Spoken summary — press play to read along: the line being spoken stays near the top.
Estimated time: 11 minutes
Learning objectives
By the end of this lesson you'll be able to:
- Spot the three patterns of work that suit Cowork: multi-step, file-based, multi-tool
- Set up a scheduled task with /schedule
- Send Claude a task from your phone with Dispatch
What makes a task right for Claude Cowork
Not every task is a fit for Cowork, and you'll get more out of it when you can recognize the tasks that are. Three patterns cover most of the work Cowork is built for: tasks that take several steps, tasks that leverage context from real files, and tasks that span the tools you already use.
**Pattern 1: The task is multi-step. ** If a task requires several steps, it's a good fit for Cowork. In one prompt, Claude gathers context, compares sources, does additional research, drafts a summary, and formats the deliverable. With Cowork, you can hand the whole arc to Claude.
Examples:
- Triage a week of customer-feedback emails into themes, with example quotes for each
- Pull figures from three reports and a spreadsheet, then assemble them into a single interactive dashboard
**Pattern 2: The task lives in real files on your computer. ** Cowork is a great fit for when the objective of the task is to output a real artifact — a Word doc, a spreadsheet, a deck, a PDF — saved in the format you need. And the inputs are real too: Claude reads the existing files in your folder, edits them, and saves changes back. Chat can produce a new document; Cowork works on the files you already have.
Examples:
- A formatted client proposal that pulls from your standard template and the meeting notes
- A monthly metrics report assembled from raw spreadsheets, complete with charts
**Pattern 3: The task spans multiple tools. ** The work touches the systems where you already operate — Gmail, Slack, the M365 suite, your calendar, your CRM. Claude accesses them through your connectors (the integrations that link Claude to your apps), gathers context, and acts. Chat connects to tools too — the difference is that Cowork plans across them and runs the whole sequence as one delegation, instead of you stitching the steps together one prompt at a time.
Examples:
- Drafting follow-up emails in Outlook after a meeting based on the calendar invite, attendee list, and meeting notes
- Searching Slack for everything the team has said about a launch and synthesizing it into an update
Explore the interactive below to see how Cowork performs across the three patterns.
Three patterns of work that suit Cowork
Multi-step File-based Multi-tool
The through-line across all three patterns is the same: work that used to mean juggling steps, files, and tools in your own head can now be handed off as a single task. When you spot that shape, give it to Cowork.
Scheduled tasks: have Claude work on a cadence
Scheduled tasks let you set up a task once and have Claude run it on a cadence.
There are two ways to set up a scheduled task. You can start fresh: type /schedule, describe the task and the cadence, and Claude drafts a prompt for you to review and accept. Or — the more natural path — do the task once in Cowork, confirm the output looks right, then type /schedule to turn that exact process into a recurring one. Tell Claude your preferred cadence (hourly, daily, weekdays, or manual), review the prompt, and accept.
Scheduled tasks only run when your computer is on and Claude is running. If your laptop is closed, asleep, or off at the scheduled time, Claude picks the task up as soon as you're back and lets you know it was delayed.
Some ideas worth scheduling:
- A Friday afternoon review: what shipped during the week, a recap of the major decisions made in Slack or Teams, and a preview of next week's tasks
- A monthly metrics roll-up pulled from your spreadsheets on the first of every month
- A morning briefing for the meetings on your calendar that draws on past meeting notes in your folder and your email threads to surface necessary context
Dispatch: send Claude a task from your phone
So far we've covered tasks you start at your desk and tasks Claude starts on a schedule. Dispatch covers the third case: tasks you start while away from your computer entirely. Dispatch lets you start a Cowork task from the Claude mobile app. You assign the task from your phone; the work runs on your desktop — same files, same connectors, same permissions; you get a push notification when it's done.
Just like with scheduled tasks, Dispatch only works when your desktop is on, awake, and signed in with Cowork open. If your machine is asleep or off when you send a task from your phone, Claude holds it until you're back at your desk.
A note on availability: Dispatch is in research preview, currently on Pro and Max plans. If you're on an Enterprise plan, it may not be available yet — and where it is enabled, your IT admin sets it up. If you don't see Dispatch in your Claude app, that's likely why.
Bringing it together
Multi-step, file-based, multi-tool — the patterns tell you what's worth handing off. Scheduled tasks and Dispatch tell you when and where the handoff can happen. The judgment stays with you: Claude plans, executes, and asks. You decide what gets sent, shared, or shipped.
Lesson reflection
Look at your calendar or to-do list for this week. Pick one piece of work that matches one or more of the three patterns above — multi-step, file-producing, or tool-using. Write it down. You'll hand it to Claude in Lesson 4.
What’s next
In the next lesson, you'll walk through delegating that task end to end — from prompt to finished deliverable.
Feedback
As you progress through the course, we'd love to hear how you're using concepts from it in your work, plus any feedback you may have. Share your feedback here.
Acknowledgments and license
Copyright 2026 Anthropic. All rights reserved.