Practical Setup Guide
Getting Started With Claude Cowork: Your First Week
Seven days, one real task at a time, and a habit of checking before you trust.
This guide walks a non-developer through the first week with Claude Cowork: what you need, how to connect a folder, which permission mode to choose, which tasks to try first, and how to review the results. It skips the definitions and focuses on setup and habits.
To get started with Claude Cowork, install the Claude desktop app on macOS or Windows, sign in on a paid plan (Pro, Max, Team, or Enterprise), switch to Cowork, and connect one folder when prompted. Cowork sees no files until you connect a folder. Pick a permission mode, give it a real task you would otherwise do yourself, watch the first run, and check the output before you rely on it.
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Free lesson · no account neededMeet ClaudeWhy Claude?6 minStart the free lessonKey Takeaways
- Cowork needs the Claude desktop app on macOS or Windows and a paid plan: Pro, Max, Team, or Enterprise. On Team or Enterprise, an admin may need to enable it first.
- Cowork sees nothing until you connect a folder. Start with one folder you are comfortable experimenting in, and add more later.
- Permission modes are Manual, Auto, and Skip. Manual asks before each action, Auto runs with a safety review, and Skip pauses nothing, so reserve it for fully trusted setups.
- Begin with a real task from your own week, such as a one-page brief from a folder of PDFs, then review the output against the source before you use it.
- Global instructions, folder instructions, and projects let Cowork learn how you work, so each later task needs less explaining.
The three Cowork permission modes at a glance
| Mode | What happens during a task | Default for | Reasonable first-week use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Manual | Claude pauses and asks for your approval before each action. | Enterprise | Your first one or two tasks, and any task that touches files you care about. |
| Auto | Claude keeps working without asking at every step. A safety review checks each action for risks such as data exfiltration or prompt injection and blocks unsafe ones. | Pro, Max, and Team | Routine tasks once you understand how Claude behaves in your folders. |
| Skip | Nothing pauses and nothing is checked automatically. | Not a default | Rarely. Anthropic advises it only when you completely trust every action, connector, file, and app involved. |
Copy and Paste
Prompts You Can Use Today
One-page brief from a folder of PDFs
I work in operations and I am preparing for a Thursday planning meeting. Read every PDF in the connected folder and write a one-page brief for my director. Start with the three most important findings, then list open questions, and name the source file for every claim so I can verify it.
Swap in your role, the meeting, and the audience. Keep the instruction to name the source file for every claim, because it makes checking much faster.
Status update from a Slack channel
Using the Slack connector, read the last week of messages in the [channel name] channel and draft a status update for my manager. Group it into done, in progress, and blocked. Keep it under 200 words, plain language, no jargon, and flag anything you were unsure how to interpret.
Replace the channel name and word limit. The final instruction asks Claude to surface its own uncertainty rather than smoothing it over.
Clean a messy spreadsheet and chart it
Open the spreadsheet called [file name] in the connected folder. Do not change the original. Save a cleaned copy with consistent date formats, trimmed whitespace, and duplicate rows removed, then list every change you made and create a chart of monthly totals as a separate file.
The instruction to leave the original untouched and list every change gives you a clear audit trail. Rename the file and the chart you want.
Sort a cluttered downloads folder safely
Look at the files in the connected folder and propose a folder structure for sorting them by project and year. Do not move, rename, or delete anything yet. Show me the plan as a table with current name, proposed location, and your reason, then wait for my approval.
Proposing before acting is a good habit for any task that changes files. After you approve the plan, ask Claude to carry it out.
Set global instructions to start with
I am a [your role] at a [type of organization]. Write in plain, calm language for non-specialist readers. Put the conclusion first, keep paragraphs short, use tables only when comparing three or more items, and always tell me which files or sources you relied on.
Paste your version into Settings, then Claude Cowork, then Global instructions. Edit it after a week once you notice what you keep correcting.
Review its own work before you do
Before you finish, re-read the document you just produced against the source files. List every number, date, and name that appears in it, show where each came from, and mark anything you could not confirm directly from the files in the connected folder.
Run this as a follow-up message after any task that produces figures or quotes. You still spot-check, but the list tells you where to look first.
Before day one
What you need in place first
Setup is short, but a few requirements trip people up. Check these before you open the app.
