Claude in practice

By Gianluca Bonomo — Technology Trainer and Instructor

After a few months of Claude your chats number in the hundreds and your prompts are always the same. With a few gestures you can work much better.

In this guide you go from theory to practice: you search, organise, write requests that work and decide your privacy settings.

1. Creating a new chat and resuming old ones

Every topic deserves its own chat: it is the gesture you will use most.

1.1 How to do it

1. Click New at the top of the sidebar (in the app also Ctrl+N, or File, New chat).
2. The «How can I help you today?» box appears: check model and effort at the bottom right («Opus 5.5, Medium» is fine to start).
3. Write the request and press Enter. To start a new line without sending use Shift+Enter.

1.2 New chat or continue?

Claude remembers everything said inside that chat, but not in the others. If the topic is the same, continue where you are: you can correct, go deeper, ask for a different version. If the topic changes, open a new chat: answers are more precise and you use less of your limit.

1.3 Reopening an old chat

1. In the sidebar scroll the list under Ungrouped, from newest to oldest.
2. Click the title: the conversation opens with the whole exchange.
3. Type in the box at the bottom to pick up where you left off.

In the desktop app you can also move with the keyboard: Ctrl+Tab goes to the next chat, Ctrl+Shift+Tab to the previous one, Alt+left arrow goes back, Ctrl+B hides the sidebar.

2. Searching, organising and deleting chats

When conversations number in the hundreds, you need three skills: search, order, clean up.

2.1 Searching

1. Click the lens near the list (on the web at the bottom left); in the app press Ctrl+Shift+K.
2. Type one or two distinctive words: a name, a topic, a phrase.
3. Narrow down with the filters: All, Artifacts, Chats, Projects, Sessions, Tasks, Scheduled.
4. Look at the snippet under each title: it shows the word found and when; then press Enter to open.

2.2 Renaming, pinning, moving

Hover over the title and click the three dots. A good title contains a word you will remember (the client's, course's or project's name): then search finds it at once.

• Rename (R): changes the title Claude gave.
• Pin (P): puts it on top, under Pinned.
• Add to project: the chat will see the project's files and instructions.
• Move to group: assigns it to a group you create with Group by.
• Open in a new window: desktop only, to compare two chats.

2.3 Deleting a chat

1. Open the three-dot menu and choose Delete (key D with the menu open), in red at the bottom.
2. A message appears: delete the chat, do you really want to delete this chat?
3. Click Cancel if in doubt, Delete to confirm.

3. Writing good prompts

A prompt is the request you write to Claude. The clearer it is, the less time you lose fixing the answer.

3.1 The four rules

• Say what you want to get: not «tell me about email» but «write a payment reminder email».
• Give the context: who you are, who you write to, what has already happened.
• State form and length: list or text, how many lines, what tone, what language.
• Attach the material: if Claude has to work on a document, attach it instead of summarising it.

3.2 The CO-STAR method

An easy outline to remember for important requests: each letter is one line of the prompt.

3.3 Improving without starting over

3.4 Saving the prompts that work

• Instructions for Claude (Settings, Account): rules that always apply, such as language, tone and format.
• Project instructions: rules that apply only in that project's chats.
• Skills: complete procedures to call with the / key.

4. Files, photos, screenshots, web search and voice

Claude reads PDF, Word, Excel, text and images: you show it, you do not describe it.

4.1 Attaching a file

1. Click the + to the left of the box and choose Add files or photos (Ctrl+U), or drag the file into the window.
2. The file appears as a thumbnail above the text; you can attach more than one.
3. Write what you want: «Summarise in ten points», «Compare these two contracts».
4. Press Enter. To remove an attachment before sending use the small x on the thumbnail.

4.2 Capturing the screen

From the + menu choose Take a screenshot: you select part of the screen and Claude receives it as an image. It is the quickest way to ask for help on an error, a form or a chart.

4.3 Up-to-date information: web search

In the + menu check that Web search has the tick, then ask a question that needs recent data and ask for sources. Claude searches the web and reports them: always open the links to verify. The Research entry, above it, turns on the deeper mode across many sources.

4.4 Dictating instead of typing

Press the microphone (or Ctrl+D in the app), speak normally, press again to stop, reread and send. For notes right after a meeting: dictate in a jumble and then write «Put these notes in order as a list of decisions and to-dos». Voice mode allows a real spoken conversation.

5. Projects, documents, skills and connectors

Four tools to stop re-explaining everything every time.

5.1 Creating a project

1. In the sidebar click Projects, then New project.
2. Give a short name and description.
3. With the + next to Instructions write how Claude should behave in this project.
4. With the + next to Context upload the reference files.
5. Write the first request in the project box: the chat is born with all the context.

Already started a chat outside the project? From the three-dot menu choose Add to project. In the app, the Folder entry can also link a folder on your PC.

5.2 Creating documents, presentations and pages

Describe what you need: «Create a flyer for an evening computer course, A4 format, blue and orange colours». Claude prepares the content in a window on the right (the Artifact) and you can ask for changes in the chat. For a Word, Excel, PowerPoint or PDF file ask for the format: the Code execution and file creation option in Settings, Features is needed. Everything is found again on the Artifact page.

