Claude is more than a chatbot—it's an AI assistant designed to be your thinking partner. In this lesson you'll learn what makes Claude different from other AI tools and see how it can help with a wide variety of work tasks.

Understanding Claude's capabilities

Claude can help with a wide range of tasks that go far beyond simple question-and-answer interactions to assistant-like partnership that can both automate and augment your work. Here's a few things Claude excels at:

Ways to access Claude

Claude is the intelligence—the AI assistant you're learning to work with throughout this course. That same intelligence is available across multiple interfaces, each suited to different types of tasks.

Starting your first conversation

When you open Claude.ai, you'll see a clean interface with a text input area at the bottom of the screen.

Your prompts can range from simple questions (like brainstorming code names for a new feature) to complex requests to co-create files.

Writing effective prompts

All interactions with Claude begin with a prompt, and these prompts, combined with other context, impact Claude's response. The best approach when speaking to Claude is like you would a coworker—naturally, concisely, and conversationally.

But you may ask, what is a good prompt? Before your next conversation with Claude, consider a few things:

1. Setting the stage: What is your role and what are your objectives? Is there context about your work that Claude should know about?

2. Defining the task: What action do you want Claude to take? Do you want Claude to write, analyze, build, or something else?

3. Specifying rules: What's the style or tone you want Claude to use? Are there examples that you can attach to show Claude what you're looking for?

Adding context

Uploads, connectors, and custom preferences offer ways to give Claude even more context about your work.

Claude can analyze both text and visual elements (like images, charts, and graphics) in PDFs and other documents. Supported file types include PDF, DOCX, CSV, TXT, and common image formats like PNG and JPEG.

Some practical ways to use file uploads:

Once uploaded, Claude will automatically attempt to parse the file's content. In the chat, the file appears as an attachment and you can then prompt Claude about it.

Iterating on Claude's responses

Conversations with Claude are meant to be iterative. Chaining bite-sized prompts together allows for a natural dialogue where you guide the conversation based on Claude's replies.

If Claude's first response isn't quite what you wanted, you have several options:

Ask follow-up questions: Build on Claude's response by asking for more detail, a different angle, or clarification. For example: "Can you expand on the second point?" or "That's helpful, but can you make it more concise?"

Provide feedback: Tell Claude what you liked and didn't like about its response. "This is good, but the tone is too formal. Can you make it more conversational?"

Redirect or restart: If Claude went in a different direction than you intended, simply steer it back. "Actually, I was asking about X, not Y. Let me clarify...". Worst case, restart your conversation in a new chat to fully refresh the context.

Claude desktop app: Chat, Cowork, Code

The Claude desktop app gives you three ways to work with Claude: Chat, Cowork, and Code — from quick questions to complex research to building software.

Chat is the same Claude you know from claude.ai, plus quick entry, screenshots, dictation, and connectors that come from running natively on your computer. Cowork is an agentic tool — you give it a goal, connect it to your tools and resources, and let it do the work. With Cowork, Claude has the reach and the room to do more. This broader scope allows it to conduct more thorough research and analysis, and produce more complex documents and deliverables. Code is for building software, from writing and testing code to deploying it.

Cowork and Code run on the same engine. Both are Claude Code underneath — local to your machine, capable of independent work, able to spin up sub-agents and sustain long tasks. This allows Claude to work through larger tasks on its own, like research and writing or building software.

Each mode is designed around the work it serves, showing you what matters and giving you control where you need it.

What are Projects?

Projects are ideal for storing knowledge Claude should reference, organizing related chats around a specific topic or work area, and collaborating with team members who need access to the same shared context.

When to use Projects

Projects are particularly valuable when you're working on something ongoing—not just a one-off question. Consider creating a project when you have a workflow with:

Creating your first project

Setting up a project takes just a few minutes. Here's how to get started:

Step 1: Set up your project

1. Hover over the left sidebar and click "Projects," or navigate directly to claude.ai/projects

2. Click "+ New Project" in the upper right corner

3. Give your project a descriptive name (e.g., "Q4 Marketing Campaign" or "Product Documentation")

4. Add a brief description of what you're working on. While Claude doesn't see this description directly, it helps you and your teammates understand the project's purpose.

