10 Practical Things You Can Do with Claude Cowork¶
Real-world tasks you can try right now. Each includes the exact instruction to give Claude.
1. Clean Up Your Downloads Folder¶
What to say:
Go through my Downloads folder and organize everything. Create folders for: Documents, Images, Spreadsheets, Videos, and Other. Move each file to the right folder based on its type.
Why this works: Your Downloads folder is probably a mess. This takes 5 minutes instead of an hour.
Time saved: ~45 minutes
2. Rename Multiple Files at Once¶
What to say:
Rename all the files in this folder. Add today's date at the start of each filename in this format: 2026-02-10. Keep the original filename after the date. Example: "report.pdf" becomes "2026-02-10_report.pdf"
Time saved: ~20 minutes
3. Create a Report from Your Notes¶
What to say:
Read all the text files in this folder. Create one document that summarizes the main points, organizes them by topic, and includes a list of action items at the end.
Time saved: ~1-2 hours
4. Process Receipts for Expenses¶
What to say:
Look at all the receipt images in this folder. Create a spreadsheet with these columns: Date, Vendor, Amount, Category. Extract the information from each receipt and fill in the spreadsheet. Save as expenses.csv
Time saved: ~30-60 minutes
5. Turn One Article into Multiple Social Posts¶
What to say:
Take this article and create: 1 LinkedIn post (300 words), 3 Twitter/X threads (each 5 tweets long), and 5 Instagram captions. Keep the main message the same but adjust the tone for each platform.
Time saved: ~2 hours
6. Organize Research Materials¶
What to say:
Go through these PDFs and documents. Create folders by topic. Put related documents together and create a summary document for each folder that lists what's inside and a one-sentence description of each file.
Time saved: ~1-2 hours
7. Create Meeting Agendas from Notes¶
What to say:
Read through these meeting notes from the last month. Create an agenda for next week's meeting that includes: unfinished items from previous meetings, new topics that came up, and discussion questions for each item.
Time saved: ~30 minutes
8. Analyze Survey Responses¶
What to say:
Look at this spreadsheet of survey responses. Tell me the top 5 most common themes, how many people mentioned each theme, and include 2-3 example quotes for each one. Save the analysis as survey-analysis.md
Time saved: ~2-3 hours
9. Create a FAQ from Customer Emails¶
What to say:
Read through these customer support emails. Create a FAQ document with the 10 most common questions and good answers for each one. Group them by category (billing, technical, general).
Time saved: ~1-2 hours
10. Format Data for Presentations¶
What to say:
Take the data from this spreadsheet and create a clean summary document with: monthly trends, top 5 performers, and year-over-year comparison. Use tables and bullet points. Save as presentation-data.md
Time saved: ~1 hour
What Real Users Say¶
| Role | Use Case | Time Saved |
|---|---|---|
| Marketing Manager | Repurpose blog posts into social media content | 2 hours to 10 minutes |
| Small Business Owner | Process monthly expense receipts | 1 hour to 5 minutes |
| Researcher | Organize interview transcripts and extract themes | 3 hours to 15 minutes |
| Content Creator | Organize footage by date and project | 2 hours to 10 minutes |
Tips for Success¶
- Start with a copy — Don't run tasks on your only copy of important files
- Be specific about output format — Tell Claude exactly what columns, headings, or structure you want
- Review the plan — Always check before letting Claude run
- Save good prompts — When something works well, save the instruction for next time
- Iterate — If the result isn't perfect, adjust your instructions and try again