Master Claude in 40 tips: the cheat sheet

Get the right install and folder structure once. Don't redo it.

• Download the desktop app, not the browser version. Cowork only runs on the desktop.
• Create one workspace folder called cowork with four subfolders: about-me, projects, templates, outputs.
• Drop a short brand-voice.md in about-me. Reference it from every Project from now on.
• Save your best outputs as templates. The next session reuses them automatically.

Wrong model is the easiest way to waste your daily limit.

• Opus 4.6 with Extended Thinking for complex reasoning, planning, layered analysis.
• Sonnet for everyday work: drafting, editing, summarising. Haiku for scanning files and quick lookups.
• The model matters less than the prompt. A bad prompt on Opus loses to a great prompt on Haiku.
• Default down. Reach up only when the task genuinely needs it.

Less prompt, more file. Clearer intent, fewer instructions.

• Stop writing 400-word prompts. Files beat prompts. Drop a doc, ask a short question.
• One task per prompt. Not five. Batching helps within one task; mixing tasks confuses the model.
• Use "does NOT sound like…" with examples to kill the generic AI voice. Show what you don't want.
• Give the task, not the method. Let Claude figure out the steps. Tell it the outcome.

The fastest way to brief Claude properly without writing essays.

• Add "Start with AskUserQuestion" to every first prompt. Claude turns it into a clickable form.
• Click answers instead of typing. The form asks the right questions so you don't have to think them up.
• If the direction is off, say so in plain English. Claude rebuilds the form on the fly.
• Useful any time the request is half-formed in your head. Most requests are.

Where Claude stops being a chatbot and starts touching your real stack.

• Settings → Connectors → Browse → Add. About 30 seconds per install.
• Start with three: Gmail, Calendar, your file storage (Drive or Notion). 50+ available.
• Claude reads your actual files and threads. No more copy-paste.
• Free on every plan. Permissions are per connector, set them tight.

Pre-built skill packs for specific roles. Install, customise, use slash commands.

• Cowork → Customize → Browse → Install. One click each.
• Pick the plugins that match your role: Marketing, Legal, Sales, Data, Hiring.
• Type / in any chat to trigger a plugin command instantly.
• Customise each plugin once with your company voice and rules. The output stays consistent across the team.

For anyone whose business runs on spreadsheets.

• Install "Claude by Anthropic" from the Microsoft Marketplace. Free.
• Claude reads every tab, explains formulas in plain English, builds new ones from a description.
• Drop a PDF into the sheet. Claude extracts the tables for you.
• No macros, no VBA. Claude highlights every cell it touches so you can audit before you trust.

How to take it from your laptop to the rest of the company.

• One Project per deliverable, not per client. The deliverable is the unit of reuse.
• Upload a great example into each Project. The standard becomes the floor.
• Convert one person on your team first. Then scale. Skip the all-hands rollout.
• Run a 15-minute live demo with the Project open. Show, don't tell. Adoption follows.

Charts, dashboards, trackers, calculators, all built inside the chat.

• Artifacts are interactive outputs you can edit in the side panel. Live, shareable, reusable.
• They work automatically inside Cowork. No setup beyond asking.
• Preview before you export. Tweak in place. Then copy or download.
• Share with non-Claude users by exporting as HTML. They open it in a browser, no account needed.

The habits that separate fluent users from heavy users.

• Keep your context files under 200 lines. Short, sharp, recent. Update weekly.
• About 80% of a good context file is what you're not: words to avoid, frames not to use, common errors to skip.
• Review every output, especially financial work. Claude is fast and still wrong sometimes.
• Claude does the 80% of busywork. You do the 20% that needs judgement, taste, or your name on it.