File & Document Handling
Claude Chat can read files you upload — PDFs, Word documents, spreadsheets, and images — so you can ask questions about their content without copying and pasting everything into the chat.
Working with files in Claude Chat
Instead of pasting long text into a message, you can attach a file directly. Claude reads the content and answers your questions about it — summarise a report, extract data from a spreadsheet, describe an image, or review a contract clause by clause.
Supported file types
Claude Chat accepts common document and image formats:
- ·Research papers and articles
- ·Contracts, invoices, and legal documents
- ·Reports, manuals, and scanned documents
- ·Essays, proposals, and cover letters
- ·Meeting notes and briefs
- ·Drafts you want Claude to review or rewrite
- ·Sales data and financial reports
- ·Survey results and datasets
- ·Tables you want summarised or analysed
- ·Photos, screenshots, and diagrams
- ·Charts and infographics
- ·Handwritten notes or whiteboard photos
How to upload a file
Open a new or existing conversation at claude.ai.
Click the 📎 paperclip icon in the message input, or drag and drop a file directly into the chat area.
Wait for the file to finish uploading — a file chip appears above your message showing the filename.
Type your question about the file and send. Claude reads the document and responds in context.
Asking questions about uploaded files
Once a file is attached, say what you want from it — a summary, a number pulled from a table, a comparison, or a rewrite based on the content.
Example prompts by file type
| File type | Example prompt |
|---|---|
| PDF report | "Summarise this report in 5 bullet points for a non-technical audience." |
| Word doc | "Review this draft and suggest 3 improvements to clarity and tone." |
| Spreadsheet | "Which month had the highest sales, and what was the total revenue?" |
| Image / chart | "Describe what this chart shows and identify the main trend." |
Limitations to know
Uploads work well for most documents, but files do not stick around forever — especially outside Projects.
- Upload PDFs, Word docs, spreadsheets, and images directly into Claude Chat.
- Ask specific questions — summarise, extract data, review, or compare files.
- Files in regular chats are not stored between sessions — re-upload or use a Project.
- Projects (Pro+) keep files available across all chats in that project.
What's Next
Web Search — when Claude looks up live information and how citations show up in replies.