2026-01-16

Just Got Cowork and Feeling Lost? 10 Skills to Supercharge Your Claude

The real power of Claude Cowork lies in Skills. Here are 10 handpicked Skills for office productivity that will transform your workflow.

Claude Cowork launched just two days ago, and it's already taking the tech world by storm. Everyone's calling it "Claude Code for non-programmers" and "the ultimate AI office assistant." So you excitedly subscribed, opened that shiny new interface with the "Beta" label.

And then what?

Staring at that blank input box, many people find themselves thinking: "What should I even ask it to do?"

If you're just using it as a chatbot that can read files, you're probably only tapping into 10% of its potential. The real soul of Cowork lies in Skills.

Cowork without Skills is like a computer without software—it can only do basic file management. But with the right Skills installed, it instantly transforms into an accountant, secretary, data analyst, or even a presentation designer.

Today, I've handpicked 10 Skills from Anthropic's official library and the community that are perfect for Cowork scenarios. This isn't just a list—it's a practical guide to skyrocketing your office productivity.

Want to explore more? Visit AllSkills.cn to browse our collection of 50+ Claude Skills.


The Office Document Trinity: Every Worker's Lifesaver

If you deal with Office suite daily, these three Skills are absolute lifesavers.

1. PDF Processor - Make PDFs as Manageable as Word

Pain Point: Your boss sends a 50-page PDF industry report and wants you to extract all table data from pages 12-15 into Excel for analysis. Previously, you'd spend an afternoon copying and pasting, then double-checking every number.

Skill Capabilities:

  • Precisely extract text and table structures from PDFs
  • Fill PDF forms
  • Merge and split PDF files

Install Command:

/plugin install pdf

Real Example:

Drag the PDF into your Cowork folder, then say:

"@pdf Please read pages 12-15 of report.pdf, extract all sales data from the tables, and output as CSV format."

Best For: Finance, analysts, administrative staff

View Full Documentation →


2. Excel Automation - Say Goodbye to Manual Formulas

Pain Point: End of month, time to consolidate sales data from various departments. Dozens of Excel files with wildly different formats, plus pivot tables and growth charts to create. One wrong click and formulas break everywhere.

Skill Capabilities:

  • Create complex Excel spreadsheets
  • Auto-write advanced formulas and functions
  • Generate pivot tables and charts

Install Command:

/plugin install xlsx

Real Example:

"@xlsx Read all CSVs from the raw_data folder and merge into one Excel file. Create a pivot table in the 'Summary' sheet showing Q1 total sales by region, and generate a bar chart."

Best For: Sales managers, operations specialists, data processors

View Full Documentation →


3. Word Document Creator - Auto-Generate Professional Reports

Pain Point: Data analysis is done, but now you need to write a Word report. Formatting, adjusting fonts, inserting charts, generating table of contents... these tedious tasks drain all enthusiasm.

Skill Capabilities:

  • Generate structured Word documents from outlines
  • Auto-format with professional styles
  • Insert images and tables

Install Command:

/plugin install docx

Real Example:

"@docx Based on the meeting notes in notes.md, create a 'Weekly Project Report.docx'. Include: this week's progress, next week's plan, and risk alerts. Use the company's standard blue heading style."

Best For: Project managers, consultants, copywriters

View Full Documentation →


Visual & Presentation: Make Your Reports Shine

4. PowerPoint Builder - Generate Presentations with One Sentence

Pain Point: Meeting in 30 minutes and your PPT is still blank. The content is all in your head, but finding templates, adding images, and aligning elements—there's just no time.

Skill Capabilities:

  • Auto-generate PPT slides from outlines
  • Smart content layout
  • Auto-add images (supports placeholders)

Install Command:

/plugin install pptx

Real Example:

"@pptx Based on strategy.txt, create a 10-slide presentation. First slide is the cover, last slide is Q&A. No more than 5 bullet points per slide, clean business style."

Best For: Almost everyone in the workplace

View Full Documentation →


5. Data Visualizer - Turn Boring Data into Charts

Pain Point: You have a pile of data but don't know how to present it visually. Excel charts look ugly, and learning Python's Matplotlib is too hard.

Skill Capabilities:

  • Auto-analyze data characteristics and recommend chart types
  • Generate high-quality statistical charts (line, pie, heatmap, etc.)
  • Export as PNG or SVG

Install Command:

/plugin install data-viz

Real Example:

"@data-viz Analyze sales.csv, create a user growth trend chart for the past 12 months, mark the highest and lowest points, save as growth_chart.png."

