What if Claude got a folder, not another attachment?
You know the moment: the materials are on disk, but they still need reading, organizing and assembling into a document. Anthropic’s Cowork lets you request that work in the Claude app without writing a program yourself. Point to the materials and describe what you want to make from them.
What interests us most is the move from talking about a file to working on it. “Tell me how to make a report” and “Prepare a report draft from these materials” produce different results. With the second, you also need to say clearly what Claude must not change.
What can you give it to do?
Imagine the folder left after a project: notes, tables and several document versions. Example tasks include:
How to describe your first task
You can share a selected working folder with Cowork. Start with a copy of the material and specify a concrete result. A sample plan might include:
You can write the request in Polish. A plain instruction will do: “Prepare a draft report from these notes. Keep the originals. Identify the source file for every number.” This is a suggested task, not a record of a test we performed.
Material to watch
Below are links from the original article. Treat demonstrations as starting points for your own trial, and check the manufacturer’s documentation for current features.
Material shared by McKay Wrigley:
https://x.com/mckaywrigley/status/2010901209293734295
An older link to Claude’s account from the original article; we do not treat it as confirmation of Cowork’s capabilities today:
https://x.com/claudeai/status/1879928927868080562
Folder access is a concrete decision
Anthropic describes isolation of the task-execution environment. It limits the scope of action, but does not guarantee that a document or every file operation will be correct. Before your first trial:
Less work? Count the checking too
A document being produced quickly does not tell us much by itself. When comparing with your existing workflow, record:
The first project does not have to be large
We would choose a recurring document you know well. It is easier to notice what disappeared, what was misunderstood and where the result really helps. The plan can be short:
What would you ask it to do first?
Perhaps combine a few notes, or organize material for a presentation. Choose something that lets you compare the result with the original. That trial will tell you whether you want to give Cowork another task.
We revised this article on October 4, 2026. The example uses are editorial suggestions, not accounts of customer deployments or guarantees of savings.
Documentation and further reading:
If you have a document or process you would like to start with, tell us about it. Our contact details are in the footer.