms. On desktop it can use a browser built into the Claude app, separate from your own tabs. If you use Claude in Chrome, it can work in your own browser.
Marketing example:
Look at the pricing pages of our three main competitors and put what's changed since last month in a table.
The features that matter most
Scheduled tasks
Set Claude to run a job on its own. Daily, weekly or monthly.
Example: every Monday at 8am, Claude checks three competitor websites and leaves a summary of what's changed before you've finished your coffee.
New scheduled tasks run in Anthropic's cloud, so they keep going with your laptop shut. This is the work that's important but never urgent, so it never gets done. A schedule fixes that. See Scheduled tasks.
Skills
A skill is a saved way of doing one job. You do the job once properly, then say:
I love what we just did. Can you save it as a skill so I can use it again or share it with my team?
Next time you just ask in plain words. "Create me a deck for [client]." "Write this month's board update." Claude picks the right skill itself. You don't need to remember its name.
See Skills and Sharing skills with your team.
Several jobs at once
Claude can split a big job into parts and work on them at the same time. You can also have more than one task running.
Example: while it drafts the month-end commentary, it can pull the numbers from the export and check last month's version for the format.
Work from anywhere
Tasks run in the cloud and follow your Claude account. Start one at your desk and check on it from your phone. Close the laptop and it keeps going.
If a task needs a file on your computer, keep the desktop app open so Claude can reach it.
Why this is a big deal for business
The problem with AI until now
Most teams are still in the chat window era. Someone opens a chatbot, asks it to rewrite an email, copies the result and pastes it into Outlook. Useful, but slow.
Cowork means Claude works in the same files and apps you do, with the same context.
What changes
| Before (chat window AI) | Now (Cowork) |
|---|---|
| Copy data in, get an answer, paste it back | Claude reads and edits the spreadsheet |
| Describe your slides, then rebuild them yourself | Claude builds within your template |
| Screenshot a dashboard and ask about it | Claude opens the site and reads it |
| One job at a time | Several jobs running together |
| You start every job yourself | Repeat jobs run on a schedule |
| Explain your business every time | It reads your folder |
The compound effect
The value comes from removing small bits of friction from dozens of jobs a day.
Rough sum: if Cowork saves 30 minutes a day of copy-paste and formatting, that's over 10 hours a month back for work that needs your judgement.
Common questions
"Is this safe for sensitive business data?"
Claude only reaches the folders you've connected and the connectors you've turned on. It doesn't see the rest of your laptop.
Tasks now run in Anthropic's cloud (still in beta on Team and Enterprise). Your folders stay on your computer, and Claude fetches a copy of just the file a task needs. It asks your permission before it permanently deletes anything. Follow your company's data policy and check with IT before you connect sensitive systems. See Security.
"Does it replace my existing tools?"
No. You still use Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and the rest. Claude works in them with you.
"What if it makes a mistake?"
You stay in charge. Claude shows each step: the files it opens, the tools it uses and the choices it makes. You can stop it or redirect it at any point.
You also choose how often it checks with you. Manual asks before each action. Auto keeps going and blocks anything that looks unsafe. For anything with real consequences, like money, emails sent as you or important files, use Manual and tell it "Don't send."
"My app still shows Chat and Cowork as two options"
You haven't got the update yet. It's rolling out in stages. Until then, Chat is the conversation and Cowork is where you pick a folder. The job is the same. Your chats, tasks and settings move over when the update arrives.
How to get started
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Set up your folder. Do the Practical AI plugin setup. Then select the folder and set it as the default.
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Start small. Don't automate the whole week on day one. Pick one real job. A weekly report, an expense tidy-up, a competitor check. Ask for it in plain words.
Draft the email I owe from yesterday's meeting. Use my tone file. Don't send it.If the draft ignores your voice, check which folder is selected before you rewrite the prompt.
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Build up. Once the first job works, save it as a skill. Then try one scheduled task. Then connect email and calendar and use them for a few weeks before you add more.
The bottom line
Cowork puts Claude to work in your files and tools, alongside you.
If your team spends hours on spreadsheets, report formatting, research and pulling data together, this takes the busywork off them. They get time back for the decisions and the relationships that drive the business.
Start with one real job this week.