Fourth

AI Enablement Series

Claude Cowork
Mastery Guide

The 2026 Starter Pack • Plugins, Context Files, Workflows & Power Prompts

Compiled from Corey Ganim's Official Threads • March 2026

Core Philosophy

"The prompting game is over.
The context game is everything."

— Corey Ganim

The difference between "interesting toy" and "this is how I work now" isn't better prompts. It's setup + context — the right plugins, the right files, and workflows built for your actual recurring tasks.

iQ

Part 01

Essential Plugins

Install these first. Everything else builds on top.

Foundation

Install These Plugins ASAP

Connect the Microsoft 365 Connector First

Go to Settings → Connectors → Microsoft 365 and authenticate. This unlocks Outlook, Calendar, Teams, SharePoint, and OneDrive integration across all workflows.

The foundation. Task management, scheduling, and workflow automation.

/task — Create and track tasks without leaving the chat
/schedule — Block time on your calendar directly
/workflow — Run saved multi-step automations

Content creation, repurposing, and campaign planning. Pairs with your brand voice file.

/draft-content — LinkedIn, tweets, newsletters
/repurpose — One piece into 5 platform versions
/campaign — Full content calendar with themes

Spreadsheets, reports, and analytics. Connects Cowork to your actual data.

/analyze — Upload CSV, get insights instantly
/build-dashboard — Interactive visualizations
/sql — Queries from plain English

Account research, call prep, and personalized outreach. 30 min of prep → 3 min.

/research-account — Company info, news, contacts
/prep-call — Briefing doc before any meeting
/draft-outreach — Personalized emails from prospect data

Part 02

The Real Unlock

Plugins are the start. Context files are where Cowork becomes your employee.

Context Files

Three Files That Change Everything

Your Professional Identity

Cowork reads this before every response. No more explaining who you are.

Name, role, company Communication style (direct? detailed?) Timezone and working hours 2–3 examples of your writing style

Your Voice in a File

Mandatory for content work. A 2,000-word profile means every draft sounds like you — without editing.

Words and phrases you love vs. avoid Tone (casual, professional, bold) Example sentences that sound like you Topics you cover vs. don't

A Living Document

Update weekly. Cowork becomes an assistant who actually knows what's on your plate.

Active projects with status Key deadlines this week Blockers and open questions Links to relevant docs

Setup

Recommended Folder Structure

Point Cowork at the root folder — every conversation now has full context.

claude-context/
├── about-me.md
├── brand-voice.md
├── current-projects.md
├── skills/
│   ├── content-repurpose/
│   ├── meeting-prep/
│   └── research-compile/
├── workflows/
│   ├── morning-dashboard.md
│   ├── meeting-prep.md
│   ├── content-repurposing.md
│   └── end-of-day.md
├── references/
│   ├── writing-samples/
│   └── templates/
└── archives/
iQ

Part 03

Core Workflows

Four workflows that save real time. Copy the prompts. Run them daily.

Workflows

Automate Your Recurring Tasks

Open Edge and set up my morning dashboard. Open Outlook, Outlook Calendar (week view), Notion, and Teams notifications side by side. Summarize what's on my calendar today.

Start with context, not chaos.

I have a meeting with [NAME] from [COMPANY] in 30 minutes. Research them: LinkedIn profile, company website, recent news, any email history we have. Create a one-page brief with 3 talking points.

Walking into a meeting cold is amateur hour.

Read [this YouTube video/podcast/article]. Create: 5 Twitter posts, 1 LinkedIn post, 1 newsletter draft, and 10 short-form video clip ideas with timestamps. Save everything to OneDrive.

Hour of work compressed into 15 minutes.

Help me shut down for the day. Check my task manager for anything urgent I missed. Look at tomorrow's calendar and flag any prep I need. Create a sticky note on my desktop with my top 3 priorities for tomorrow.

Clean shutdown means you start tomorrow fresh.

Part 04

10 Power Prompts

Copy them. Paste them. Watch your output multiply.

Power Prompts

Prompts 1–5

Open Edge and create a morning dashboard for me. Open these tabs in order: 1. Outlook inbox 2. Outlook Calendar (week view) 3. Notion (my workspace) 4. Teams notifications Arrange them so I can see Calendar and Outlook side by side. Then summarize what's on my calendar for today.

Sets up your entire workspace in seconds. Start with context, not confusion.

I need to research [TOPIC]. Open 5 browser tabs with the top articles on this topic from the last 30 days. Read each one and create a Word doc in OneDrive summarizing: - Key points from each source - Common themes across all articles - Contrarian takes or unique angles - Links to all sources Save it as "[TOPIC] Research - [Today's Date]"

2 hours of research → 10 minutes of review. Cowork hunts. You think.

Open Outlook. Find all unread emails from the last 24 hours. For each email: 1. Categorize it (Urgent / Needs Response / FYI / Archive) 2. Draft a response for anything in "Needs Response" 3. Archive anything that's FYI only Show me the drafts before sending. List the urgent items at the top.

