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 everything into the chat.
Working with files
Instead of pasting long text into a message, attach a file directly. Claude reads the content and answers your questions — 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
Click Attach or drag a file into the chat input
How to upload a file
Open a conversation
Attach the file
Wait for the upload
Ask your question
Asking questions about files
Once a file is attached, say what you want — a summary, a number from a table, a comparison, or a rewrite based on the content.
| 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.” |
Based on the Q2 Sales Report, the top 3 categories by revenue are:
- Electronics — 34% of total revenue
- Home & Garden — 22% of total revenue
- Clothing — 18% of total revenue
Limitations to know
Uploads work well for most documents, but files do not stick around forever — especially outside Projects.
- No persistent storage in regular chats. Files uploaded in a standard conversation are available only within that chat. Start a new conversation and you need to upload again.
- File size limits apply. Very large documents may be truncated or partially processed. If Claude misses content from a long PDF, ask about a specific section or split the document.
- Accuracy depends on document quality. Scanned PDFs with poor OCR, handwritten images, or complex table layouts may produce less reliable answers. Verify critical data — especially numbers from financial documents.
Regular chat vs Projects — file persistence:
| Regular chat | Project (Pro+) | |
|---|---|---|
| Files available in | Current conversation only | All chats within the project |
| Re-upload needed? | Yes — every new chat | No — upload once to the project |
| Best for | One-off questions about a document | Ongoing work with the same files |
| System instructions | Per conversation | Shared across all project chats |
Before you continue
- 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.