--- id: first-steps-in-claude lang: en title: "First steps in Claude" seoTitle: "How to use Claude: first steps" description: "How to use Claude from scratch: the interface, sending your first message, and finding your way around, so you get useful work out of it straight away." part: getting-started-with-claude partTitle: "Getting started with Claude" partOrder: 2 order: 2 level: Beginner durationMinutes: 4 outcome: "Find your way around Claude and get useful output from your very first message." summary: "Getting useful work from Claude takes one thing: a clear message with enough context. Type in plain language, add the background, and say what you want back." draft: false updated: "2026-07-26" furtherReading: - title: "Get started with Claude" url: "https://support.claude.com/en/articles/8114491-get-started-with-claude" note: "Anthropic's own first-run guide to the app." - title: "Claude (web app)" url: "https://claude.ai" note: "Open it in a tab and follow along as you read." - title: "Download the Claude desktop and mobile apps" url: "https://claude.com/download" note: "The same Claude on your computer and phone." - title: "Change the model, effort, and thinking settings" url: "https://support.claude.com/en/articles/8664678-change-the-model-effort-and-thinking-settings" note: "What the picker next to the send button does." keywords: - how to use Claude - Claude for beginners - Claude tutorial - getting started with Claude - Claude interface - first Claude prompt quiz: intro: "Four quick questions. Ace them all and the next lesson unlocks." passScore: 4 questions: - q: "You have been chatting about a client email, and now you want help with a completely unrelated budget. What is the best move?" options: - "Keep going in the same chat" - "Start a new chat for the budget" - "Delete the old chat first" - "Open a second account" answer: 1 explain: "One topic per chat. A fresh chat keeps Claude focused on the new task and stops the old conversation from muddying the answer. Your old chat stays saved in the sidebar." - q: "What does the picker next to the send button control?" options: - "The colour theme" - "Which model you talk to, how hard it works, and whether it thinks first" - "Your subscription plan" - "The language of the reply" answer: 1 explain: "That one menu sets the model, the effort it spends, and whether it uses extended thinking. You can change it any time; it applies to Claude's next reply. The next lesson goes deep on this." - q: "How should you phrase your very first message?" options: - "As a few keywords, like a search engine" - "In plain language, saying what you want and giving a little context" - "In perfect, formal English or it will not understand" - "As short as possible to save words" answer: 1 explain: "Talk to Claude like a clued-up colleague: normal sentences, a bit of context, and a clear ask. You do not need keyword tricks or stiff wording. Part 3 turns this into a repeatable recipe." - q: "You want Claude to work from a document you already have. What is the quickest way to give it to Claude?" options: - "Paste the whole thing as one giant message" - "Describe the document from memory" - "Use the + button in the message box to attach the file" - "Email it to Anthropic" answer: 2 explain: "The + button on the left of the message box attaches files (and turns on connectors). Claude reads the file directly, which beats retyping or describing it." pass: badge: "Perfect score" title: "You know your way around now." body: "Full marks. You can find everything, send a good first message, and keep your chats tidy. Next up: the models, thinking, and web access, so you know which Claude to reach for." retry: "Check the marked answers and give it another go. You've got this." --- > **Level:** Beginner · **Reading time:** ~4 min > > **What you'll be able to do:** find your way around Claude and get something useful out of your very first message. The best way to learn Claude is to open it and type. There is not much to set up and nothing to break. This lesson is the two-minute tour, so your first go feels like using a tool, not fumbling in the dark. **Get in first.** Go to [claude.ai](https://claude.ai) in a browser, or install the [desktop and mobile apps](https://claude.com/download). Sign in with an email, Google, or your work account. It is the same Claude everywhere, and your chats follow you between devices. ## The screen, in one look Claude's window has two parts, and that is genuinely all you need to know to start. On the **left is the sidebar**: a **New chat** button, a search box, and the list of your past chats (Claude names them for you). Projects, for keeping related chats and files together, live here too; that is a later lesson. In the **middle is the conversation**, with the **message box** at the bottom. In that box: type your message, hit send, and you are off. The **+ button** on the left of the box attaches files and turns on connectors. The small **picker next to send** chooses the model and how hard it thinks. That is the whole cockpit.
A map of the Claude window The Claude window has a left sidebar with a New chat button, a search box, and your saved chats, and a main area with the conversation and a message box at the bottom. The message box has a plus button to attach files on the left, a model picker, and a send button on the right. A map of the Claude window + New chat Search chats Plan my week Client email draft Q3 report notes PROJECTS Marketing Plan my week. Meetings Tue and Thu… Here is a plan. Monday: deep work on… Tuesday: meetings, then follow-ups… + Message Claude… Sonnet ▾ ↑ Message box: + attaches files · the pill picks the model · the arrow sends.
## Your first message Here is the one habit that matters most: **talk to Claude like a sharp colleague, not a search engine.** Full sentences, a little context, a clear ask. No keyword tricks, no stiff formal wording. Compare these two. "*weekly plan*" gets you something generic. This gets you something useful: ``` Plan my working week. I work Monday to Friday, roughly 9 to 5. I have fixed meetings Tuesday and Thursday mornings. My big goal this week is to finish a client proposal. Give me a day-by-day plan with time for deep work and a buffer for the unexpected. ``` Same idea, but now Claude knows your hours, your fixed points, and your goal, so the answer fits *your* week. **The context you add is what turns a generic reply into a useful one.** That is the whole of Part 3; here, just notice the difference. ## Keeping your chats tidy Every conversation is **saved automatically** and named for you, so you can close the tab and come back later. You can rename a chat, star the ones you reuse, and search the lot from the box at the top of the sidebar. One small rule pays off fast: **one topic per chat.** When you switch to something unrelated, start a new chat. Claude reads the whole current conversation each time, so a tidy chat gets a sharper answer, and a chat that wanders from holidays to tax to lunch gets a muddled one. Think one chat, one job. A few more habits worth picking up early: reply to Claude in plain words to steer the next answer ("shorter", "more formal", "add an example"), use the **Copy** button on any code or prompt block, and do not fret about getting it perfect first time. Claude is a conversation, not a vending machine. ## Try it Open Claude and paste the weekly-plan prompt above, but swap in your real hours, meetings, and goal. Read the plan. Then send one follow-up to steer it: "make Wednesday lighter", or "add 30 minutes of email time each morning". Notice two things. First, the context you gave changed the answer. Second, the follow-up changed it again, without you starting over. That back-and-forth is how nearly all real work with Claude gets done. *(General exercise. Role and industry versions come once accounts are in.)* ## Key terms [Claude](/glossary#claude), [Prompt](/glossary#prompt), [Chat](/glossary#chat), [Model](/glossary#model), [Project](/glossary#project)