⚡ Key takeaways
- Bring Claude to where the work is: your open deck, a folder of files, a stack of quotes, a web page, or a set time each morning.
- Most of these need a paid plan. Comparing quotes in a project works on Free.
- Every task ends with your check: the slide, the totals, the math, and the prices.
- Start with one task you do every week and build from there.
The first six parts used a fictional reading group to learn each feature. This last part is about your own week: fixing a deck ten minutes before a meeting, comparing this year’s sales with last year’s, choosing between three energy offers, or finding a cheaper flight with Claude in Chrome. Here are five tasks, each with the steps and a check.
Five tasks and what they need
- Edit an open PowerPoint, Excel, or Word file: Claude for Microsoft 365, Pro or higher.
- Analyze a folder of data: Cowork in Claude Desktop, any paid plan.
- Compare quotes before you choose: a project, which works on Free.
- Compare prices on the web: Claude in Chrome, Pro or higher.
- Run a task every morning: a scheduled task, any paid plan.
1. Change an open deck in PowerPoint
With the add-in, Claude opens in a panel beside your presentation. You ask for a change, and it happens in the deck itself, using your slide layouts and fonts. According to the PowerPoint guide, it needs a paid plan and, on Windows, PowerPoint from a Microsoft 365 subscription.
- Open the Claude listing on Microsoft Marketplace and click Get it now.
- Open PowerPoint and go to Home > Add-ins.
- Select Claude and sign in with your Claude account.
- Open a deck you can safely change, or a copy of one.
- In the Claude panel, ask: “Shorten every bullet on slide 3 to one line and keep the layout.”
- Check slide 3 before you save the deck.
From my own use
Claude on the right, my file on the left: that layout is what makes it fast. Small changes that would take me a few minutes of clicking are done while I read the next slide. It works the same way in Excel and Word.
Claude only works on files that are open. According to the cross-app guide, it can also pull numbers from an open Excel sheet into an open deck.
2. Analyze a folder of data
In Cowork, you connect a folder on your PC to a task. According to the Cowork guide, Claude can then read and write files in that folder, and nowhere else on your PC.
- Put copies of the files in one folder, for example sales-2025.csv and sales-2026.csv.
- Open Claude Desktop and start a new conversation; pick Cowork if your message box shows it (part 1 explains both layouts).
- Connect that folder to the task.
- Send the request below.
- Read the plan Claude shows you and reply “Approved”.
- Open the summary and the chart Claude saves in the folder.
Analyze the sales files in this folder. Compare 2026 with 2025 per month and per product. Make a line chart of both years and a short summary of the biggest changes. Save both in this folder. Don't change the original files.
Check two totals by hand before you trust the chart. Open one CSV in Excel, add up a single month, and compare it with Claude’s number. If it doesn’t match, ask Claude how it calculated that month.
From my own use
I start with an export from SQL Server: I dump the data to files in one folder, then point Claude at that folder. That way Claude works on a copy and never touches the database itself.
3. Compare quotes before you choose
When you have several offers, such as electricity plans, insurance, or two laptops, put them in one project. Every chat in the project can see all of them, so you can think the choice through over several days. Setting up a project is covered in part 2.
- Create a project, for example Energy plan 2027.
- Add each quote to the project knowledge: a PDF, or a screenshot if the offer came by email.
- Add a short file with your own facts: yearly usage from your bill, and what matters to you.
- Start a chat in the project and send the request below.
Compare these quotes for my yearly usage. For each one, calculate the total cost for the first year, including fixed fees and any cancellation fee. Put them in a table, list the assumptions you made, and tell me what to ask each supplier before I sign.
Recalculate the cheapest option yourself with your own usage. Small print, such as a rate that changes after six months, is where comparisons go wrong.
From my own use
I did this with electricity and gas offers: all quotes in one project, then Claude as a sparring partner while I decided. It works just as well for choosing a product.
4. Compare prices with Claude in Chrome
Claude in Chrome is an extension that opens Claude in a side panel and lets it browse pages for you. The Chrome guide lists it for Pro and higher, in Google Chrome only. Keep it to reading and comparing: no logins, forms, or purchases.
- Open the Claude in Chrome listing in the Chrome Web Store and click Add to Chrome.
- Sign in with your Claude account.
- Click the Claude icon in the toolbar to open the side panel.
- Ask for a comparison, such as the request below.
- Open each page Claude used and check the price yourself.
Find round-trip economy fares from Chicago to Lisbon for the second week of March. Compare at least four booking sites. List the price, airline, stops, and baggage included, with a link to each result. Don't log in, fill in forms, or book anything.
Prices change by the minute, and some sites show a different price at checkout. Treat Claude’s list as a shortlist, not a quote.
From my own use
I used this to look up ticket prices, and it worked well the first time, because the searching runs in my own browser on my PC. Claude even found price sites I normally never check.
5. Run a task every morning
A scheduled task runs on its own at a set time, even when your PC is asleep, unless it needs local files. The scheduled tasks guide lists it on all paid plans.
- In Claude Desktop, open Cowork and click Scheduled in the sidebar.
- Click New task and choose Create with Claude.
- Describe the task and the time, such as “Every weekday at 6 AM, give me the three main tech headlines in one sentence each.”
- Review the name, schedule, and instructions, then click Schedule.
From my own use
I schedule a small, cheap task at 6 AM; what it does hardly matters. Your usage runs in five-hour windows that start with your first message. For me, the 6 AM task starts that window early: when I begin at 9, the limit resets at 11, so I get a fresh window halfway through my morning. It adds nothing to the weekly limit.
That ends Claude beyond the basics. The beginner series covers the foundations, and the agentic AI series shows how to build an assistant that runs on your own PC.
John Lock
The Tested Weekly
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