5. Choose your visibility settings: keep it private or share with your organization (for Claude for Work users)

Step 2: Add project instructions

Project instructions tell Claude how to behave across all conversations in this project. Click on "Instructions" to open the instructions panel.

Good project instructions typically include:

Once you've written your instructions, click "Save instructions." These will apply to every chat in this project and work alongside any user preferences and styles you've set.

You can also use project instructions to automate workflows — for example, "When I upload a meeting transcript, create a structured summary using this template." Think of instructions as programming Claude's behavior for this project.

Step 3: Build your knowledge base

Your project's knowledge base is where you upload documents that Claude should reference. You'll find the files menu on the right side of your project's main page.

Click the "+" button to add content. You can upload various file types including PDF, DOCX, CSV, TXT, HTML, and more. You can also connect to Google Drive to link documents directly.

What to upload:

Working within your project

Once your project is set up, you can start chatting with Claude. Each conversation within the project automatically has access to your knowledge base and follows your project instructions.

Collaboration features

For users on Claude for Work (Team and Enterprise) plans, projects become even more powerful through collaboration features.

Permission levels

When sharing a project, you can choose from three permission levels:

1. Can view: Members can see project contents, access knowledge, and chat—but can't make changes. Think of this as read-only access with discussion rights.

2. Can edit: Members have full collaboration power. They can modify instructions, update knowledge, manage other members, and actively contribute to the project.

3. Owner: Project creators control everything, including who sees the project. They can share with specific people or make projects visible to the entire organization.

Sharing your project

To share a project:

Team members will receive email notifications when you share a project with them, and they can find shared projects in their "Shared with me" tab.

Best practices for projects

To get the most out of projects:

What are artifacts?

Artifacts are standalone, interactive outputs that Claude creates in a dedicated window alongside your conversation. Instead of getting a long block of code or text buried in the chat, you see your content rendered and ready to use—whether that's a working website, an interactive chart, or a document you can immediately download.

Claude automatically creates an artifact when content meets certain criteria:

Common artifact types

Claude can create different of artifacts, each suited to different needs:

Creating your first artifact

Creating an artifact is as simple as having a conversation. Just describe what you want, and Claude will determine whether to present it as an artifact.

For example, you might say:

If Claude doesn't automatically create an artifact when you expect one, you can explicitly ask: "Create this as an artifact" or "Show me this in an artifact."

When Claude generates an artifact, it appears in a dedicated window to the right of your conversation. From here, you can:

Sharing and publishing artifacts

Once you've created something useful, you have several options for sharing it.

Copy or download: For personal use or sharing via other channels, use the copy or download buttons in the lower right corner of the artifact window.

Share within your organization (Claude for Work): Team and Enterprise users can share artifacts internally with colleagues. The shared artifact stays within your organization and requires team authentication to access.

Publish publicly: For free, Pro, and Max users, you can publish artifacts to make them accessible to anyone with the link. When you publish:

To publish, click the "Share" or "Publish" button in the upper right corner of the artifact. You can unpublish at any time by returning to that artifact and removing public access. Note: When you publish an artifact, it is publicly accessible via its link — anyone can view it, even without a Claude account. Published artifacts are not indexed by search engines, so they won't appear in Google results.

What are Skills?

Skills are folders of instructions, scripts, and resources that Claude loads dynamically to improve performance on specialized tasks. Think of them as expertise packages—they teach Claude how to complete specific tasks in a repeatable way.

Enabling Skills

Skills are currently available as a feature preview for users on Pro, Max, Team, and Enterprise plans. To use Skills, you'll need to have Code execution and file creation enabled, since Skills require Claude's secure sandboxed computing environment to function.

