# How to use Claude: what it does and how to get started

> Claude is Anthropic's AI assistant. You write a request or attach files, and it replies in the chat or builds a document, a diagram or a small tool beside it. It runs on the web, on desktop and on phones, with a free plan and paid ones. Use it to write, read long files and keep ongoing work in Projects.

Mindket editors · Published 2026-11-06 · Updated 2026-11-06 · https://mindket.com/learn/tools/claude

## In short

- Claude is a chat assistant that also makes finished files, such as documents and slides, which open beside the conversation.
- It reads Word, PDF, Excel, PowerPoint and image files, so attach the original instead of describing it.
- Put standing rules in a Project's instructions and facts in its knowledge files.
- A free plan exists, but research mode and tasks started from your phone need a paid one.

## What Claude is

Claude is a family of AI models from Anthropic, an American company, and the name of the assistant built on them. It came out as a chatbot in March 2023, and Anthropic sizes its models Haiku, Sonnet and Opus, from least to most capable, with a newer line called Mythos above them.

You can use it on the web, in desktop apps for macOS and Windows, and on iPhone and Android. The desktop app adds access to folders on your own computer. Anthropic folded its Cowork agent into the same app, so chatting and handing off tasks share one window.

## What Claude is good for

- **Writing and editing**: write a first draft, change the tone or tighten what you already wrote.
- **Reading long files**: attach a Word, PDF, Excel or PowerPoint file and ask what it says, or what is missing.
- **Finished documents**: documents, slides, diagrams and small interactive tools open beside the chat as artifacts, and you can export them to Word or PDF.
- **Ongoing work**: a Project holds a job's files and instructions, so every new chat in it starts from them.
- **Work across your apps**: connectors reach tools such as Gmail, Slack and Google Drive.
- **Coding**: it writes and explains code in the chat, and Anthropic's separate Claude Code tool works from your terminal.

## When to use Claude, and when to pick another tool

| Your job | Use Claude? | Or try |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Writing, editing or summarizing everyday text | Yes, a good first stop | ChatGPT or Gemini |
| A long Word, PDF or Excel file to read | Yes, it reads all three, plus PowerPoint and images | NotebookLM, which quotes the passage behind each claim |
| A document or small tool you can edit and export | Yes, through artifacts | ChatGPT, which has a canvas for longer text |
| A report built from many web pages | Yes, but on a paid plan, because research mode needs one | Gemini or Perplexity, both with a free allowance |
| Building software in a project folder | For snippets in chat, yes | Claude Code, Cursor or GitHub Copilot |
| Files that must not leave your computer | No, uploads go to Anthropic | Ollama or LM Studio, which run on your own machine |

## How to use Claude, step by step

Menu names follow Anthropic's own pages as read on 5 and 6 November 2026, and buttons move, so trust your own screen where it differs.

1. **Create an account.** Go to [claude.ai](https://claude.ai) or install the app for macOS, Windows, iPhone or Android, then sign up and sign in. A new chat opens ready for a message.
2. **Type your request in the message box.** Say what you want, who it is for and how long it should be, as you would brief a colleague.
3. **Add what Claude should work from.** Use the **+** button in the message box to attach a document, a spreadsheet or an image, then ask about it.
4. **Choose how hard it thinks.** The message box also holds the model menu, and Anthropic's own tutorial covers extended thinking and research mode for harder questions.
5. **Work on the artifact that opens beside the chat.** Long, self-contained answers such as documents and small tools open in a panel. Ask for changes in the chat, or highlight text and click **Edit with Claude**. **Export** sends a document to Word, PDF, Markdown or Google Docs.
6. **Keep a recurring job in a Project.** Click **Projects** in the sidebar, then **+ New Project**. Click **Set project instructions** for the rules, and use the **+** in the knowledge base to add files.
7. **Check what Claude remembers.** Open **Settings**, then **Your Claude**, and select **Manage** next to Your memory to edit or delete any topic.

1. Type your request in the **message box** in the middle of the home page. Say what you want, who it is for and how long it should be.
   ![An illustration of Claude with a gold ring around the message box on the home page.](https://mindket.com/blog/screens/claude-1-message-box.webp?v=ade4ecdc8f8c)
2. Press the **+** at the bottom left of the box to attach a document, a spreadsheet or an image. Then ask about it.
   ![An illustration of Claude with a gold ring around the plus button at the bottom left of the message box.](https://mindket.com/blog/screens/claude-2-add-files.webp?v=57b7330c75be)
3. Open the document that appears beside the chat and press **Export** to send it to Word, PDF, Markdown or Google Docs.
   ![An illustration of a Claude chat with a document beside it and a gold ring around the Export button at the top of the document.](https://mindket.com/blog/screens/claude-3-export.webp?v=6a4975ea9d6c)
4. Click **Projects** in the sidebar, then **+ New Project** at the top right of the page to keep a recurring job in one place.
   ![An illustration of the Claude Projects page with a gold ring around the New Project button at the top right.](https://mindket.com/blog/screens/claude-4-new-project.webp?v=11d2e15b289c)

*AI-made illustrations of Claude's screens, drawn on 6 November 2026 to match these steps. They are not screenshots, so the real app may look different: follow what you see.*

> [The Claude Projects lesson](https://mindket.com/learn/ai-assistants/claude-projects) sets up a project with instructions, knowledge and memory in five steps. The video tutorials at the top of this page show all of these steps on screen.

