CSV in, paperwork out

Pick one export you'd really use. A gift shop might take last week's online orders, a plumber the month's jobs from the job app, an accounting office the bills it sent, and a dog groomer the week's bookings. A week or a month is plenty to start.

1. Sign in to the system that holds your sales, orders, jobs or bookings.
2. Open its orders or reports page, and look for a button called Export or Download.
3. Pick CSV if it asks for a format, and pick the last week or month.
4. Save the file. It usually lands in your Downloads folder.

CSV A plain spreadsheet file with commas between the columns. Most sales, booking and job systems can download one. All words×folder A place on your computer that holds files and other folders, like a drawer in a filing cabinet. All words×

An export can hold more than this lesson needs: customer names, emails, phone numbers, home addresses, and sometimes card or account numbers. None of that goes to Claude. Keep one column that tells orders and customers apart, like an order number or a customer number, so you can match Claude's work back to your own records.

This part of the section is words, sheets and exports only. You don't connect Claude to your bank, your card reader, or your accounting or invoicing software in these lessons, even where a connection exists. Never paste or attach bank account numbers, card numbers, tax ID numbers or passwords.

1. Open Downloads in Finder and find the file. Its name ends in .csv.
2. Drag it onto the Numbers icon in the Dock. It opens as a table.
3. Hold Command (Ctrl in Excel) and click the letter at the top of each column that holds a name, an email, a phone number, an address, or an account or card number.
4. Move the pointer over one of those letters, click the arrow that appears, then chooseRight-click one of those letters, then choose Delete Selected ColumnsDelete.
5. Read down the columns that are left. If a notes or comments column holds anyone's name or number, delete that column the same way.
6. Choose File > Export To > CSV, then click Save.
7. Name it Orders for Claude, pick Desktop from the Where menu, and click Export.

On Windows, in Excel:

• To open the file, open Downloads in File Explorer and double-click it. If it doesn't open in Excel, open Excel, choose File > Open, click Browse, and pick it from Downloads.
• To save it, choose File > Save As, click Browse, pick Desktop, and name it Orders for Claude. Choose CSV (Comma delimited) from Save as type, then click Save.

connector A link between Claude and another app or service, like Google Calendar or Linear, so Claude can read from it or work in it. All words×Finder The Mac app for looking through your files and folders. Its icon is a blue smiling face. All words×

AI drafts and sorts; a person approves anything with a price, a date or your name on it. The paperwork goes out with your name on it, so Claude drafts it from the file and you check it.

This prompt sets the rules for every number before Claude reads the file, then has it tell you what's in it, so you know it read the file right.

1. Open the Claude app or claude.ai and start a new chat.
2. Click the + button in the lower-left corner of the message box, then Add files or photos, and pick Orders for Claude from your Desktop. You can also drag the file into the chat.
3. Check the name ends in for Claude before you click Open.
4. Copy the prompt below.

I've attached an export of my [sales, orders, jobs or bookings] from [the system it came from]. You'll help me turn it into paperwork in this chat. The rules: use only what's in this file. Don't estimate, round or invent any number, name or date. When you give a number, say which column and which rows it came from. If something I ask for isn't in the file, write "not in the file". Where my own details belong, write FILL IN. Never ask me for bank, card or account details. First, tell me what the file holds: the column names, how many rows, and the first and last date. Don't work anything out yet. My business: [what you do]

5. Paste it into the chat. Replace the parts in square brackets, like online orders from my store's website or jobs from my job app, and what you do.
6. Send it.
7. Check the dates against the table in NumbersExcel. For the number of rows, scroll to the bottom of the table and take one off the last row number, for the column names.

AI Short for artificial intelligence. Here it means a program like Claude that reads what you write and writes back in plain words. All words×prompt What you type to Claude. A good one says what you want, how to work and what never to do. All words×Claude app Claude on your phone or computer, where you chat with it by typing. claude.ai is the same thing in a web browser. All words×

A summary tells you what the week or month added up to without you running down the column yourself. This prompt asks for totals and the things that came up most, with every sum written out.

1. Copy the prompt below.

Write a short summary of this file. Give the total of the [the column that holds the money] column for the whole file, and the total for each week. Then list the five [items, services or kinds of job] that come up most, with how many times each comes up and the total for each. Show every sum, and say which rows each total covers. Don't say whether any number is good or bad.

2. Paste it into the same chat. Replace the parts in square brackets with the name of your money column, like Total or Amount, and what you sell.
3. Send it.
4. Check the file's total in NumbersExcel. Open Orders for Claude, click the letter at the top of the money column, and read the sum at the bottom of the window., next to Sum.
5. Check one weekly total on a calculator.

Knowing who spends the most helps you decide who to thank, who to call first when you're quiet, or who gets the new price list early. Claude works from customer numbers only. You find out who they are in your own system.

1. Copy the prompt below.

Using the [the customer number column] column, list my top 10 customers by total spent in this file. For each one, give the customer number, how many orders, the total, and which rows. Don't guess who anyone is, and don't suggest what to send them.

2. Paste it into the same chat. Replace the part in square brackets with the name of your customer number column.
3. Send it.
4. Look each number up in your own system to see who it is. Do that there, not in the chat.
5. Check the top customer's total on a calculator, using the rows Claude named in NumbersExcel.

Slips are the paper that goes with each order or job: a packing slip in the box, a job sheet in the van, a booking card for the day. This prompt makes one for each order and leaves blanks where the private details go.

1. Copy the prompt below.

Make a [packing slip, job sheet or booking card] for each [order, job or booking] in the file from [first date] to [last date]. On each one, put the order number, the date, each item or task with its quantity, and a line for notes. Where the customer's name and address go, write [Name] and [Address]. Use only what's in the file. If a slip needs something the file doesn't have, write FILL IN. Show them one after another, with a line between each.

2. Paste it into the same chat. Replace the parts in square brackets with the kind of slip, what you call each order, and the dates.
3. Send it.
4. Check two or three slips against the same orders in your own system.
5. Copy the slips out of the chat, then fill in each name and address yourself from your own records.

This prompt saves what you used today as a prompt pack, so next month's export takes a few minutes.

1. Copy the prompt below.

Put the prompts from this chat on one page I can save, called Turn this export into, so I can use them with next month's export. At the top, write these rules: Take the names, emails, phones, addresses, and account and card numbers out in my spreadsheet first. Claude uses only what's in the file and says which rows. I check every total in my spreadsheet or on a calculator. I fill in names and addresses myself. Then list each prompt with blanks in square brackets: what's in the file, the summary, the top customers and the slips.

2. Paste it into the same chat and send it.
3. Copy the page into a note or a document called Turn this export into….