Giving Cowork a File

Chatting is nice. But the real power of Cowork shows up when you give it something to work with.

Working in a folder

The first way to give Cowork files is to point it at a folder. Just below the chat window, you'll see a folder button. Click it to choose which folder Cowork should work in.

Once you've selected a folder, Cowork can see every file inside it. You can ask it to read files, create new ones, or work across multiple documents at once. You don't need to upload anything. Just point it at the folder and start asking.

Drag and drop

The second way is to drag a file straight into the chat area. Grab a file from Finder (Mac) or File Explorer (Windows) and drop it into the conversation. Cowork will read it and wait for your instructions.

You'll use drag and drop a lot as you go through the demos in this course. It's quick and it works with any file, even if it's not in your current project folder.

Give it a task

Once Cowork has the file, tell it what to do. Be direct. Here are some things that work well:

• "Summarise this document in 5 bullet points"
• "Turn this into a formatted report"
• "Find all the action items in these notes"
• "Create a table from this data"
• "Rewrite this email to be more professional"

The output might appear in the chat, or it might create a new file. For simple requests like "summarise this," you'll usually see the summary right in the conversation. For bigger tasks like "create a report," it'll create an actual file on your computer.

Try it in the game

The best way to see all of this in action is to play through the demos. If you haven't started Level 1 yet, head over to the game and try the first demo. You'll drag in a real file, give Cowork a task, and see the result.