⚡ Key takeaways
- Pick the shape of the work first: think it through together, hand off a finished task, or build software.
- Cowork is for handing off a task and needs a paid plan. Free users can try the same exercise in a normal chat.
- Set limits before you hand off: which notes to use, what to deliver, and what Claude may not touch.
- Claude Code is for codebases. You don’t need it for documents or pages.
You have five lines of rough notes about a project and need a clean status file by tomorrow. You could go back and forth with Claude, pasting each answer into a document. Or you could describe the file you want, let Claude plan and make it, and only check the result. The Claude desktop app supports both ways of working, plus a third for software. In this guide you learn which fits which job, then hand off that status file as a first, small task.
Three ways to work with Claude on desktop
Claude is one assistant; the desktop app is one place to use it. Anthropic’s desktop lesson sorts work into three shapes:
- Turn by turn (Chat): brainstorm, ask questions, revise a paragraph. Your next question depends on the last answer.
- Hand it off (Cowork): describe a finished result, let Claude plan and do the steps, then review it.
- Build software (Claude Code): work inside a codebase, run commands, and test changes.
A quick rewrite is a chat; a deliverable with several steps is a hand-off. Using the wrong shape mostly costs time: a hand-off for a one-line edit is overkill, and a chat for a ten-step job means you carry every step yourself.
Install Claude Desktop
- Open the Claude download page.
- Click the Windows download (pick Windows (arm64) only if your PC has an ARM chip).
- Run the installer.
- Open Claude and sign in with the account you use on claude.ai.
Your chats are the same in the app and on the web. Depending on your account you’ll see either a Cowork option in the message box, or a single conversation that can take on Cowork tasks by itself. The Cowork guide describes both layouts; this exercise works in either.
What Cowork adds
In a chat, you carry each answer to the next step. In Cowork, Claude plans the steps, shows you the plan, does the work, and saves the finished file. On desktop it can work with folders you allow and keep going while you do something else. Later you can make a task repeat, for example a Monday report, with scheduled tasks. Start with one task you check by hand before you automate anything.
Practice: hand off a small status file
Use these practice notes, not real work records:
Project: neighborhood website refresh. Completed: draft homepage text. Blocked: waiting for approved photographs. Next: review the text, then choose photographs. Launch date: not confirmed.
On a paid plan:
- Start a new conversation and pick Cowork if your message box shows it.
- Open the + menu in the message box and switch off any connectors.
- Paste the request below, followed by the notes, and send it.
- Read the plan Claude shows you.
- Reply “Approved” if the plan uses only these notes and creates one new file.
- Open the finished file.
Prepare project-status.md from these notes. Use four headings: Completed, Blocked, Next steps, and To confirm. Keep the launch date unconfirmed. Show me your plan first and wait for my approval. Don't use connectors, the browser, or schedules, and don't change any existing files.
On Free, paste the same request and notes into a normal chat, but replace the first sentence with “Write a status brief as text”. Then ask for one fix, such as “Shorten each Next step to one line.”
Check the result against the notes, not against how tidy it looks. The photographs must still be missing, the launch date must still say unconfirmed, and the next steps must match the notes. If anything was added, tell Claude what to remove.
Where Claude Code fits
Claude Code is for work in real source files: adding a feature, understanding someone else’s repository, or running tests. The Claude Code overview lists where it runs. For a document, you don’t need it; that can be an artifact in an ordinary chat, which part 3 covers.
From my own use
I run Claude Code inside Visual Studio Code. That’s how I built Neoviews, a small TV series app for my own use, because the apps I tried were full of ads.
Frequently asked questions
Does a line like “don’t use connectors” in my prompt block access?
No. It states what you want, but the real limits are which connectors, folders, and permissions you switched on. Turn off what the task doesn’t need.
Why did Cowork use more of my limit than a chat?
A task with several steps does more work than one question. Check Settings > Usage before you start another large task.
Next: Claude Projects, which keeps the background for ongoing work in one place. This is part 1 of Claude beyond the basics; the beginner series covers sign-in and your first chat.
John Lock
The Tested Weekly
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