The same machinery that sits behind Claude Code – but you use it in the ordinary Claude app. No terminal, nothing to set up.

It is meant for office work: research, analysis, producing documents. Anything that takes several steps.

Sure – and in chat you even get finished files. But they are built in a sealed-off area, and you download them yourself.

In Cowork, Claude works directly in your folders: it reads what is there and puts the result beside it. No uploading, no downloading.

Four steps. In the input box you switch from Chat to Cowork – and that is already the hardest part.

Then you describe what should come out. Claude shows you its plan. You look it over, and off it goes.

No. Claude works out a plan first and shows it to you – before anything happens.

And while it works you see at every step what it is doing. No black box.

You share a folder with it. Claude then reads and writes directly inside it – you don’t have to upload or download anything.

That works through the desktop app, only for the folders you picked, and only while the app is running.

Real files, not a wall of text for you to retype.

Spreadsheets with working formulas, presentations, neatly formatted documents. Ready to open and pass on.

Sort the downloads folder by type and date. Turn a pile of receipt photos into a finished expense report.

Rename files to one scheme. Build a report out of notes. Pull together everything that matters before a meeting.

Not necessarily. Claude splits big work into smaller pieces and runs several helpers at the same time.

Each does its part, and at the end everything is brought together.

No. You can close the laptop – the job keeps running.

And you can reopen the same session somewhere else later: on your computer, in the browser or on your phone.

That is what Dispatch is for. Your phone becomes the remote control for the Claude sitting on your computer at home.

In the phone app go to Cowork, tap Dispatch in the sidebar, write down the task. You get a notification when it is done – or when Claude needs something from you.

Yes, with projects. Every project is its own workspace with its own files and its own instructions.

Inside one, Claude also remembers what it learned last time – you don’t start from scratch every time.

If you connect it, yes. You attach Google Drive, Slack and other services under Customize in the sidebar.

After that Claude fetches things itself – no more copying back and forth.

Not to begin with. A skill is a saved procedure for something you need the same way over and over.

There are ready-made bundles for whole professions. You switch those on under Customize as well.

Then Claude can use the browser too: clicking, typing, filling in forms.

That is handy – but that is exactly where I would be careful. Better not for banking, health and anything personal.

You decide how long the leash is. There are three levels, and Cowork starts on the most careful one: Manual is the default.

You switch levels in the chat box. The bottom level switches all the checks off – I would only use that one if you know exactly why.

Yes. Under Scheduled in the sidebar you set up recurring jobs – the report every Monday, the summary every morning.

Start with something harmless. And look in now and then to see what comes out.

No – the actual work happens sealed off on Anthropic’s servers. It cannot reach your home network.

But careful with that line of thought: it protects your computer. It does not limit what Claude can do with whatever you shared with it.

The one that matters most: a web page, an e-mail or a document contains hidden instructions – and Claude reads them along the way while doing your job.

So: only pull in sources you trust. And with anything from outside, better use the Manual level.

Set up a working folder of its own instead of sharing everything. Keep backups. And leave financial papers, credentials and personal matters out of it.

You don’t have to check every step – but do look at whether the whole thing seems plausible.

It depends on how far you let Claude at your things. Cowork is the middle stage: your folders, nothing else.

Claude Code is allowed onto the whole machine. In return you can teach it tools of your own – and it keeps running when you are not there.

In the Claude app – as a switch right next to the chat. On the computer for Windows and Mac, plus in the browser and on your phone.

It is part of the paid plans. If you already have one, it is simply there.

Just right. Start with the downloads folder.