# Claude First Chat: Pick a Model, Attach a File, Prompt in 5 Steps > 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. Source: https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/visual/your-first-chat-with-claude-in-5-steps · Updated 2026-10-11 · Free from Stepthrough (https://learn.ynteractive.com) [Step-by-step guide](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/visual#format-steps-carousel) · 7 slides · [Claude](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/tool/claude) By [Robert Breen](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/about) · Published October 11, 2026 · From the free lesson [Your First Chat with Claude: Models, Files and a Great First Prompt](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/claude-first-chat-tutorial) 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. 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](https://learn.ynteractive.com/modules/claude-first-chat) [Or read the full step-by-step guide](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/claude-first-chat-tutorial) ## Related terms Plain-English definitions, each with an example from a free lesson. [Claude](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/claude) · [Role, Context, Task, Format](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/role-context-task-format) · [Prompt template](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/prompt-template) · [Anthropic](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/anthropic) · [Claude model picker](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/claude-model-picker) · [Effort level](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/claude-effort-level) · [Frontier model](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/frontier-model) · [Model family](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/model-family) [The full AI glossary](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary) ## Related prompts - [Complaint reply four-part prompt](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/prompts/complaint-email-first-chat-prompt): A four-part prompt for your first AI chat: a role, the context, the task and the format, to reply to an unhappy customer and… [All free prompt templates](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/prompts) ## From the blog - [How to Check AI Output Before You Use It: 7 Checks](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/blog/check-ai-output-before-you-use-it): Seven checks for AI output at work, each from a free lesson: totals, promises, rules, extras, numbers, green checks and the final read before you send. - [How to Pick the Right AI Tool for Office Work](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/blog/pick-the-right-ai-tool-for-office-work): Pick an AI tool by the job: an assistant for drafts, Jotform for intake, Gamma for decks, Flova or DomoAI for video, n8n for rules. With a lesson for each. ## More visual guides - [DomoAI Image to Video: Product Photo to Short Clip in 5 Steps](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/visual/domoai-product-photo-to-short-video-in-5-steps): A visual guide to DomoAI Image to Video: upload a product photo, set 9:16, write a motion prompt, compare two versions and download the better one. - [Flova: Plan a Promo Video Before You Spend a Credit](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/visual/flova-plan-a-promo-video-before-you-spend-credits): A visual guide to Flova’s AI video agent: paste your exact script, get the storyboard and credit estimate first, then make and fix one reference image. - [Gamma: Turn Rough Meeting Notes into a Deck in 5 Steps](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/visual/gamma-rough-notes-to-a-finished-deck-in-5-steps): A visual guide to Gamma: paste rough notes, let it condense them into a deck, change a slide by chatting with Agent, then export to PowerPoint and PDF. [All visual guides](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/visual) · [All free tutorials](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content)