Claude Cowork Cheat Sheet: 50 Essential Commands, Prompts, and Shortcuts
The ultimate quick-reference guide for Claude Cowork. Print it, bookmark it, share it with your team.
This cheat sheet collects the 50 most useful prompts, commands, settings, and safety practices for Claude Cowork in one place. Whether you are a beginner or a power user, keep this handy.
Quick Start (5 Commands)
| # | What you want | Prompt / Action |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Switch to Cowork mode | Open Claude Desktop → click the mode selector → select "Cowork" |
| 2 | Grant folder access | Click "Add folder" → select the folder → confirm |
| 3 | First test task | "List all files in this folder and tell me what you see." |
| 4 | Stop a task | Click the stop button or press Cmd+. (macOS) / Ctrl+. (Windows) |
| 5 | Review changes | Click "Review changes" before approving any file edits |
File Organization Prompts (10)
| # | Task | Prompt |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sort Downloads | "Sort my Downloads folder: move images to ~/Pictures, documents to ~/Documents, installers to ~/Applications, and delete anything older than 30 days." |
| 2 | Batch rename by date | "Rename all images in this folder using the pattern YYYY-MM-DD_original-name.jpg based on their creation date." |
| 3 | Find duplicates | "Find all duplicate files in this folder by comparing file content (not just names). List them and ask before deleting." |
| 4 | Convert formats | "Convert all .docx files in this folder to PDF and save them in a new PDFs subfolder." |
| 5 | Merge PDFs | "Merge all PDF files in this folder into a single document called combined-report.pdf, in alphabetical order." |
| 6 | Extract images | "Extract all images from the .docx files in this folder and save them in an images subfolder." |
| 7 | Clean empty folders | "Find all empty subfolders in this directory and list them. Ask before deleting." |
| 8 | Organize by type | "Organize files in this folder into subfolders by file type: Images, Documents, Videos, Audio, Archives, Other." |
| 9 | Archive old files | "Move all files older than 6 months to an Archive subfolder. Preserve the original folder structure." |
| 10 | Generate file index | "Create a markdown file called INDEX.md listing every file in this folder with its size, date modified, and a one-line description of its contents." |
Data Processing Prompts (10)
| # | Task | Prompt |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Receipt extraction | "Look at all receipt images in this folder. Extract vendor name, date, and amount from each. Create an Excel file called Expenses.xlsx." |
| 2 | CSV merge | "Read all CSV files in this folder and merge them into a single file called combined.csv. Handle different column orders." |
| 3 | Data cleaning | "Read data.csv, remove duplicate rows, standardize date formats to YYYY-MM-DD, and fill missing values with 'N/A'. Save as data-clean.csv." |
| 4 | Spreadsheet analysis | "Open the Excel file in this folder, calculate summary statistics for each numeric column, and create a summary sheet." |
| 5 | PDF text extraction | "Extract all text from the PDF files in this folder. Save each as a .txt file with the same name." |
| 6 | Contact extraction | "Scan all .vcf files in this folder. Create a single CSV with columns: Name, Email, Phone, Organization." |
| 7 | Log analysis | "Read the log files in this folder. Find all ERROR and WARNING entries. Summarize the top 5 most frequent errors." |
| 8 | JSON to CSV | "Read all .json files in this folder and convert each to a CSV file with flattened nested fields." |
| 9 | Data validation | "Read the CSV file and check for: missing required fields, invalid email formats, duplicate IDs. Report all issues found." |
| 10 | Chart generation | "Read the CSV file and create a bar chart showing the top 10 values by frequency. Save as chart.png." |
Document Creation Prompts (10)
| # | Task | Prompt |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Report from notes | "Read all .md files in this folder. Combine them into a single report called Q4-Summary.docx with proper headings and formatting." |
| 2 | Meeting notes | "Transcribe the meeting recording in this folder. Extract action items with assignees and due dates. Save as meeting-notes.md." |
| 3 | Research summary | "Read all PDF files in this folder. Write a 2-page literature review summarizing the key findings across all papers." |
| 4 | Resume from LinkedIn | "Read my LinkedIn export PDF and create a polished one-page resume in .docx format." |
| 5 | Proposal draft | "Read the project brief in this folder. Draft a 3-page project proposal with timeline, budget, and deliverables." |
| 6 | Email template | "Create 5 email templates for common client communications: intro, follow-up, proposal, invoice, thank you. Save as templates.md." |
| 7 | Presentation outline | "Read the report in this folder. Create a 10-slide presentation outline with key talking points for each slide." |
| 8 | Blog post | "Read the research notes in this folder. Write a 1500-word blog post about the key findings. SEO-optimized." |
| 9 | Documentation | "Analyze the code in this folder. Generate a README.md with setup instructions, features, and usage examples." |
| 10 | Executive summary | "Read all files in this folder and write a 1-page executive summary highlighting the key insights and recommendations." |
Safety Best Practices (10)
| # | Practice | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Start with a test folder | Prevents accidental changes to important files |
| 2 | Tell Claude what NOT to change | Explicit constraints prevent unwanted edits |
| 3 | Review the plan before approving | Catch errors before they happen |
| 4 | Keep backups (Time Machine, Git) | Undo is not built in — backups are your safety net |
| 5 | Don't grant access to your home directory | Too broad — Claude might touch system files |
| 6 | Watch the first run with a new app | Verify Claude interacts correctly before trusting it |
| 7 | Avoid financial apps unsupervised | Money-related actions need human oversight |
| 8 | Use idempotent prompts | Re-running won't cause duplicate or conflicting changes |
| 9 | Check outputs periodically | Catch quality drift or edge cases early |
| 10 | Log what Claude did | Audit trail for debugging and compliance |
Keyboard Shortcuts (5)
| # | Action | macOS | Windows |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stop task | Cmd + . | Ctrl + . |
| 2 | New session | Cmd + N | Ctrl + N |
| 3 | Toggle sidebar | Cmd + B | Ctrl + B |
| 4 | Search | Cmd + K | Ctrl + K |
| 5 | Settings | Cmd + , | Ctrl + , |
Plan Limits Quick Reference
| Plan | Price | Cowork Access | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pro | $20/mo | Yes (limited) | Individual users, light tasks |
| Max | $100-$200/mo | Yes (more) | Heavy users, complex workflows |
| Team | $30/user/mo | Yes (shared) | Small teams, collaborative work |
| Enterprise | Custom | Yes (full) | Large orgs, security & compliance |
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Last updated: June 27, 2026. This cheat sheet is maintained by CoworkHow and reviewed against official Claude Help documentation.