## An example to try

Attach three sets of meeting minutes, or paste their text, then paste this prompt. It asks Claude to quote the line behind each flag, so you can check it against your own files.

````text
I'm attaching the minutes of our last three team meetings.
List every decision, who owns it and the date it is due, in a table.
Flag any decision that two meetings handled differently, and quote the line from each one.
Then write a five-line summary I can paste into an email.
````

- A table with one row per decision, with the owner and due date taken from the minutes.
- For any decision that changed between meetings, one quoted line from each, which you can find in the file in seconds.
- Where the minutes give no due date, you want a gap or a question, not an invented date.

## Tips for better results

- Chats inside one Project do not share what was said in them, so write a settled decision into a knowledge file.
- Delete the old version from a project's knowledge when you upload a new one, because Claude uses every file there.
- Ask Claude to quote the passage behind a claim, then search for that line in your file.
- To stop it guessing, say so in the instructions: "If a fact is not in the files, ask me."

## Plans, limits and privacy

Claude has a free plan, with Pro, Max, Ultra, Team and Enterprise plans above it. Projects come with every plan. Research, the mode that writes a report from many web pages, needs a paid one.

Anyone with the link to a shared chat can read it. In July 2026 the BBC counted more than 200 shared chats and artifacts in Google results, some holding health records and corporate documents, and Anthropic said it had removed the listings. Send a link only to people you would hand the document to. An incognito chat, from the ghost icon at the upper right, stays out of your history and memory.

In the desktop app, Claude can change files in a folder you give it. Anthropic says it asks before permanently deleting files by default, yet one early user reported that Cowork deleted every family photo while organizing his wife's desktop, and he restored them from an iCloud backup. Back up a folder before you let any agent work in it.

## YouTube tutorials

- [Getting started with Claude.ai](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vZ_UVLhSQQ) (Anthropic)
- [Claude AI Tutorial for Beginners (Step-by-Step)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2vYObllqJU) (Kevin Stratvert)
- [Getting started with projects in Claude.ai](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJ5jTgcbRHA) (Anthropic)
- [Use Claude Better Than 99% of People (Beginner to Pro)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aUgDDWd4-k) (Futurepedia)

## Learn more about Claude

- [How to use Claude Projects, with artifacts and memory](https://mindket.com/learn/ai-assistants/claude-projects)
- [Best AI for research in 2026: deep research tools, paper search and notebooks compared](https://mindket.com/learn/ai-tools/best-ai-for-research)
- [Which AI model should I use for my task?](https://mindket.com/learn/ai-basics/choose-an-ai-model)

## Frequently asked questions

### How many projects can I make on the free plan?

Up to five. Projects come with every plan, and a paid plan also gets retrieval mode, which keeps a large knowledge base usable.

### What is the difference between Claude and Claude Code?

Claude is the assistant you chat with in a browser, an app or on a phone. Claude Code is Anthropic's coding agent, which works on your code from the terminal. Unless you write software, start with Claude.

### What files can Claude read?

According to Anthropic's page, Word, PDF, plain text, Markdown, HTML, JSON, CSV, Excel and PowerPoint files, common image formats and code in most languages. Connectors can bring in more.

### What happened to Claude Cowork?

It now lives inside Claude. Anthropic says Cowork and chat are integrated, and your chats, projects, artifacts, connectors and skills are where you left them.

### Can I use Claude on my phone?

Yes, on iPhone and Android. On Pro, Max, Ultra and Team plans you can also start a task from your phone, and Claude keeps working in the cloud while your laptop is closed.

### Should I use Claude or ChatGPT?

Run the meeting-minutes prompt above through both free plans and compare the answers line by line. Keep the one you could send without editing.

## Sources

- [Wikipedia: Claude (AI)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_(AI)) (read 2026-11-06)
- [Anthropic: Claude](https://www.anthropic.com/claude) (read 2026-11-06)
- [Anthropic: What are projects?](https://support.claude.com/en/articles/9517075-what-are-projects) (read 2026-11-05)
- [Anthropic: How can I create and manage projects?](https://support.claude.com/en/articles/9519177-how-can-i-create-and-manage-projects) (read 2026-11-05)
- [Anthropic: What are artifacts and how do I use them?](https://support.claude.com/en/articles/9487310-what-are-artifacts-and-how-do-i-use-them) (read 2026-11-05)
- [Anthropic: Use Claude's chat search and memory](https://support.claude.com/en/articles/11817273-use-claude-s-chat-search-and-memory-to-build-on-previous-context) (read 2026-11-05)
- [Anthropic: Using Research on Claude](https://support.claude.com/en/articles/11088861-using-research-on-claude) (read 2026-11-06)
- [Anthropic: Claude plans and pricing](https://claude.com/pricing) (read 2026-11-06)
- [Anthropic on YouTube: Getting started with Claude.ai](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vZ_UVLhSQQ) (read 2026-11-06)
- [Google: Use Deep Research in Gemini Apps](https://support.google.com/gemini/answer/15719111?hl=en) (read 2026-11-06)
- [Perplexity: What is Research mode?](https://www.perplexity.ai/help-center/en/articles/10738684-what-is-research-mode) (read 2026-11-06)
- [Google: Add sources in Gemini Notebook](https://support.google.com/gemininotebook/answer/16215270?hl=en) (read 2026-11-06)
- [Ollama: Quickstart](https://docs.ollama.com/quickstart) (read 2026-11-05)

[Start the lesson](https://mindket.com/learn/ai-assistants/claude-projects)