Claude Cowork Guide

🌐 Languages: English | Français

Table of Contents

• Quick Start
• Why this guide?
• Learning Paths
• Content
• Golden Rules
• About
• Contributing
• License

Complete guide to Claude's desktop assistant for knowledge workers and small businesses. Invoices, quotes, follow-ups, prospecting — automated without coding.

⚡ Quick Start

1. Enable Cowork

Settings → Features → Enable Cowork → Grant folder access

2. First workflow

mkdir -p ~/Cowork-Workspace/{input,output}
# Add files to input/, then:

"Organize the files in ~/Cowork-Workspace/input/ by type"

3. Go further

• 📋 Cheatsheet — Print this
• 📖 Complete guide — 10 min

• Subscription: Pro ($20/mo) or Max ($100-200/mo)
• Platform: macOS and Windows
• App: Claude Desktop (latest version)

Why this guide?

The problem: Official docs are dense. Tutorials get outdated quickly. You need ready-to-use workflows, not feature lists.

This guide: 28 business workflows, 70 copy-paste prompts, 11 official plugins documented, Desktop Commander guide, Skills/Customize Tab documentation, practical examples.

Reading time: Getting started 5 min | Complete guide 45 min

👨‍💻 Are you a developer?

Claude Code is the guide for developers — same AI, terminal interface, code execution.

→ Claude Code Guide

🎯 Learning Paths

1. Overview — What Cowork can do
2. Getting Started — Installation and first workflow
3. File Organization — Practical example
4. Prompts Library — 20 ready prompts
5. Cheatsheet — Print this

1. Content — Capabilities and resources
2. Golden Rules — Essential principles
3. Security — Best practices
4. Comparison — vs Copilot/Gemini/ChatGPT

1. Complete Capabilities — Feature matrix

2. All Workflows — 28 step-by-step guides

3. Troubleshooting — Error resolution

4. FAQ — 20+ questions

5. Advanced Prompts — Research and synthesis

6. Glossary — Terminology

📚 Content

Guides (5 files)

| Guide | What you'll learn | Time | |-------|-------------------|------| | Overview | What Cowork can do | 5 min | | Getting Started | Installation, first workflow | 10 min | | Capabilities | What works, what doesn't | 8 min | | Security | Best practices | 12 min | | Troubleshooting | Common issues | 8 min |

Plugins (11 official)

Claude Cowork supports 11 official plugins: Asana, Canva, Cloudflare, Figma, GitHub, Google Drive, Jira, Linear, Notion, Sentry, Slack. Plugins extend Cowork's capabilities by connecting to external tools directly.

Workflows (28 guides)

📋 Administrative (6)

• Invoice Generation — Professional templates
• Quote → Invoice — Automatic transformation
• Payment Reminders — R1, R2, R3, legal notice
• Compliance Checklist — Required documents
• Client Follow-up Tracker — Excel dashboard
• Price Comparison — Multi-supplier with scoring

💼 Sales & Marketing (5)

• Prospect Research — Company data, decision makers
• Quote Creation — Detailed with variants
• Competitor Analysis — Pricing, offers, reviews
• Presentation Slides — PowerPoint/Keynote
• Newsletter Creation — Responsive HTML

🔧 Operations (5)

• Project Planning — Gantt, milestones, dependencies
• Inventory Tracking — Restocking alerts
• Work Log — Compliant documentation
• Quality Checklist — Standardized lists
• Supplier Orders — Optimized procurement

📣 Communication (6)

• Social Media Posts — LinkedIn/Facebook/Instagram
• Email Templates — Reusable library
• Review Responses — Google/Facebook
• Website Audit — Site diagnosis and action plan
• Knowledge Transfer — Training, succession

🗂️ Organization (6)

• File Organization — Automatic folder sorting
• Expense Tracking — Receipts to Excel
• Meeting Prep — Client/supplier briefings
• Scheduled Automation — Recurring task automation
• Memory Setup — Cross-session memory with Desktop Commander

→ All workflows

| Collection | Count | Examples | |------------|-------|----------| | Files | 20 | Organize, rename, deduplicate | | Documents | 15 | Reports, summaries, Excel | | Extraction | 15 | PDF, OCR, images | | Research | 17 | Web, synthesis |

| Resource | Description | |----------|-------------| | Cheatsheet | 1-page printable | | Comparison | vs Copilot, Gemini, ChatGPT | | FAQ | 20+ questions | | Glossary | Cowork terminology |

🔑 Golden Rules

1. Always review the plan before approval — Cowork proposes, you decide
2. Dedicated folder only — Never grant access to Documents/Desktop/system
3. No credentials — Keep passwords and API keys elsewhere
4. Verify sources — Downloaded files may contain malicious prompts
5. Disconnect VPN — Issue #1, breaks VM networking
6. Backup before deletion — No undo possible

See Security Guide for detailed practices.

🌍 About

This guide exists because official docs are dense and tutorials get outdated quickly.

Philosophy: Practical over theoretical. Real workflows, not feature lists.

Focus v1.1: Small businesses and knowledge workers worldwide.

Created with Claude Code. Maintained by Florian BRUNIAUX.

Related: Claude Code Guide — For developers

Cowork sends prompts, files, and results to Anthropic servers.

| Plan | Retention | Training | |------|-----------|----------| | Default | 5 years | Yes | | Opt-out | 30 days | No | | Enterprise | 0 | No |

Action: Disable training

Platform: macOS and Windows

Known issues:

• VPN incompatible (VM routing conflict)
• Usage resets every 5 hours
• Pro: ~1-1.5h intensive use before limit
• OCR: ~97% fields, ~63% line items accuracy

Status: Research p