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Bruno Ashford @brunoashfordSubscribeModule 2 · Lesson 2.2 · 11 min
Your First Steps in Cowork
Complete a real multi-step task on your files with Cowork, with no terminal involved.
Use ← → to move. The marker highlights text and the pencil draws on the slide; navigation locks while you annotate. Undo removes the last mark, Esc exits.
1Install or update the Claude desktop app
Download the Claude desktop app for Mac or Windows from claude.com/download and sign in with your paid account. Cowork needs a recent version of the app, so update it if you already have it installed.
2Prepare a practice folder
Create a folder called Cowork Practice and copy (do not move) around 20 files into it: receipts, invoices or documents from last month. Working on copies means nothing important can be lost while you learn.
3Start a Cowork task and give it the folder
In the desktop app, choose Cowork in the message box and connect your practice folder. Choose an approval mode that asks you before it acts (manual approval) for your first tasks. The desktop app needs to stay open while Cowork works on local files.
4Describe the outcome, not the clicks
Use a brief with a clear finish line, like the one below. Then watch the steps it proposes and approve them one by one.
Organise the files in this folder. Create subfolders by month and by type (receipts, invoices, other), rename each file as YYYY-MM-DD supplier amount, and create a spreadsheet called summary.xlsx with one row per file: date, supplier, amount, category. Do not delete anything. At the end, list any file you could not read.5Check the result like a manager
Open the spreadsheet and spot check five rows against the original files. Look at what it could not read. This is Discernment from the 4Ds, and it takes two minutes.
6Set global instructions
In the app settings for Cowork you can add global instructions that apply to every task, such as your company name, currency and date format. Add three lines now; it saves you repeating them every time.
Before we open a terminal, I want you to feel what an agent does, with nothing new to learn. Cowork lets you describe a task in plain English, point it at a folder, and watch it work through the steps. For many team members, Cowork is all they will ever need.
We will do one useful task today: turning a messy folder of receipts or documents into an organised folder with a summary spreadsheet. By the end you will have seen the plan, act, check loop from Module 1 happen on your own files.
Key points
- Cowork is agentic help with no terminal.
- Always practise on copies of your files.
- Start with an approval mode that asks before acting.
- Describe the outcome and the finish line.
- Spot check the result before you trust it.
Avoid
- Pointing Cowork at your entire Documents folder on the first try.
- Choosing an approval mode that skips all checks before you know how it behaves.
- Not asking it to list what it could not process.
- Closing the desktop app while it works on local files.
A bookkeeper at the practice used Cowork on a copy of one client's shoebox folder: 63 scanned receipts. In about ten minutes it produced monthly subfolders, consistent file names and a summary spreadsheet, and flagged four receipts that were too blurry to read. She fixed those four by hand. The job used to take her most of an afternoon.