Best For: Data analysts, marketing teams

View Full Documentation →


Efficiency & Organization: Let AI Handle the Tedious Stuff

6. File Organizer - Save Your Downloads Folder

Pain Point: Is your Downloads folder already stuffed with 500 files? Untitled.jpg, New Document(1).docx everywhere—finding anything takes forever.

Skill Capabilities:

  • Smart content recognition
  • Auto-categorize by date, type, or content
  • Batch rename

Install Command:

/plugin install file-organizer

Real Example:

"@file-organizer Organize the downloads folder. Archive all images by 'year/month', categorize documents by project keywords (like 'budget', 'contract') into corresponding subfolders."

Best For: Digital hoarders

View Full Documentation →


7. Receipt Analyzer - Expense Reports Made Easy

Pain Point: Back from a business trip with a wallet full of crumpled receipts. Photographing each one, verifying amounts, filling expense forms—it's a nightmare.

Skill Capabilities:

  • OCR recognition for receipt images
  • Extract merchant, date, total amount, tax
  • Auto-compile into expense spreadsheet

Install Command:

/plugin install receipt-analyzer

Real Example:

"@receipt-analyzer Read all photos in the /receipts folder, identify amounts and categories, generate an expense_report.csv, and calculate the total."

Best For: Frequent business travelers

View Full Documentation →


8. Meeting Notes Summarizer - Meeting Minutes Made Easy

Pain Point: Two-hour meeting, transcript is tens of thousands of words. Who said what? What were the decisions? Who's responsible for action items? Nobody wants to read through it all.

Skill Capabilities:

  • Extract key decisions and action items
  • Distinguish different speakers' viewpoints
  • Generate structured meeting minutes

Install Command:

/plugin install meeting-minutes

Real Example:

"@meeting-minutes Analyze transcript.txt, summarize the core decisions, and list all action items assigned to @David."

Best For: Product managers, executive assistants

View Full Documentation →


Creation & Communication: Your Personal Copywriter

9. Email Manager - Batch Email Processing

Pain Point: Need to send invitations to 50 clients—content is mostly the same, but names and company names need to change. Or you're back from vacation with 200 unread emails.

Skill Capabilities:

  • Batch generate personalized email drafts
  • Extract key information from emails
  • Categorize emails by priority

Install Command:

/plugin install email-drafter

Real Example:

"@email-drafter Read client_list.csv, draft an invitation email for each client to attend the annual summit, tone should be sincere and warm, save as txt files in the drafts folder."

Best For: Sales, PR, HR

View Full Documentation →


10. Content Writer - Your Helper When Inspiration Runs Dry

Pain Point: Need to write a blog post or article, but you've been staring at the screen for 30 minutes unable to write the first sentence.

Skill Capabilities:

  • Generate multi-dimensional content outlines
  • Mimic specific writing styles
  • SEO keyword optimization

Install Command:

/plugin install content-strategist

Real Example:

"@content-strategist I need to write an article about 'remote work productivity'. First give me 5 catchy titles, then generate a detailed outline based on the second title, including key quotes and examples."

Best For: Content marketers, bloggers

View Full Documentation →


Combining Skills: Multiply Your Power

Skills aren't meant to be used in isolation—combining them enables truly complex workflows.

Scenario: Fully Automated Monthly Financial Report

  1. Use Receipt Analyzer to extract all invoice data
  2. Use Excel Automation to consolidate data and generate charts
  3. Use Data Visualizer to create more polished trend charts
  4. Use Word Document Creator to integrate charts and data into an analysis report
  5. Use Email Manager to draft the email to your boss

This workflow might have taken 2 full days before. Now it just takes a few commands in Cowork—done before you finish your coffee.


Conclusion: Arm Your Claude Now

The launch of Claude Cowork marks AI's official transition from "chatting" to "working." And Skills are Cowork's arsenal.

My advice: don't try to do everything at once. Pick 3-5 scenarios that cause you the most pain, install the corresponding Skills, and try them out. You'll find that once you get used to "commanding AI to work," you'll never go back to manual operations.

These 10 Skills are just the tip of the iceberg.

At AllSkills.cn, I've collected 50+ high-quality Skills from official sources and the community, covering programming, academic research, creative design, and more. Each Skill comes with detailed installation guides and prompt templates.

👉 Visit AllSkills.cn Now and arm your Claude to the teeth!