The Claude desktop app
Cowork is a mode inside the Claude desktop app, available on macOS and Windows. It is not something you reach from a browser tab alone.
A paid plan
Cowork requires Pro, Max, Team, or Enterprise. If you are on a free plan, upgrading is the first step.
Admin approval on Team or Enterprise
On Team or Enterprise plans, an admin may need to enable Cowork for the organization before you can use it. If the option is missing, ask your admin first.
One real task
Anthropic's guide recommends starting with something you would otherwise do yourself. A real task gives you a real way to judge the result.
A low-stakes folder
Choose a folder you can afford to experiment in, such as a copy of a project or a set of reference documents, not your only copy of anything.
Day 1
Install, switch to Cowork, and connect one folder
Start by installing the Claude desktop app and signing in with your paid account. Cowork appears as a mode inside the app, so the first job is simply finding it and opening a new task. Nothing about this step requires technical knowledge, and nothing is connected yet.
The most important fact about Cowork on day one is that it sees no files until you explicitly connect a folder. The first time you ask it to work with files, the app prompts you to choose one. You can connect more folders later, so there is no reason to grant broad access up front. Pick the narrowest folder that fits your first task.
On desktop, Claude reads and writes local files in connected folders directly. You do not upload documents one at a time or download results afterward. A report it creates lands in the folder you connected, where you can open it with Word, Pages, Excel, Preview, or whatever you normally use.
A sensible habit for the first week is to connect a working copy rather than your only copy. Duplicate the folder, connect the duplicate, and keep the original untouched. You lose very little by doing this, and it turns every early mistake into an inconvenience rather than a loss.
Day 2
Choose a permission mode on purpose
Cowork has three permission modes, and you change them from a mode selector in the chat box. In Manual, Claude pauses and asks for approval before each action. In Auto, Claude keeps working without asking at every step, while a safety review checks each action for risks like data exfiltration or prompt injection and blocks the ones it judges unsafe. In Skip, nothing pauses and nothing is checked automatically.
In the newer experience, Manual is the default on Enterprise, and Auto is the default on Pro, Max, and Team. That means your starting point depends on your plan, so look at the selector rather than assuming. Anthropic's safety article says to use Skip only when you completely trust every action, connector, file, and app involved. For a first week, that bar is rarely met, so leave Skip alone.
A good pattern is to run your first task or two in Manual. Reading each approval request teaches you what Claude actually does: which files it opens, which commands it runs, and where it writes results. After that, moving to Auto for routine work saves you from approving dozens of small steps while still keeping a safety review in the loop.
Two guardrails hold regardless of mode. Claude always requires explicit permission before permanently deleting any files, and you see a prompt where you must choose Allow. Even in a mode that otherwise does not pause, Claude is guided to seek confirmation for sensitive actions such as captchas, purchases and financial transactions, sensitive data, and system file changes. These are helpful safety nets, but treat them as a backstop for your own judgment, not a replacement for it.
Day 3
Run your first real task
Anthropic's getting-started guide suggests three first tasks that suit non-developers: generate a one-page brief from a folder of PDFs, draft a status update from a Slack channel's recent messages, or clean a messy spreadsheet and chart the results. Each is a task people already do by hand, which is exactly why they work well. You know what a good result looks like, so you can judge the output.
Write the request the way you would brief a capable colleague who has never seen your files. Say who the output is for, what format you want, how long it should be, and what to avoid. Ask Claude to name the source file for every claim. A vague request such as summarize these produces a vague summary, while a request with an audience and a format produces something you can nearly send.
If the task changes files, such as renaming, moving, or cleaning, ask for a plan first. Tell Claude not to act until you approve a table of proposed changes. This works well in Manual mode and costs you one extra message, and it makes the later review much easier because you already know what was supposed to happen.
Keep your first task small enough to verify in about fifteen minutes of your own time. A brief from five PDFs is easier to check than a brief from five hundred. Once the small version works and you trust the pattern, scale up the folder, the scope, or both.
Day 4
Connect the apps you use most
Connectors let Cowork work with tools beyond your folders. The guide suggests authenticating the MCP connectors you use most, and Claude may also suggest one when a task calls for it.
Slack
Useful for the status-update task: Claude reads recent messages in a channel and drafts a summary. Start with a single channel you already follow.
