Claude CoworkLesson 5

Projects Feature

Cowork Projects group your files, instructions, and task history in one workspace. Everything points at folders on your computer — not a separate cloud upload.

What Cowork Projects do

A Project is a named workspace inside Claude Desktop. Each project holds the files Cowork can use, the instructions that apply to every task, and the list of Cowork runs tied to that work — so context does not scatter across unrelated chats.

📁
Files

Reference docs, templates, and folders Cowork reads and writes

📋
Instructions

Standing rules — tone, format, naming, output type

📝
Task context

Past and active Cowork tasks for the same workstream

Claude Desktop — Cowork · Project: Q3 Expense Reports
This project
Project files
4 files
Instructions
Set
Tasks
3 active
Tasks
● Receipt OCR batch
○ Vendor summary
○ Archive old PDFs
📁 Project files (local)
receipts/
template.xlsx
vendor-list.csv
notes.md
📋 Instructions
"Use the expense template. Categorize by vendor. Output .xlsx files only."
Current task context
Processing 24 receipts in receipts/ → building rows in Q3-expenses.xlsx
One project workspace — files, instructions, and task history grouped together

Files and instructions stay on your computer

Unlike web Chat Projects where you upload files to Anthropic's servers, Cowork Projects point at local folders. Claude reads and saves on your disk — the same files you see in Finder or File Explorer.

Where your project data lives
On your computer
✓Project folder path
✓Reference files
✓Custom instructions
✓Task outputs
≠
Not stored in the cloud
—Your PDFs and spreadsheets
—Folder permissions you granted
—Finished reports on disk
Cowork reads and writes local files — they stay under your control.
Project files and instructions reference folders on your machine — not uploaded to a remote project vault
Example: Your project references ~/Documents/ClientWork/Acme. Cowork edits spreadsheets there directly. If you move the folder, update the project path.

Import existing vs. start fresh

When you create a Cowork Project, you can either attach an existing folder on your machine or start empty and add files as tasks run.

Import an existing project

Point Cowork at a folder you already use — client files, a report directory, or a repo checkout.

Selected folder
/Users/sam/Projects/Client-Acme
Good when: you have an established folder structure, ongoing client work, or files from a previous Cowork session.
Start fresh

Create a new empty project, name it, add instructions, and grant a new folder when your first task runs.

New project: Weekly Research
Instructions: "Summarize sources in bullet points."
Good when: starting a new workstream, testing Cowork, or keeping tasks isolated from other folders.
Import ties Cowork to work you already have; a fresh project starts with a clean workspace
1
Import existing

In Claude Desktop → Cowork → Projects → Import. Select a folder that already has your files. Add instructions describing how Cowork should handle that work.

2
Start fresh

Click "New project", name it, and write instructions. When you run the first task, grant access to a new or empty folder.

3
Run tasks inside the project

Open the project before starting Cowork. Every task in that project shares the same files, instructions, and history.

Quick comparison

Import existingStart fresh
Starting pointFolder with files already in placeEmpty project + new folder grant
Setup timeFast — point at existing workA few minutes to name and instruct
Best forOngoing client folders, migrationsNew initiatives, isolated experiments
File locationStays where it already livesYou choose folder on first task

Worked example

Import: "Annual Audit" project
  1. Import folder Documents/Audit-2026 (already has PDFs and last year's spreadsheet).
  2. Set instructions: "Match last year's column layout. Flag amounts over $5,000."
  3. Run Cowork: "Process all PDFs in this folder and update the master spreadsheet."
  4. Outputs save to the same local folder — open them in Excel without downloading anything.
Summary:
  • Projects bundle files, instructions, and task context in one Cowork workspace.
  • Files and instructions reference local folders on your computer.
  • Import an existing folder for ongoing work; start fresh for new tasks.

What's Next

MCP Connectors & Integrations — Gmail, Drive, Notion, Slack, and project-scoped vs. personal connectors.