Your Claude Desktop App Starter Guide

Get the app at claude.com/download for Mac or Windows. The app itself is free, but the good stuff in this guide (Cowork and scheduled tasks) needs a paid plan. That’s Pro at $20 a month, Max at $100 or Ultra at $200 (pricing).

Heads Up

Anthropic is merging chat and Cowork into one Claude, starting with Pro, Max and Ultra. If your message box has no Chat or Cowork option, you have the new version. Skip the "open Cowork" steps and type your task into any chat.

Cowork is the reason to download it. You describe an outcome, and Claude makes a plan and works through it, reading and writing real files and pulling from your apps while you do something else.

Cowork now runs on the web and phone too, and since October 6, new tasks on Pro, Max and Ultra run on Anthropic’s servers. What still needs the desktop app is your computer itself. Local folders, computer use and the built-in browser only work while the app is open (details). So the desktop app is your home base whenever a task touches files on your machine.

Open Connectors

Click Customize in the left sidebar. Anthropic is renaming it Plugins, so you may see that name instead. Then click Connectors to see apps like Gmail, Google Drive, Google Calendar, Slack and Notion.

Connect the big three

Click an app, sign in and grant permissions. Start with email, calendar and file storage, since those cover most of what you’ll hand off. Some connectors are read-only. The Gmail connector can search and read but can’t send or change email, so Claude drafts and you send.

Peek at Plugins

While you’re there, open the Plugins tab. Plugins are prebuilt bundles of skills and connectors for a kind of work, like marketing, finance or sales. Install one and it sets those up for you.

Start a task

On the older layout, pick Cowork in the message box (or the Cowork tab), then New task. On the new layout, just type into any chat.

Connect one folder

When Claude asks for folder access, point it at a folder you actually work in, like Downloads or one project folder. Start small rather than handing over all of Documents. Claude can only see the folders you connect.

Let it run

Claude shows its plan, works through each step and asks before deleting anything. Watch, redirect, or walk away and come back. That walk-away part is the difference from chat.

First Task: Clean Up Downloads

You're my file organizer. Clean up my Downloads folder. 1. Look at every file in Downloads and tell me how many there are of each type. 2. Sort them into subfolders: PDFs, Images, Spreadsheets, Documents, Installers and Misc. Create the folders if they don't exist. 3. Anything older than 60 days goes into a folder called Archive [today's date] instead, keeping the same subfolders inside it. 4. If two files look like duplicates, keep the newest and move the others into a folder called Possible Duplicates. Don't delete anything. Show me your plan and the folder structure first and wait for my OK. When you're done, give me a summary of what moved where and how many files are in each folder, plus anything you weren't sure about.

Connected Gmail? Try this one instead.

First Task: Inbox Triage

You're my inbox assistant. Triage my Gmail from the last 7 days. 1. Sort every email into three groups: Urgent (needs a reply today), Needs Reply (this week) and FYI (no action). 2. For each one, list the sender, subject, group and a one-line summary. 3. For everything in Urgent, write a short draft reply in my voice: friendly, direct, no fluff. 4. Skip newsletters and promotions unless they mention a deadline or money. Put it all in a document called Email Triage [date], with Urgent at the top. You can only read my email, so put the drafts in the doc for me to copy. If you're unsure which group something belongs in, put it in Needs Reply and say why.

Set it up once and Claude runs it hourly, daily, weekly, on weekdays, or whenever you click run. Scheduled tasks run remotely, so they keep going with your laptop asleep, unless the task needs local files or apps. Then it only runs on your computer, with the app open (how it works).

Create it

On the new layout, describe the task and how often in any chat, review what Claude proposes, then click Schedule. On the Cowork layout, click Scheduled in the left sidebar, then New task, then Create with Claude.

Manage it

Click Scheduled in the sidebar anytime to see upcoming and past runs, edit, pause or run a task on demand.

This one uses only your connected apps, so it runs in the cloud.

Monday Weekly Briefing

Every Monday at 8am, get my week ready. 1. Check my Google Calendar for every meeting this week. For each one, list the day, time, who's attending and what it's about. Flag any back-to-back blocks or meetings with no agenda. 2. Check my Gmail for emails from the last 3 days I haven't replied to. List the sender, subject and a one-line summary, most important first. 3. Pull out anything that looks like a deadline this week. Put it in a clean, scannable doc called Weekly Briefing [this week's dates]: Meetings, Needs A Reply, Deadlines, then the 3 things I should focus on first. Don't send, accept or decline anything.

This one touches local folders, so keep your computer awake with the app open on Fridays at 4.

Friday File Cleanup

Every Friday at 4pm, tidy my Downloads folder and my Desktop. 1. Move any file that's been sitting there more than 7 days into an Archive folder, sorted into Documents, Images, Spreadsheets and Other. 2. If files look like duplicates, keep the newest and move the rest into Archive/Possible Duplicates. Never delete anything. 3. Leave alone anything I opened or changed in the last 7 days, and any folder I created myself. Save a short log called cleanup-log-[date].md in the Archive folder: what moved, where it went, and anything you skipped and why.

Make a Project for each area of work. One for marketing, one for clients, one for admin. Each has its own instructions and scheduled tasks, so Claude doesn’t mix them up.
Save your first Skill. If you give Claude the same instructions every time, like how to format a client report, save them under Customize (or Plugins), then Skills. Then one sentence does the job.
Start tasks from your phone. On Pro, Max and Ultra, open the Claude mobile app and start a task. It runs in the cloud, so it keeps going while you’re out.

Want the deeper version? Here’s my complete guide to getting started with Cowork.

You Downloaded The Claude App.Now Do These 3 Things

You Downloaded The Claude App.
Now Do These 3 Things