Gmail
Good for drafting and triaging correspondence. Because email is sensitive, begin with approval required on any action that sends or changes something.
Google Drive
Brings documents you already keep in the cloud into reach, so a task is not limited to what sits on your laptop.
Asana
Handy for pulling project and task context into a brief or a weekly update without copying it by hand.
GitHub
Relevant if your work touches repositories, even as a reader summarizing activity for a team that is not technical.
Always allow, Needs approval, or Blocked
You can set each connector's permissions to one of these three. A blocked connector tool is denied in every mode, including Skip.
Day 5
Teach Cowork how you work
By day five you have probably noticed yourself repeating corrections: shorter paragraphs, conclusion first, no jargon. Instructions exist so you stop repeating them. Global instructions, set under Settings, then Claude Cowork, then Global instructions, apply to every Cowork session. Good candidates are your role, your preferred tone, and your default output format.
Folder-specific instructions live in a Customize panel for a connected folder. These suit details that only matter for one body of work, such as which file is the source of truth, what the naming convention is, or which terms mean something specific in that project. Claude can also update folder instructions itself as it learns how you work, so it is worth reading them occasionally to confirm they still match your intent.
A Cowork project is a workspace tied to a specific folder, with its own instructions, files, and memory. If you do recurring work in one place, such as a monthly report or a client engagement, a project keeps that context together instead of rebuilding it every time. This is where Cowork begins to feel less like a chat and more like a colleague who remembers the engagement.
Memory deserves a deliberate decision. You can turn memory off for a single Cowork task, but only before the first message, and the setting cannot be changed once the task has started. If a task involves material you do not want carried forward, make that choice up front rather than expecting to adjust it later.
Day 6
Watch, redirect, and step away
During a task you can watch Claude work or step away. Claude explains each step and its reasoning, so the running commentary is itself a review tool. If you see it heading toward the wrong file or misreading your intent, you can intervene mid-task and redirect it instead of waiting for a finished result you will have to discard.
For complex work, Claude may run multiple sub-agents in parallel. You do not need to manage this, but it explains why a large task can show several threads of activity at once. It also means a task that touches many files can finish faster than you would expect from watching a single step at a time.
Long tasks can keep running in the cloud when the desktop app window is closed. The catch is that local file, browser, and computer access require the desktop app to stay open. So a research task that needs only connectors and web access can run while you are away, but a task that edits files in your folder needs the app running on your machine.
Use day six to test this honestly with a task you can afford to interrupt. Start a longer job, step away for a break, and note what finished and what waited for you. Knowing which of your tasks depend on the open desktop app saves you from a surprise before an important deadline.
Day 7
The check-before-you-trust routine
Cowork can produce polished work quickly, which makes it easy to skip review. Build these habits in week one and they will be automatic by week three.
Trace claims to sources
Ask for the source file behind every claim, then open the file and confirm a handful. Pick the claims that would matter most if they were wrong.
Recompute the numbers
For any total, average, or chart, check at least a few figures by hand or with your own spreadsheet formulas before the numbers leave your desk.
Compare against the original
If Claude cleaned or reorganized files, diff what changed. Ask for a written list of every change and spot-check it against the untouched original.
Read the approval prompts
In Manual mode, each prompt shows what Claude is about to do. Read them in week one so you know what normal looks like.
Check what was shared
Before sending a draft, confirm it contains nothing from a file or channel the recipient should not see, especially after using connectors.
Ask what it was unsure about
A direct follow-up asking which parts it could not confirm often surfaces gaps that a confident-sounding draft hides.
Boundaries
What stays private, what runs where, and what to know about deletion
It helps to know where work actually happens. Shell commands and generated code run in an isolated environment on Anthropic's servers, separate from your own computer and network. Your connected folders are still read and written directly on desktop, so the practical picture is a mix: file access is local, while code execution is isolated.
Network controls have limits worth knowing. Cowork respects your configured network egress permissions, but those settings do not apply to the web search tool, web fetch, MCP connectors, or Claude in Chrome. Team and Enterprise owners can disable web search for Cowork, Chat, and Claude in Chrome in organization settings. If you work under strict data rules, talk to your admin before assuming the egress settings cover every path.