5.3 Skills and connectors

Type / in the box: the list of skills opens. If you often repeat the same task, turn it into a skill from Customize, Skills, Add, Create with Claude: «When I give you minutes, return decisions, owners and deadlines in a table».

To connect Google Drive, Gmail or Calendar go to Customize, Connectors, find the service under Discover and click +, or Connect under Yours. Then ask: «Search my mail for August invoices and summarise them in a table».

6. Scheduled tasks and Cowork

Have Claude do the same job every day, or hand it a whole task.

6.1 Creating a scheduled task

1. Click Scheduled in the sidebar.
2. Choose one of the templates at the bottom (for example Daily briefing) or New task.
3. Describe what it must do and when: days and time.
4. Save: the task appears in the list with the date of the next run.

6.2 Cowork

1. Under the box move the switch from Chat to Cowork.
2. Choose the Project and, if you like, Manual mode (Claude asks for confirmation step by step).
3. Describe the task: «Read the PDFs in the Invoices folder, extract date and amount and prepare a summary Excel sheet».
4. Check the results in the Output tab or in the folder you indicated.

7. Privacy, memory and usage limit

Five actions to use Claude with peace of mind, in order of importance.

7.1 Decide whether your data trains Claude

1. Open Settings (Ctrl+comma, or your name menu, Settings).
2. Go to Privacy and find the Help improve our AI models switch.
3. If it is blue (on) and you do not want your chats and coding sessions to train the models, click it to turn it off.

7.2 Use incognito for sensitive things

Click the ghost icon at the top right (Ctrl+Shift+I in the app): the chat does not appear in history or search. If you need the text, copy it before closing.

7.3 Download a copy and check what you shared

In Privacy, Your data: Export data prepares an archive of what Claude keeps about you; Shared chats, Shared artifacts and Uploaded files let you see and revoke public links and delete attached files.

7.4 Decide how much Claude should remember

In Settings, Memory two switches decide whether Claude searches past chats and whether it generates memory from them. Turn them on only if you want an assistant that knows you over time; otherwise leave them off.

8. Do not run out of your usage limit

Claude has a usage limit with periodic resets: here is how to watch it and make it last.

Settings, Usage shows the current session, weekly use and the split between Chat, Cowork and Claude Code.

9. Five scenarios and a prompt cookbook

From start to finish: how the functions seen so far combine.

9.1 Scenario 1: answering a difficult email

1. New, empty chat, Opus 5.5, Medium effort.
2. Paste the message you received and write: «I am [role]. The sender is angry because [reason]. Write a friendly but firm reply, at most one hundred and twenty words.»
3. Refine: «Less formal» or «Add that we can call him back tomorrow».
4. Copy the text with the copy icon and paste it into your mail program.

9.2 Scenario 2: understanding a long document

1. New, then +, Add files or photos and choose the PDF.
2. Write: «Summarise in ten points, then list deadlines and obligations for me. Flag what is ambiguous.»
3. Dig deeper with questions: «What does point four mean? Give me an example.»
4. Rename the chat with the contract's name and pin it if you will need it again.

9.3 Scenario 3: preparing a course

1. Projects, New project: «Basic Excel course».
2. In Instructions write audience, level and tone; in Context upload the syllabus.
3. Ask: «Propose an outline of six two-hour lessons», then «Write lesson one with exercises».
4. Ask for the material in Word or PowerPoint: you find it in Artifacts.

9.4 Scenario 4: resuming work from two months ago

1. Press Ctrl+Shift+K (or the lens) and type the client's name.
2. Filter by Chats or Artifacts and look at the dates.
3. Open the chat and write: «Let us pick up here: update the document with September's data.»

9.5 Scenario 5: tidying up

1. Open the list sliders and use Last activity to see old chats.
2. For each: Pin or Add to project if needed, Delete if no longer needed.
3. Before bulk deleting run Privacy, Export data.
4. Revoke useless links from Privacy, Shared chats, Manage.

9.6 The cookbook

An afternoon as an expert user

Twenty minutes with a real case from your work: at the end you will have a tidy chat, a saved prompt and your privacy settings decided.

1. Choose a task you do often, for example answering an email or summarising a document.
2. Open a new chat and write the request the way you would today; save the answer.
3. Rewrite it with the CO-STAR method and compare the two answers.
4. Rename the chat with a word you will remember and pin it.
5. Search for it with Ctrl+Shift+K to check you can find it again.
6. Save the better prompt in Instructions for Claude or in a project, with the variable parts in square brackets.
7. Open Settings, Privacy, and decide the training switch.
8. Look at Usage to see how much of your limit you used.

Questions that come up in class

Glossary

Further reading

• Claude interface, web version and desktop app for Windows — observed and captured in September 2026
• The CO-STAR method for writing prompts — reference framework used in gianlu.it courses
• Anthropic help and privacy pages — to consult for up-to-date terms