How to Use Claude AI: Complete Beginner’s Guide (2025)

Claude AI is one of the most powerful AI assistants available, but many users only scratch the surface of what it can do. This guide shows you everything from basic setup to advanced techniques.

Getting Started with Claude

Step 1: Create a Free Account

1. Go to claude.ai
2. Click “Sign Up” and enter your email
3. Verify your email and complete profile setup
4. Free plan: 10-20 messages with Claude 3 Sonnet per day (sufficient for testing)

Step 2: Choose Your Plan

• Free: Limited daily messages with Claude 3 Sonnet
• Pro ($20/mo): Unlimited messages + Claude 3.5 Sonnet (the best model) + 200K context window + priority access

Claude’s Most Powerful Capabilities

1. Long Document Analysis (Claude’s #1 Advantage)

Claude’s 200K context window (about 150,000 words) lets you upload entire documents and ask questions about them.

How to use it:

1. Click the paperclip icon to attach a file (PDF, Word, TXT)
2. Or paste text directly into the chat
3. Ask: “Summarize the key points of this document” or “Find all mentions of X in this report”

Example uses:

• Analyzing an entire book and asking questions about it
• Reviewing a legal contract for red flags
• Summarizing a 100-page research report in 5 minutes

2. Writing Assistance

Claude excels at producing high-quality writing that doesn’t sound like generic AI output.

Best prompts to try:

• “Write a professional email declining this meeting request. Keep it warm but firm.”
• “Rewrite this paragraph to be more concise and impactful.”
• “Write a LinkedIn post announcing my promotion. Sound authentic, not corporate.”

3. Coding and Technical Help

Claude 3.5 Sonnet is excellent at coding tasks:

• Paste broken code and ask “Why isn’t this working?”
• “Convert this Python code to JavaScript”
• “Write a SQL query that finds all customers who purchased X but not Y”
• “Explain this code line by line for a beginner”

4. Research and Analysis

Ask Claude to analyze information you provide (note: Claude’s knowledge cutoff is early 2024, so provide current data yourself):

• “I’m pasting 5 customer reviews. What are the main themes in positive vs negative feedback?”
• “Analyze this sales data [paste data] and identify the key trends.”

10 Power Prompts for Claude

1. Devil’s advocate: “What are the strongest arguments AGAINST my plan? Be honest.”
2. Expert perspective: “Respond as a 20-year experienced CFO reviewing this financial plan.”
3. Step-by-step: “Give me a step-by-step plan with specific actions and deadlines.”
4. Simplify: “Explain this to me like I’m 12 years old.”
5. Improve: “Here’s my first draft. Make it 30% better without changing the meaning.”
6. Summarize: “Give me the 5 most important takeaways from this document.”
7. Compare: “Create a table comparing these 4 options across these 6 criteria.”
8. Generate options: “Give me 10 different ways to approach this problem.”
9. Critique: “What’s missing or weak in this argument?”
10. Format: “Reformat this as a structured email / bullet points / numbered list.”

Claude vs ChatGPT: When to Use Each

Task	Use Claude	Use ChatGPT
Long document analysis	✅ (200K context)	❌ (less context)
Nuanced writing	✅	✅
Image generation	❌	✅ (DALL-E 3)
Coding	✅	✅
Real-time web search	❌ (knowledge cutoff)	✅ (with browsing)
Complex reasoning	✅	✅

Try Claude Free →