Here's how to enable Skills:

1. Navigate to Settings > Capabilities

2. Ensure that Code execution and file creation is toggled on

3. Scroll to the Skills section

4. Toggle individual skills on or off as needed

For Enterprise plans, organization Owners must first enable both Code execution and Skills in Admin settings before individual members can access them.

For Team plans, this feature preview is enabled by default at the organization level.

Skills are procedural machines. They encode how Claude should execute a task—the specific steps, order of operations, and methodology you want followed every time. Skills shine when you have repeatable workflows you want Claude to run consistently.

What are connectors?

Key takeaways

Finding and connecting tools

Anthropic maintains a directory of recommended connectors at claude.ai/directory. The directory is organized into two tabs:

To browse available connectors, you can also click the + button in the lower left of the chat window, then select Connectors.

Setting up a web connector

Here's how to connect a cloud service:

1. Find the connector: Navigate to claude.ai/directory, or click + > Connectors in any chat

2. Click Connect: Select the connector you want to add

3. Authenticate: You'll be redirected to the service's login page. Sign in with your existing credentials

4. Grant permissions: Review the specific permissions Claude is requesting, then authorize access

5. Test the connection: Return to Claude and try a simple request, like "Can you access my [tool name]?"

Once connected, Claude can search, read, and in some cases take actions within that service—depending on the permissions you've granted.

Desktop extensions

Desktop extensions require the Claude Desktop app rather than the web interface. These extensions let Claude interact with local applications, your file system, and native features on macOS or Windows.

Some desktop extensions include:

To install a desktop extension:

1. Download and install the Claude Desktop app

2. Open the app and navigate to Settings > Extensions

3. Browse available extensions and click Install

4. Follow any additional setup steps specific to that extension

Using connectors in your work

Once you've connected your tools, Claude considers them when responding to your requests. Here are some practical ways to use connected tools:

Project management (Asana, Linear, Jira)

Communication (Slack, Gmail)

Documentation (Notion, Google Drive, Confluence)

Business tools (Stripe, PayPal, Salesforce)

Security and permissions

When you connect Claude to external services, you're granting it access to read—and sometimes modify—data within those services. Here are some important considerations:

Revocable at any time: You can disconnect a service through Claude's settings or through the third-party service's security settings. Just as with Skills, you can also find or build custom connectors. Exercise the same caution — only install connectors from trusted sources.

What is Enterprise Search?

Enterprise Search adds a dedicated "Ask {Your Org Name}" option to your sidebar. This is designed specifically for finding and synthesizing knowledge buried across your company's tools and data sources. Think of Enterprise Search as a pre-built Project for your entire organization — your company's knowledge base is already loaded, so you can jump right in to get context-aware responses to your questions.

Unlike regular chats with connectors enabled, Enterprise Search is specifically designed for information gathering, using custom instructions configured by the Anthropic team.

What can you ask?

Enterprise Search is particularly valuable for questions that span multiple sources or require synthesizing information from across your organization. Here are some common use cases:

Getting up to speed

Policy and process questions

Research and analysis

Onboarding new team members

Performance and project tracking

When you ask a question, Claude searches across all your connected tools—such as SharePoint documents, Slack conversations, Gmail threads, and Google Drive files—and synthesizes information into a unified response. Plus, it always cites its sources so you can get the full context.

Setting up Enterprise Search

Enterprise Search requires a two-step setup process: first an admin configures it for the organization, then individual users authenticate with their personal accounts.

For admins (Owners)

The Enterprise Search project is enabled by default for all Team and Enterprise organizations, but an Owner needs to complete the initial setup before team members can use it:

1. Click "Ask Your Org" in the left sidebar.

2. Click "Set up for your org" to continue (or "Disable" to turn the feature off).

3. Connect your organization's tools. You'll be required to choose a connector for Documents (like Google Drive or SharePoint) and Chat (like Slack or Microsoft Teams). Email is recommended but optional.

4. Click "+ Add more" to set up any additional tools your team needs.

5. Customize the project name. Whatever you enter will appear as "Ask [Name]" in everyone's sidebar.

6. Add a description, then click "Finish set up."

Once setup is complete, the project becomes available to all members of your organization.