Inbox zero from a 45-min task into a 5-min review.

I have a meeting with [PERSON NAME] from [COMPANY] in 30 minutes. Research them: 1. Open their LinkedIn profile 2. Open their company website 3. Find any recent news or posts they've shared 4. Check if we have any email history in Outlook Create a one-page brief with: - Their role and background - Company overview - 3 talking points based on their recent activity - Any previous context from our emails

Unfair advantage in 5 minutes. Never walk in cold again.

Open [URL to my YouTube video/podcast/article]. Watch/read the content and create: 1. 5 Twitter/X posts (each highlighting a different insight) 2. 1 LinkedIn post (more detailed, professional tone) 3. 1 email newsletter draft 4. A list of 10 short-form video clip ideas with timestamps Save everything to a Word doc in OneDrive called "Content Repurpose - [Title]"

One piece of content should become 10. Most skip it because it's tedious.

Power Prompts

Prompts 6–10

Research [COMPETITOR NAME]. Open their: 1. Website (homepage + pricing page) 2. Twitter/X profile (last 20 posts) 3. LinkedIn company page 4. Any recent press or Product Hunt launches Create a competitive analysis doc with: - Their positioning and key messaging - Pricing structure - What they're talking about on social - Gaps or weaknesses I can exploit - 3 ways we're different/better

A competitive brief in 10 minutes that would take an analyst a full day.

Help me do my weekly review. 1. Open Outlook Calendar and list everything I did this week 2. Open my task manager and show completed vs incomplete tasks 3. Check my email sent folder for key conversations 4. Open my notes app for any meeting notes from this week Create a weekly review doc with: - Top 3 wins this week - What didn't get done (and why) - Key decisions made - Focus areas for next week

Cowork does the data gathering. You just reflect.

I need to process my business expenses. 1. Open my email and find all receipts from the last 30 days 2. Open my accounting software [Quickbooks/Xero/etc] 3. For each receipt: - Extract the vendor, amount, and date - Categorize it (Software, Travel, Meals, etc.) - Log it in the accounting software Create a summary of total spend by category.

Expense tracking batched into one session Cowork handles.

I want to schedule my social media for the week. Open my content calendar [Notion/Sheets/etc] and review what's planned. For each piece of content: 1. Open the scheduling tool [Buffer/Hypefury/etc] 2. Create the post with the content from my calendar 3. Set the scheduled time based on the calendar 4. Add any images or links specified Confirm each post is scheduled and show me a summary of what's going live this week.

Scheduling is repetitive clicking. Cowork handles the tedium.

Help me shut down for the day. 1. Check my task manager for anything urgent I missed 2. Look at tomorrow's calendar and flag any prep I need 3. Close all browser tabs except [essential ones] 4. Create a sticky note on my desktop with my top 3 priorities for tomorrow 5. Open Spotify and play my wind-down playlist Tell me if there's anything critical I need to handle before logging off.

A clean shutdown means you start tomorrow fresh — not anxious.

The Force Multiplier

The Meta-Prompt

Run this before any workflow. It prevents 90% of the generic or off-brand output people complain about.

You are my executive assistant. You have access to my computer and can control apps, browser, and files. When I give you tasks: - Ask clarifying questions if needed - Narrate what you're doing so I can follow along - Pause before any destructive actions (deleting, sending, etc.) - Save important outputs to OneDrive for my review My key apps are: [Outlook, Teams, SharePoint, Notion, etc.] My browser is: [Edge/Chrome/Arc]

Context + guardrails in one shot.

This single prompt tells Cowork your environment, sets safety boundaries (pause before destructive actions), and establishes a working pattern (narrate, save to docs). Without it, every workflow starts from zero. With it, Cowork has a persistent operating model for the entire session.

Getting Started

Your Quick-Start Roadmap

Day 1

Connect the Microsoft 365 Connector in Settings. Install Productivity Plugin. Create about-me.md and brand-voice.md. Set up folder structure.

Week 1

Test Morning Dashboard prompt daily. Add one relevant extra plugin. Run the Meta-Prompt at session start.

Week 2

Build your first 2 custom workflows. Start using Meeting Prep and End-of-Day Shutdown.

Ongoing

Update current-projects.md every Friday. Build custom skills. Experiment and iterate.

Start Small

Pick 3 things from this guide. Master those. Then add more. The fastest path to ROI is depth before breadth.

Iterate Weekly

Every Friday, update your context files. Your workflows improve as Cowork learns your evolving priorities.

The Shift

Most People Use AI to Write.
Smart Operators Use AI to Execute.

M365
Connector
Required
4
Plugins
Foundation
3
Context Files
Identity
10
Power Prompts
Ready to use

Cowork isn't a chatbot. It's an entire agentic system.
Start with one prompt tomorrow morning. See what happens. Then build your own.

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Source: Corey Ganim (@coreyganim) • Compiled March 2026

David Hayes  •  david.hayes@fourth.com

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