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8 Claude prompts for the tasks that eat your week.

Copy one, paste it into Claude, fill in the brackets, and check the result. Free, no email. They work in ChatGPT and Copilot too.

Each prompt also shows how to go further with Claude's connectors and skills. New to those? Start with the short explainer.

Seven habits for better answers

  • Fill in every [bracket]. The more context you give, the better the answer. Your role, the reader and the outcome you want matter most.
  • Show it an example. Paste one piece of work you like, such as an email, a report or a plan, and ask Claude to match it. It copies the quality, not just the topic.
  • Take out names and private details first. Client names, personal information and anything confidential stay out. "Client A" works just as well.
  • Ask for plain words. If an answer is full of jargon, ask: "Explain this in plain words, as if I'm new to it."
  • Let it ask you questions. Several prompts ask Claude to check what's unclear before it writes. Answer them. That's where the quality comes from.
  • Save your favourites in a Claude Project. Add a note about your role and your tone once, and every prompt in that Project starts from it.
  • You're responsible for what you send. Read everything before you use it. AI can sound sure and still be wrong.

Connectors and skills, explained

Every prompt below works on its own. Three Claude features make them faster, and each prompt shows which one to use.

Connector

Lets Claude use an app you already work in, like Gmail, Outlook, your calendar or your shared drive. Instead of copying and pasting, you ask Claude to look. You choose which apps to connect, and you can switch them off at any time.

Example: "Read the email thread from Sam about the budget and draft a reply."

Skill

A saved set of instructions Claude uses whenever that task comes up. Some are built in, like making Word, Excel, PowerPoint and PDF files. You can also write your own, like your tone of voice or your team's checklist for a task.

Example: Your client onboarding checklist, followed the same way every time, by everyone.

Project

A workspace where you keep notes about your role, your tone and your key documents. Every chat inside the Project starts from them, so you explain things once.

Example: A "Monthly report" Project with last quarter's reports and your reader's preferences.

Before you connect anything

  • Check your company's rules first. Connecting an app gives Claude access to real company information. If your team has an AI policy, follow it.
  • Start small. Connect one app, for one task, and only what that task needs.
  • Know what each one can do. Gmail can only save drafts, so you always press send. Microsoft 365 is read-only. Google Calendar and Drive can make changes when you ask.
  • Check your plan. Google and Microsoft 365 connectors work on every Claude plan, including free. Slack needs a Team or Enterprise plan, switched on by your admin. Built-in skills work on every plan. Your own skills need Pro or higher, and you add them under Customize, then Skills.

Checked September 2026. Claude changes often, so see Anthropic's help pages for the latest.

  1. The email you keep avoiding

    Use it for: A reply that needs care: a pushback, a delay, a no, or anything you've rewritten three times.

    I need to reply to an email and I want to get it right.

About me: I'm a [your role] at a [type of company]. I'm writing to [who they are to you, for example a client, my manager or a supplier].

What I want to happen after they read my reply: [the outcome, for example they agree to move the deadline].

Tone: [for example warm but firm]. Keep it under [120] words. Use plain words and short sentences.

Here is their email:
[paste the email, with names and private details taken out]

Here is what I want to say, in rough notes:
[your points, in any order]

Before you write, ask me up to 3 questions if anything important is unclear. Then give me two versions: one shorter, and one a little warmer.

    Before you use it: Read it out loud. If it doesn't sound like you, tell Claude which lines to change and why.

    Level up

    Connector
    Connect Gmail or Outlook. Claude reads the email thread itself, so you skip the copy and paste. With Gmail it can save the reply as a draft in your inbox. You still read it and press send.
    Skill
    Save your tone, your sign-off and the words you never use as a "write like me" skill. Every email then starts sounding like you.

  2. Meeting notes into decisions and actions

    Use it for: After any meeting where people left with a different idea of what was agreed.

    Turn these meeting notes into a short follow-up I can send to the team.

Use these headings:
1. Decisions made
2. Actions (who, what, by when)
3. Open questions
4. Next meeting, if one was agreed

Rules:
- Only include what is in the notes. If an owner or a date is missing, write "not agreed" instead of guessing.
- Keep each line short.
- At the end, list anything that sounded like a decision but wasn't clearly agreed, so I can check it.

Notes:
[paste your notes or transcript]

    Before you use it: Check every name and date against your own memory of the meeting before you send it.

    Level up

    Connector
    Connect Microsoft 365 to use your Teams meeting transcripts, or Google Drive, where Google Meet saves its transcripts. Then ask Claude to draft the follow-up in Gmail, or post it in Slack if your company has switched Slack on.
    Skill
    No skill needed. This prompt already does the job.

  3. Prepare for a hard conversation

    Use it for: Feedback you've been putting off, a missed target, or a tense conversation with a client.

    Help me prepare for a difficult conversation at work. Don't write a script for me to read out. Help me think it through.

The situation: [what happened, in a few sentences. Leave out names and anything personal.]
My goal for the conversation: [for example agree a plan to meet deadlines]
What I'm worried about: [for example they'll get defensive]
My relationship with them: [for example I manage them, and we've worked together for 2 years]

Please give me:
1. A clear, kind opening line I could use.
2. The 3 points I need to make, in plain words.
3. How they might react, and a calm way to respond to each.
4. One question that invites them to share their side.
5. How to close with a clear next step.

Then ask me one question that would help me go in calmer.

