What a business owner can do with Claude Docs and Slides
On September 16, 2026, the same day Anthropic started merging Cowork and chat into one Claude, it added two things a business owner will use more than the merge itself, Claude Docs and Claude Slides.
Both are in beta on paid plans. I read Anthropic’s announcement and its help center pages again on September 22, 2026, and this post says what they do, who has them, and two jobs worth handing over this week. Button names move in this app, so if something looks different, the pages linked at the end are the ones to check.
What they are
A doc is a document you write with Claude, on screen, while you watch. You ask for it in any conversation, or pick Docs from the Output control under the message box. Claude asks a few questions first, then drafts the doc in front of you and leaves comments explaining its choices. You can type into it yourself, ask Claude for the next pass, or select a line, leave a comment, and mention @Claude in it to have Claude make that change. It saves as you go, and it exports to Word, PDF, Markdown, or Google Docs.
Slides are a presentation built from your notes, a report, or the work already in the conversation. You can edit any slide directly, present without leaving Claude, and download the deck as PowerPoint or PDF. You can also ask Claude to turn a doc into slides, so the deck matches the report because both came from the same place.
Both land in the Artifacts tab in the sidebar, next to the dashboards and trackers Claude builds. Design, which makes visuals and mockups, sits there too.
Who has them, as of September 22, 2026
Docs, Slides, and Design are in beta on paid plans, meaning Pro, Max, Team, and Enterprise. They are not on the Free plan. On Pro, Max, and Team they are on by default, and you can switch them off under Settings > Capabilities. On Enterprise they are off until an owner turns each one on. On the phone app you can ask for a doc or a deck and read the result, but editing and sharing happen on the web or the desktop app.
Two more things are worth knowing before you build anything real. Docs have no version history yet, and deleting a doc is permanent, with no trash. On Pro and Max you share a doc with anyone who has the link, and the person opening it needs a Claude account.
Job one, the proposal
Say a customer asked about a bigger job than usual and you owe them a written proposal. Ask for a doc in plain words. “Draft a two-page proposal for Tom’s driveway beds from my notes in the folder, in my voice, with the scope, the price from my offers file, and the two questions he asked on the call.”
What comes back is a draft you read on screen with Claude’s questions in the margin. Fix the price line yourself if it is off. Tell Claude to cut the second page in half. Export it as a PDF and send it. Then keep the doc, because the next proposal starts from this one.
The catch is the same as every other Claude job. The proposal is only as good as what Claude read first. If your prices and your voice are in files Claude reads at the start, it writes your proposal. If they are not, it writes a template with blanks.
Job two, the Monday update
The other job is the short deck you show your team or a partner every week. Five slides is plenty, covering what happened last week, the numbers, what slipped, what is next, and where you need a decision. Ask for it once, in one line, and tell Claude what to read. “Make a five-slide Monday update from the numbers file and last week’s change log.” Read it, fix a slide, and present it from Claude or download the PowerPoint.
Once it comes out right, this is the kind of job a scheduled task can do while your laptop is closed. Anthropic’s own example in the announcement is a report scheduled for every Monday, so it is waiting when you sit down.
What to watch
Watch your usage. A long doc built from several sources uses more of your plan’s limit than a message does, so build the first one when you have room.
Charts are a snapshot. Ask for one in a doc and Claude pulls the numbers from a connected app and draws it, but it does not update on its own, so ask Claude to refresh it before you send.
The final say is yours. Claude works on a doc only when a signed-in person asks it to, and every change shows who made it, you or Claude. Read it before it goes to a customer.
The next step
Pick the proposal or the update, whichever you built by hand most recently, and hand it over once. Then look at what Claude did not know. Those gaps are what the setup fills.
Teach Claude Your Business is where you onboard Claude like a new hire in one sitting, so the doc it drafts already knows your prices and your voice. It is free to join.
Join Teach Claude Your Business
Sources: Claude Cowork and chat are now one Claude, Anthropic, September 16, 2026. Get started with Claude Docs and What are artifacts and how do I use them?, Claude help center, read September 22, 2026.
