FAQ
The questions beginners actually ask, each answered in a few honest sentences. Every answer links to the free lesson that goes deeper.
Yes. Claude has a free plan: sign up with an email address or Google account and you can chat, upload files, and use Projects at no cost. Free usage has limits that reset over time; paid plans raise those limits and unlock extra tools like Cowork and the Code tab.
The free plan covers a lot: full conversations with Claude, file uploads (PDF, Word, spreadsheets, images), and up to five Projects to keep related chats and files together. Two things need a paid plan: Cowork, where Claude works on your computer, and the Code tab.
Start free. If you hit usage limits regularly, or you want Claude to do hands-on computer work with Cowork, or you want the Code tab for structured file tasks, a paid plan starts making sense. Our tool-choosing lesson helps you decide based on what you actually do.
Claude is built by Anthropic, an AI safety focused company. When Claude works on your computer through Cowork, it asks permission before acting and requires explicit approval before permanently deleting any file. Good habit for any AI: do not paste passwords or sensitive personal data into a chat.
Yes, in two ways. Web search can be switched on in Settings under Capabilities, so Claude can look things up while you chat. Separately, in Cowork on a paid plan, Claude can operate a real browser window with your permission: clicking, typing, and filling forms while you watch.
Yes. Claude reads PDF, Word (DOCX), spreadsheets (CSV, XLSX), text, HTML, EPUB, and JSON files, plus JPEG, PNG, GIF, and WebP images. In a chat you can attach up to 20 files, each up to 500MB, on the free plan too. Drag a file in and ask a question about it.
As a beginner, use the default model Claude gives you; it is chosen to work well for everyday tasks. The family, briefly: Haiku models are the fastest and lightest, Sonnet models balance speed and capability, and Opus models are the most capable for hard, complex work.
Yes. Claude Desktop is available for macOS and Windows (with Linux in beta), and there are Claude apps for iPhone and Android. Chat works on every plan on mobile. You can also use Claude in a web browser with nothing installed at claude.ai.
No. This course is free, needs no sign-up, and stores your progress and notes in your own browser, never on our servers. You will need a Claude account to do the exercises; creating one is free and is exactly what Lesson 0 walks you through.
They are the three tabs in Claude Desktop. Chat is conversation: ask, draft, and think together. Cowork lets Claude do real work on your computer with your permission at every step. Code handles structured file and build tasks, no terminal required. Each has a beginner lesson here.
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