    Before you use it: Use it to prepare, not to decide. Decisions about people stay with people, and HR matters go through your usual process.

    Level up

    Connector
    Keep this one unconnected. Details about people and their performance stay out of connected tools. A private chat is the right place.
    Skill
    If your company has a way of giving feedback, save it as a skill so Claude's advice follows it.

  4. The report you keep putting off

    Use it for: A monthly update, a proposal or a summary for leadership, where the blank page is the hardest part.

    I need to write a [type of report, for example a monthly update for the leadership team] and I keep putting it off. Help me get a first draft done.

Who reads it: [audience]
What they need to know or decide after reading it: [the point]
Length: about [1 page]

Here is everything I have, messy and unsorted:
[paste notes, numbers and bullet points]

Step 1: Suggest a simple outline with 4 to 6 headings, and tell me what's missing.
Step 2: Wait for me to say "go", then write the first draft under those headings.

Use only the facts and numbers I gave you. Mark anything you're unsure of with [CHECK].

    Before you use it: Search the draft for [CHECK] and confirm every number against your source.

    Level up

    Connector
    Connect Google Drive, OneDrive or SharePoint. Claude can then read last month's report and your numbers file directly.
    Skill
    Ask for the result as a Word document or slides. Claude's built-in file skills make a real file you can edit and share.

  5. Get the point of a long document

    Use it for: A contract, proposal, policy or report you need to understand today, not next week.

    I've attached [a report, contract or proposal]. I need to understand it quickly without missing anything important.

Please give me:
1. A 5-line summary in plain words.
2. What it asks me or my team to do, and by when.
3. Risks, costs or commitments I should know about.
4. Anything unclear, missing or contradictory.

For points 2, 3 and 4, quote the exact line from the document next to each point, so I can check it myself.

    Before you use it: Only attach documents you're allowed to share with an AI tool. Then check each quoted line in the original.

    Level up

    Connector
    Open the document straight from Google Drive, OneDrive or SharePoint instead of downloading and attaching it.
    Skill
    For long or complicated PDFs, switch on Claude's built-in PDF skill.

  6. Sort out your week

    Use it for: Monday morning, when everything feels urgent and nothing feels finished.

    Here is everything on my plate this week, in no particular order:
[paste your to-do list, meetings and deadlines]

My working hours are [for example 9 to 5, Monday to Friday]. My most important goal this week is [goal].

Please:
1. Sort each item into: do this week, delegate, schedule for later, or drop.
2. For "do this week", suggest which day to do each one, with the hardest thinking work in the mornings.
3. Tell me honestly if it doesn't all fit, and what you'd move.
4. For anything to delegate, draft a two-line message I could send.

Ask me if you need to know how long anything takes.

    Before you use it: You know your week better than Claude does. Treat the plan as a first pass and move things around.

    Level up

    Connector
    Connect Google Calendar and Claude sees your real week, and can add focus blocks for you. With Outlook it can read your calendar and suggest the plan, and you add the blocks yourself. Add Gmail or Outlook too, so it can spot emails still waiting on you.
    Skill
    No skill needed. Run this prompt every Monday.

  7. Turn a task you repeat into a team checklist

    Use it for: Anything you explain again and again, or that only one person on the team knows how to do.

    I do this task often and I want to write it down so anyone on my team can do it the same way.

The task: [for example onboarding a new client]
How often: [for example twice a month]
Here's how I do it now, roughly:
[describe the steps in your own words, as if you were talking to a new colleague]

Please turn this into:
1. A step-by-step checklist, with one action per line.
2. What you need before you start (information, access, templates).
3. The common mistakes to watch for at each step.
4. Where a person must check or approve before moving on.

Then tell me which steps AI could help with next time, and which should stay with a person.

    Before you use it: Ask a teammate to follow the checklist once without your help. Whatever they get stuck on needs rewriting.

    Level up

    Connector
    Save the finished checklist in Google Drive or SharePoint, where your team already works.
    Skill
    This is the best one to turn into a skill. Claude then follows your steps every time the task comes up. On a Team plan, your Claude admin can share the skill with everyone, so the whole team works the same way.

  8. Stress-test your plan before you share it

    Use it for: Before a board meeting, a budget request, a proposal, or any plan you need people to say yes to.

    I'm about to share a plan and I want to find the weak spots before anyone else does. Be honest, not polite.

What the plan is: [a few sentences, or paste the plan]
Who I'm sharing it with: [for example the leadership team or a client]
What I need from them: [for example approval for the budget]

Please act as the most sceptical person in that room and:
1. List the 3 weakest assumptions in the plan, and why each one is weak.
2. Point out any missing numbers, risks or costs.
3. Write the 5 hardest questions they're likely to ask me.
4. Suggest how I could answer each one, or what I should add to the plan first.

Don't rewrite the plan. Help me make it stronger. If you need more information to judge it, ask me first.

    Before you use it: Claude doesn't know your company. Keep the points that ring true, and test the rest with a colleague you trust.

    Level up

    Connector
    Connect Google Drive, OneDrive or SharePoint so Claude reads the full plan and the numbers behind it.
    Skill
    If your leaders always ask the same kinds of questions, save them as a skill, for example "our board's questions". Every plan then gets tested against them.

What these won't do: they're starting points. They get much better once you add your own context, and they don't replace your judgement.

Want your team building prompts like these on their own work?

In the training day, each person builds three workflows for their own role, and the best ones go into a team playbook.

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