Today

Three ways to integrate AI into your daily workflow

01

Email

  • Summarise email“What do I need to do?”
  • Draft replySaved to Gmail Drafts. You press Send.
02

Calendar

  • Create event“Add a placeholder for 1 October.”
  • Cross-check emailsIt reads back through the thread for the missing time.
03

Cowork by Claude

  • Create and update ExcelA row added to the tracker, in place.
  • Save and rename filesFiled in a month folder, with a reference.
Before you start · one-time setup

Open Connectors

Do this once. After that, Claude can search, read and act in the accounts you connect.

  1. 1Tap + beside the chat box
  2. 2Tap Connectors
1
Claude app home screen
2
Add to Chat menu
Before you start · one-time setup

Connect Gmail and Calendar

Sign in with your Google account when asked.

  1. 3Tap Connect on Gmail and Google Calendar
  2. 4Done: both show a number instead of Connect
3
Connectors list, not yet connected
4
Gmail and Google Calendar connected
Before you start

Anthropic data policy for connectors

In short

Your Gmail, Drive and Calendar data is not used to train the models. Claude reads only what you ask it to.

Source: Use Google Workspace connectors
support.claude.com/en/articles/10166901-use-google-workspace-connectors

Anthropic support page: Privacy and data handling for Google Workspace connectors
Email · 1 of 2

Summarise and draft reply

  1. 1Request summary
  2. 2Request draft
What I typed
“There’s an email from Emily, summarise any action points required from me.”
1
Claude's summary of the action points
2
Typing the draft request
Email · 2 of 2

Review in Gmail and send

  1. 1Open Gmail. Find it in Drafts
  2. 2Read it, change it, then Send
1
The draft in the Gmail Drafts folder
2
The drafted email, ready to review
Calendar

Create event

  1. 1Tell Claude to add event
  2. 2Verify the output
1
Asking Claude to add a calendar event
2
Claude confirming the event was added
Cowork by Claude · 1 of 4

Setting up a working folder

Today’s example: receipt tracking automation.
Claude Desktop App > Cowork > Add Folder

Claude desktop welcome screen with the folder menu open
1Open the folder menu, then Add folder
Folder picker with Receipt tracking selected
2Choose Receipt tracking, then Open
Cowork by Claude · 2 of 4

Creating a skill: e.g. /processreceipt

A skill is a set of instructions you can call upon — written once, then used by name.

Create a skill called "processreceipt".

When I upload one or more receipt photos, for each one:

1. Read the receipt and extract:
   - Date (YYYY-MM-DD). Assume Singapore DD/MM format when ambiguous. If there's no date, leave it blank and flag it.
   - Description: merchant + short summary (e.g. "Starbucks – 2 coffees"). Add the currency code if not SGD.
   - Amount: final total paid, after discounts, including tax/tip. Number only, 2 decimals.
   - Expense Category from a fixed list: Meals & Dining, Groceries, Transport, Fuel, Travel & Lodging, Office Supplies, Software & Subscriptions, Utilities, Phone & Internet, Entertainment, Health, Shopping, Other.
   If the merchant or total is unreadable, ask me. Skip anything that isn't a receipt.

2. Give each receipt a running reference number (R0001, R0002…), continuing from the highest one already used.

3. Save the original photo, unchanged, on my Mac in [ROOT FOLDER]/YYYY-MM/ (month of the receipt date, "Undated" if none), named "<Ref> - <Merchant> - <YYYY-MM-DD>.<ext>".

4. Append a row to [ROOT FOLDER]/Receipt Tracker.xlsx, sheet "Receipts", with columns Ref, Date, Description, Amount, Expense Category, File. Date must be a real Excel date, Amount a number, and File a clickable relative hyperlink to the saved photo. If the file or sheet doesn't exist yet, create it first: those six headers in row 1 as an Excel table with filters, header row frozen, Date formatted YYYY-MM-DD and Amount as 0.00.

5. Reply with a short table of what was logged and anything flagged.

Rules:
- Edit the spreadsheet in place; never rebuild it.
- If the spreadsheet is open in Excel, ask me to close it first.
- If a receipt has the same date and amount as an existing row, ask before logging.
- Never renumber existing rows or delete any files.
- If my Mac isn't reachable, stop and tell me. Don't save anywhere else.
Highlighted = sets up Receipt Tracker.xlsx on the first run, so there is nothing else to paste. Change [ROOT FOLDER] to your own, then Save when Claude offers the skill. After saving, type /processreceipt to use it.
Cowork by Claude · 3 of 4

Cross-device workflow

  1. 1Take a photo on your phone
  2. 2Attach it in the Claude phone app, call the skill (/processreceipt)
  3. 3Done on the computer
1
Photo of a McDonald's receipt
2
Attaching the photo and typing /processreceipt
3
Claude confirming the receipt was filed
Cowork by Claude · 4 of 4

Filed, renamed and logged

Claude saved the photo in a month folder, gave it a reference and a clear name, and added a row to Receipt Tracker.xlsx.

Finder showing the renamed receipt in the 2026-09 folder
1Saved in 2026-09 and renamed
Receipt Tracker spreadsheet with the new row
2New row in the tracker, with a link to the file
Scheduled routines

Ask Claude to help you create it

  1. 1Ask for a skill / routine
  2. 2Answer any questions it might ask
  3. 3Review the skill / routine
The one I use

Every morning at 8:30, it reads the inbox, ranks what came in Urgent · Today · This week and drafts the replies it can.

1
Claude asking how often to check email
2
Answers to the setup questions
3
Claude confirming the scheduled task
AI-assisted tasks

Productivity use cases

1

Email and Calendar

Connectors

2

Folder / Files

Cross-device, direct file creation and organisation

3

Skills

Work processes on demand

4

Scheduled routines

Work processes on schedule