Free guide · Digital Skills

How to Use Claude — Free Guide

Claude is the one to reach for when you have something long to read, write, or check. This free, plain-English guide shows you the five steps that get a careful, structured answer, and gives you a first prompt you can copy word for word.

Download the free Claude guide (PDF) See what's inside

Five steps to a useful answer from Claude

Claude is best for long writing, document review, careful rewriting, analysis, coding help, and structured summaries. Official site: claude.ai. Written for real people, not tech experts.

1
Give it the document, draft, or long context. Specific tasks get better answers than broad requests.
2
Tell it the reader and the decision the reader needs to make. Context changes the answer.
3
Ask for structure before polish. Format prevents vague paragraphs.
4
Ask it to separate facts, assumptions, risks, and missing information. Current facts and app access are where mistakes happen.
5
Use it for revision, but verify outside facts yourself. Verification is the difference between useful and risky.

Your first prompt for Claude

Copy this, replace the words in brackets, and send it. It is the same opening the guide gives you, and it works because it hands Claude a task, your context, a format, and a safety check in one go.

Review this draft/document for clarity, missing context, unsupported claims, and reader trust. Keep the meaning. Give me: 1) the main issues, 2) a cleaner version, 3) claims I should verify.

After the answer comes back, ask one more thing: “What should I verify before I use this?”

Cover of the free Lumoset guide that includes the Claude quick start

Free download · Includes the full Claude quick start

Get the Claude guide

Your download is ChatGPT vs Claude vs Gemini in 2026. The Claude quick start above sits inside it, along with a prompt library you can copy, real tasks like job searches and research, the privacy habits that keep your information yours, and the 2026 rules worth knowing.

Download the free Claude guide (PDF)

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Keep going after the download

The free course Using AI Tools Safely and Wisely turns this guide into guided practice, and the guides library has more plain-English help waiting.

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