For users

After an admin has set up Enterprise Search, you'll see the "Ask {Org Name}" project starred in your sidebar. Here's how to get started:

1. Click on the project in your sidebar.

2. Follow the guided onboarding flow to connect to the recommended services.

3. Authenticate with each service you want to search (Slack, Google, Microsoft 365, etc.).

4. Start asking Claude questions about your organization's knowledge.

The more connectors you enable, the more comprehensive your search results will be. You can always add more connectors later by clicking "Connect" in the project's Instructions section.

Researching with Claude

Research is an advanced feature that transforms Claude from a conversational assistant into a systematic investigator. When you enable Research, Claude doesn't just answer your question—it explores it from multiple angles, synthesizing information from across the web and your connected integrations.

Research is particularly valuable when you need more than a quick answer. It's designed for situations where a thorough understanding requires pulling together information from multiple sources, comparing different perspectives, and synthesizing findings into actionable insights.

When to use Research

Understanding when to use Research versus other Claude capabilities helps you get the best results for your specific needs.

Use Research when you need

How Research works

When you enable Research, you're activating an agentic, multi-step process that goes far beyond a simple web search. Claude autonomously decides what to search next based on what it has already found, pursuing leads and filling gaps without you needing to direct each step.

1. Step 1: Claude plans its approach. When Research is enabled, extended thinking automatically activates. This lets Claude break down your request, identify what information it needs, and plan how to investigate different angles of your question.

2. Step 2: Claude conducts multiple searches. Rather than running a single search, Claude conducts many searches that build on each other. It determines what to investigate next based on what it finds, pursuing promising leads and filling in gaps.

3. Step 3: Claude synthesizes findings. After gathering information from multiple sources—including the web and any connected integrations like Gmail, Google Calendar, or Google Drive—Claude compiles everything into a comprehensive, well-organized report.

4. Step 4: Claude provides citations. Every claim in Research reports links back to its source, making it easy to verify information and dig deeper when needed.

Using Research in practice

Here's how to enable and use Research:

1. Click the + button on the bottom left of your chat interface

2. Select Research from the menu—it appears highlighted once active

3. Enter your prompt and submit

4. Claude will work in the background, and you'll see progress indicators as it searches and analyzes

Claude in action: use-cases by role

These use cases apply across many roles and industries.

• Generate project status reports – Keep stakeholders informed with clear, consistent updates

• Analyze patterns in user feedback – Extract insights from customer comments and survey responses

• Package your brand guidelines in a skill – Create a reusable Claude skill that applies your brand standards

Sales

Sales professionals can use Claude to accelerate deal preparation, create compelling materials, and stay on top of competitive intelligence.

• Build a battle card library – Create competitive intelligence resources that help your team win deals

• Prepare for sales deals – Research prospects and organize your talking points before important meetings

• Create sales reports – Turn your pipeline data into clear, actionable reports

Marketing

Marketers can leverage Claude to analyze performance data and efficiently repurpose content across channels.

• Analyze campaign performance – Extract insights from campaign metrics to inform your strategy

• Adapt content across platforms – Efficiently repurpose content for different channels and audiences

Finance

Finance professionals can use Claude to build models, draft documents, and make sense of complex spreadsheets.

• Build financial models – Create and refine financial projections with Claude's help

• Draft investment memos – Structure and write investment analyses more efficiently

• Understand and extend an inherited spreadsheet – Decode complex spreadsheets and add new functionality

HR

HR teams can use Claude to create better onboarding experiences and documentation.

• Create new hire onboarding guides – Develop comprehensive onboarding materials tailored to different roles

Legal

Legal professionals can use Claude to track complex timelines and manage discovery processes.

• Track discovery timelines and analyze patterns – Organize case timelines and identify key patterns in legal documents

Research

Researchers can use Claude to plan literature reviews and verify data analysis.

• Plan your literature review – Organize your approach to reviewing academic sources

• Verify statistics from raw data – Double-check calculations and statistical analyses