💎 Key Takeaways
| Course Name | Introduction to Claude Cowork |
| Platform | Claude Academy |
| Price | Free |
| Duration | 2.5 hours, self-paced |
| Level | Beginner |
| Prerequisites | Paid Claude plan (Pro, Max, Team, or Enterprise); access to the Claude desktop app; comfort with everyday desktop apps (no coding or command-line experience needed) |
| Skills | Task delegation, workspace setup, prompt writing for multi-step tasks, skills and plugin creation, scheduled task automation, Claude in Chrome, Claude for Microsoft 365, safe working practices |
About
This course teaches you how to use Claude Cowork to delegate real, multi-step work involving your files, folders, and desktop apps. You learn to set up workspaces, give Claude standing context, build reusable skills and plugins, integrate Claude with Chrome and Microsoft 365 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook), and validate and share your workflows with a team. By the end, you can hand off recurring knowledge work to Claude and steer it confidently from start to finish.
The course is produced by Anthropic via Claude Academy, the official learning platform for Claude products.
Who’s Teaching
n/a
What’s Covered
- What Claude Cowork is and how it differs from Chat and Code
- Setting up a working folder, connectors, and permission modes
- Running your first end-to-end task: prompting, steering, and reviewing
- Scheduling recurring tasks and running Cowork from any browser
- Configuring global instructions and projects for standing context
- Building custom skills and installing or bundling plugins
- Using Claude in Chrome to drive web-based tools
- Working inside Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook with Claude add-ins
- Reviewing plans and outputs safely before acting
- Validating skills with evals and sharing plugins through a team marketplace
Skills You’ll Develop
- Delegating multi-step tasks to an AI agent with clear, effective prompts
- Configuring and customizing an agentic workspace for consistent outputs
- Building and validating reusable skills and plugins for team use
- Automating recurring processes with scheduled tasks
- Integrating AI assistance into browser workflows and Microsoft 365 apps
- Applying safe review habits when AI acts on your files and systems
Level
Beginner. Best suited for knowledge workers who spend their day moving information between files, apps, and tools, and want to offload that work to Claude without any coding background.