Deletion has two layers. Cowork always requires your explicit Allow before permanently deleting files. Separately, if you delete a task, it disappears from your history immediately and from backend storage within 30 days. Those are different things, so remember that removing a task does not delete files that Claude created in your folder.
Professional responsibility stays with you. If your output goes to clients, regulators, or patients, you own its accuracy, and your organization's policies on data handling still apply. Cowork speeds up drafting and sorting, but it does not change who is accountable for what leaves your name.
Choosing your path
How to shape your first week by the kind of work you do
If you work mostly with documents, such as consultants, analysts, and researchers, start with the folder-of-PDFs brief. Connect a working copy of the folder, run in Manual, and insist on source citations. By day five, put your preferred report structure into global instructions so every brief arrives in the shape you use.
If your week is mostly communication, such as managers and project coordinators, begin with the Slack status update. Authenticate Slack first, and add Gmail or Asana only after the first draft reads well. Keep approvals on for anything that sends or changes data, and use a project folder to hold recurring weekly updates.
If you live in spreadsheets, such as finance, operations, and marketing teams, use the cleaning-and-charting task on a copy of a real file. Ask for a change log and verify a few totals yourself. Once you trust the pattern, move to Auto for routine cleanups and keep Manual for anything touching shared data.
If you are on Team or Enterprise, add one step at the start: confirm with your admin that Cowork is enabled and ask which connectors and web search settings your organization allows. That conversation takes five minutes and prevents the most common first-week stall, which is hitting a policy wall halfway through a task.
Reading about Cowork is not the same as being good at it
The skill that matters is writing a clear brief, judging the output, and knowing when to step in. The free Nightschool AI curriculum is hands-on from the first lesson, so you practice on real tasks as you learn.
Frequently Asked Questions
What do I need to use Claude Cowork?
You need the Claude desktop app on macOS or Windows and a paid plan: Pro, Max, Team, or Enterprise. On Team or Enterprise plans, an admin may need to enable Cowork for the organization before you can use it. A free plan does not include it, so upgrading comes first.
Can Claude Cowork see all the files on my computer?
No. Cowork sees no files until you explicitly connect a folder. The first time you ask it to work with files, you are prompted to choose one, and you can connect more folders later. Start with the narrowest folder that fits your task, ideally a working copy rather than your only copy.
Which permission mode should I use as a beginner?
Start in Manual, where Claude pauses and asks for approval before each action, so you learn what it does. Move to Auto for routine work, where a safety review checks each action for risks like prompt injection and blocks unsafe ones. Avoid Skip unless you completely trust every action, connector, file, and app involved.
What is a good first task for Claude Cowork?
Pick a real task you would otherwise do yourself. Anthropic's getting-started guide suggests three: generate a one-page brief from a folder of PDFs, draft a status update from a Slack channel's recent messages, or clean a messy spreadsheet and chart the results. Keep the first one small enough to verify in about fifteen minutes.
Will Claude Cowork delete my files without asking?
No. Cowork always requires explicit permission before permanently deleting any files. You see a prompt and must choose Allow. This applies regardless of permission mode. Still, a working copy of your folder is a sensible precaution while you learn, because other changes such as renaming or overwriting are governed by your chosen mode.
Can Cowork keep working if I close the app?
Partly. Long Cowork tasks can keep running in the cloud when the desktop app window is closed. However, anything needing local file, browser, or computer access requires the desktop app to stay open. Test this with a low-stakes task before relying on it for a deadline.
How do I make Cowork remember how I like things done?
Use instructions. Global instructions, under Settings, then Claude Cowork, then Global instructions, apply to every session and suit your role, tone, and output format. Folder-specific instructions live in a Customize panel for a connected folder, and Claude can update them as it learns how you work.
What is a Cowork project?
A Cowork project is a workspace tied to a specific folder, with its own instructions, files, and memory. It suits recurring work such as a monthly report or a client engagement, because the context stays together instead of being rebuilt each time you start a task.
Can I turn memory off for a task?
Yes, for a single Cowork task. You must do it before the first message, and the setting cannot be changed once the task has started. If a task involves material you do not want carried forward, decide before you begin.
Does deleting a task remove it completely?
Deleting a task removes it from your history immediately and from backend storage within 30 days. It does not remove files Claude already created in your connected folder, so delete those separately if you no longer want them.
Run your first task this week
One real task, one connected folder, and a habit of checking the work.