19 min
Watch at home · Jeff Su
Learn 80% of Claude Cowork in under 20 minutes
A good walk-through by Jeff Su (April 2026) of seven Cowork capabilities, each with a worked example. Watch it after the session; the chapters below link to the matching block on this site.
Open on YouTube · Recorded before the September 2026 merge, so it shows the separate Cowork tab and the older Settings layout.
Chapters
| Time | Chapter | On this site |
|---|---|---|
| 00:00 | Chat vs Cowork vs Code | Block 0 |
| 02:19 | Essential settings | Block 1 |
| 04:12 | 1 · Local file access | Block 2 |
| 06:14 | 2 · Persistent memory | Block 1 (instructions) |
| 08:44 | 3 · Tools and connectors | Block 3 |
| 10:38 | 4 · Skills | Block 4 |
| 14:26 | 5 · Cowork projects | Block 1 |
| 15:39 | 6 · Browser extension | Block 3 |
| 16:44 | 7 · Scheduled tasks | Block 5 |
Six ideas worth keeping
- Outcome first, not task first. Chat gets step-by-step instructions. Cowork gets the end result, the constraints and the quality bar: “I have 15 photos in this folder. I need them in subfolders by topic with descriptive names.”
- Start with guardrails. His starter instructions say: before deleting, overwriting or renaming any file, show me what will change and wait. Training wheels you can remove later. Our Block 1 instructions do the same.
- One playground folder. Make
Documents/Cowork Playgroundand work only there. A file dragged in from elsewhere may load but not be readable. - Memory lives in files. Tell Cowork to save your preferences to
CLAUDE.mdandmemory.mdin the folder root. Every correction you make there improves the next run. - Do the job first, then make the skill. Work through the task with Cowork, give feedback until the output is right, then say “turn this whole workflow into a skill.” Back up your skills; they do not move to a new computer on their own.
- Schedules work because of the rest. His 6 a.m. inbox triage works because the rules sit in a Markdown file, Gmail is connected, and weeks of corrections sit in memory.
His examples, KHCC version
| In the video | Try at KHCC (synthetic or public files) |
|---|---|
| 100 receipts → Excel expense report, unclear rows marked “verify” | Scanned conference receipts → reimbursement sheet with a totals row |
| 400 MB PDF split into one file per chapter | A long public guideline split by section for easier reading |
| NotebookLM image slides rebuilt as editable PowerPoint | An old image-only teaching deck rebuilt in KHCC colours |
| Three team updates merged into one leadership report | Three unit updates merged into one monthly department report |
| Meeting transcript checked against Notion notes for missed commitments | Committee minutes checked against the action tracker for missed items |
Two cautions from the video. He finds the Claude browser extension slow, unreliable and heavy on usage, and notes that Cowork cannot be forced to search the web the way Chat can. These are his April 2026 findings; Anthropic has since added a built-in browser (Block 3).
His inbox and Gmail tone-of-voice examples read real email. At KHCC, connect only accounts and folders that hold no patient information, and keep scheduled tasks to drafts you review, never automatic sends.