Docs

In everyday life. A report sent around by email soon has many copies: "final", "final 2", "final final". Nobody knows which one is right. A shared document fixes this. There is one copy, and everyone works on it.

What it is

Claude Docs is a document that you, your colleagues and Claude write together. Use it for a report, a plan or a letter. It is on every plan, including Free.¹

Build one

In the Claude desktop app, ask for a doc in any chat. You can also pick the Docs tile in the Artifacts tab. Claude may ask you a few questions first. Then it writes a draft. It can use your files and your connected apps.¹

Here is an example from Brightline, the small company in this book. Every Friday its team decides which bills, called invoices, to pay that week. The book calls this the payment run. You met it in One job, start to finish.

Write a one-page doc for the manager who approves this Friday's payment run. Explain each invoice marked "ask" and why. Use only the invoice list, notes and rules I pasted below.

You can copy a sample invoice list, notes and rules from One job, three deliverables.

Change it

There are four ways. Pick the one that fits the change:

• Type in it yourself. Best for a small fix, like a wrong date.
• Ask Claude in the chat. Best for a big change. Claude tells you what it changed.
• Select some words, then click Edit with Claude. Claude changes only those words.²
• Write a comment that mentions @Claude. Claude answers, makes the change and says why.¹

The doc shows who made each change: a person or Claude.¹

Share it and save a copy

Only you can see a new doc. To let others in, click Share. On the Free plan, you may not be able to share at all, or only by link. Check what your Share button shows before you promise anyone a link.¹

• A Viewer can read it.
• A Commenter can also comment on it.
• An Editor can also change it and export it.¹
• Only you, the owner, can rename or delete it. Deleting is forever. There is no trash.

Anyone who opens your doc needs a Claude account. To save a copy, export it as a Word, PDF or Markdown file, or send it to Google Docs. Claude can also turn a doc into slides.¹

Check it before you share it

• Charts do not update by themselves. Ask Claude to get the latest numbers first.¹
• Check each fact against what you gave Claude.
• Read it as a stranger would. Does it make sense without your chat?

In ChatGPT: pages

ChatGPT has pages. A page is a document, like a Claude doc. Pages live in Space, ChatGPT's shared area for your work. You make and change them in the ChatGPT desktop app, or on the web.³

1. Make one. Ask, for example: "Create a page from this conversation with the goals, decisions and next steps."
2. Change it. Type in it yourself, or ask ChatGPT to change one part.
3. Share it. Click Share. Choose who can view it and who can edit it. Editors can work on it at the same time.

Space needs the Pro, Business or Enterprise plan. It is not on Free or Plus. On a phone, you can read pages but not change them.³

Combine it: write the rules once, in a project

In the example above, you paste the rules into the chat every time. A project saves you that work. A project keeps files and instructions: text that Claude reads in every chat in that project.⁴

Claude has two kinds of project. The classic project, on every plan, keeps chats, files and instructions together: the Tour describes it as a folder of conversations. The rebuilt project, in beta on Pro and Max, is the one you met in Projects: one team lead, many desks. Use a classic project here. A rebuilt project is built for bigger jobs, and it may hand back a file in its Library instead of a doc.

1. Make a project called "Brightline payment run".
2. Put the rules and the two notes from One job, three deliverables in its instructions.
3. Start a new chat in the project. Paste only the invoice list, and ask for the doc for the manager. You do not paste the rules again.

The Free plan allows up to five classic projects.⁴ A rebuilt project also sends its instructions to every new thread.⁵ Still check the doc: instructions guide Claude, but they are not a lock.

In ChatGPT: projects work the same way. A project holds chats, files and instructions, and it is on every plan, including Free.⁶

Try it (10 minutes, any plan)

1. Ask Claude for a one-page plan for a small event. Ask for a table of four costs and a total.
2. Fix one word yourself.
3. Select a paragraph and use Edit with Claude to make it shorter.
4. Add a comment that says "@Claude add a checklist".
5. Add up the costs yourself. Does your total match the doc's total?