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Claude First Chat: Pick a Model, Attach a File, Prompt in 5 Steps

Step-by-step guide7 slidesClaude

By Robert Breen · Published · From the free lesson Your First Chat with Claude: Models, Files and a Great First Prompt

A visual guide to your first chat with Claude: check the model picker, attach an email with +, write a four-part prompt, follow up, then pin the chat.

  1. Claude. A real task in your very first chat. Reply to an unhappy customer’s email at a made-up company’s office. Model, file, prompt, follow-up, pin. 5 steps.
    Slide 1 of 7
  2. Step 1. Look at the model picker. It sits under the message box and shows the model and effort, like Opus 5.5 Medium. Effort is how hard Claude thinks before answering. Medium is the recommended setting. Screenshot: Claude new chat with the model picker open, showing models and the Effort setting.
    Slide 2 of 7
  3. Step 2. Attach the email with +. The + menu adds files, skills, connectors and more. Choose Upload or add files. Claude can read PDFs, Word files, spreadsheets, text files and images. Screenshot: Claude plus menu open with options to add files, skills and research.
    Slide 3 of 7
  4. Step 3. Write a four-part prompt. Role: who Claude is. Context: what happened. Task: what you want. Format: how it should look, such as under 150 words, warm, with a subject line. Screenshot: Claude chat box with a complaint PDF attached and a four-part prompt typed in.
    Slide 4 of 7
  5. Step 4. Read the reply before you use it. Claude drafted the email and flagged the refund question instead of promising one. It also listed what to check. Always read a reply before it leaves your hands. Screenshot: Claude’s drafted customer email and a list of things to check before sending.
    Slide 5 of 7
  6. Step 5. Ask a follow-up, then pin. The first answer is rarely the last. Ask for a shorter version and two time options. Then use the chat’s three-dot menu to pin and rename it. Screenshot: Claude’s shorter follow-up reply, with the conversation starred in the sidebar.
    Slide 6 of 7
  7. Have your first chat free in a practice copy. Lesson: Your first chat with Claude, about 7 minutes. Free at learn.ynteractive.com.
    Slide 7 of 7

Swipe or scroll sideways for all 7 slides. The whole guide is written out below.

The guide in text

Reply to an unhappy customer’s email at a made-up company’s office. Model, file, prompt, follow-up, pin. 5 steps.

Step by step

  1. Look at the model picker

    It sits under the message box and shows the model and effort, like Opus 5.5 Medium. Effort is how hard Claude thinks before answering. Medium is the recommended setting.

  2. Attach the email with +

    The + menu adds files, skills, connectors and more. Choose Upload or add files. Claude can read PDFs, Word files, spreadsheets, text files and images.

  3. Write a four-part prompt

    Role: who Claude is. Context: what happened. Task: what you want. Format: how it should look, such as under 150 words, warm, with a subject line.

  4. Read the reply before you use it

    Claude drafted the email and flagged the refund question instead of promising one. It also listed what to check. Always read a reply before it leaves your hands.

  5. Ask a follow-up, then pin

    The first answer is rarely the last. Ask for a shorter version and two time options. Then use the chat’s three-dot menu to pin and rename it.

Businesses and people in the examples are made up (Bright Path Landscaping is a made-up business). The steps, screens and wording come from the free lesson and the Stepthrough glossary and prompt library.

Do it yourself, free

Your First Chat with Claude: Models, Files and a Great First Prompt. Pick a model, attach a customer's complaint email with the + menu, write a four-part prompt, read Claude's reply, ask a follow-up, then pin and rename the chat. You do every step yourself in a practice copy of Claude, it checks your work as you go, and “Do it for me” finishes any step you get stuck on. Free, and nothing touches your real accounts.

Start the free lesson

Or read the full step-by-step guide

Plain-English definitions, each with an example from a free lesson.

ClaudeRole, Context, Task, FormatPrompt templateAnthropicClaude model pickerEffort levelFrontier modelModel family

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