This is a ChatGPT and Claude computer guide for setting up AI on your own computer — no coding required.
You do not need to know how to code. You do need to know where your files are and choose which ones the AI may use.
One important note: AI is a very useful assistant and like any assistant requires training, patience and most importantly, human oversight. It will make mistakes so keeping a human in the loop is imperative.
In about fifteen minutes, you will have one folder set up for this kind of work, an AI app installed and signed in, and a simple way to tell it which files it may look at. That is the whole goal of Part 1.
Questions as you go? I’m here to help! Grab time on my calendar.
One running example shows up throughout: turning a meeting photo list PDF into a clean Excel roster, the same project the Photo List to Roster guide walks through in full. If that’s not your situation, just swap in whatever file and recurring task you actually have — a client invoice, a set of meeting notes, a spreadsheet of leads — the steps work the same way either way.
First, a few terms
Browser Versions:
You open Claude or ChatGPT in a web browser, such as Chrome or Edge. You can type questions, upload files, and use supported connections to online services. The AI does not automatically see the files on your computer.
Desktop Apps:
You install ChatGPT Work/Codex or Claude CoWord/Code apps on your computer and sign in. Once installed, the app gives you two different ways of working, and it matters which one you’re in:
In these apps, regular chat mode looks and behaves just like the browser version — you type, it answers one turn at a time — except it can also request permission to look at a specific file or folder on your computer, not just what you upload.
ChatGPT Work and Claude Cowork Apps
ChatGPT Work and Claude Cowork are built for everyday business assignments: you give the AI a goal and the necessary files, and it produces a finished result — for example, “Read these meeting notes and create an action list.” It can complete several steps, show its progress, and return a document, spreadsheet, presentation, or other file. Start here if you want finished work without opening a terminal or writing a script.
ChatGPT Codex and Claude Code Apps
Codex is OpenAI’s working environment for technical and file-based projects; Claude Code is Anthropic’s equivalent. Despite the name, you don’t need to be a programmer to use them for a prepared workflow — they can open files, work inside a folder, run included scripts, follow reusable skills, and create new files.
Think of them as an assistant: you supply the computer project folder, the instructions, and the desired result, and the assistant uses those tools to do the job. A skill might tell it exactly how to read a set of files, pull out the details you need, compare them against an existing record, and save a finished result. You never write or run the code yourself; it’s already built into the skill. The Photo List to Roster guide walks through one such skill end to end.
Which one should I choose? (see the full list below)
Use Chat for a conversation, explanation, or short draft. Use ChatGPT Work or Claude Cowork for ordinary documents, spreadsheets, research, and presentations. Use Codex or Claude Code when the task includes a prepared skill, scripts, or repeated work inside a project folder.
For the Photo List to Roster project, use the instructions written for your chosen product — the ChatGPT package is built for Codex, and the Claude package works in any Claude environment that supports the skill and its included scripts.
Plugin or connector:
An optional add-on that gives the AI a specific capability. For example, a Google Drive connection can help it find files in Google Drive, and a Microsoft connection can do the same for files in OneDrive or SharePoint. ChatGPT calls many of these plugins; Claude commonly calls them connectors, and its local add-ons desktop extensions. A connection to an online service is different from access to a folder on your computer.
Project:
A dedicated workspace inside Claude or ChatGPT where you attach your working files and a standing instruction once, and every new chat you start there automatically has both — instead of re-explaining your setup each time. This is different from the project folder on your computer described below: a Project lives inside the AI app itself, not in Windows File Explorer or Finder.
Skill:
A saved set of written instructions you hand the AI once so it performs a repeated task the same way every time. Think of it as a recipe card it can pull off the shelf instead of you retyping the steps in every new chat. Both ChatGPT/Codex and Claude call these skills, and you keep them with your project. The Photo List to Roster guide walks through installing and using one.
Agent:
The AI working through several steps on its own rather than answering one question at a time — for example, opening a PDF, pulling out the details, building a spreadsheet, and saving it to your folder. Codex and Cowork work this way: you give the goal, approve the access, and review the result. You still approve what it may touch and what it may save.
Which version should you use?
| If you want to… | A browser chat may be enough | A desktop app is especially helpful |
| Ask a question or draft an email | Yes | Also yes |
| Hand the AI one PDF or spreadsheet | Upload it to the conversation | Attach it or point the app to a permitted local file |
| Update files in a working folder repeatedly | You may need to upload the current files each time | You can choose a local folder for ongoing work |
| Use an online service such as Google Drive or MS One Drive | A supported plugin or connector may work | The same online connection may work here too |
| Work with an app or file that lives only on your computer | Usually requires an upload or another connection | Yes — the desktop app can reach it, once you grant permission |
| Get a quick answer while out and about on your phone or a borrowed computer | Yes — nothing to install | Not needed for this |
| Work through the same folder of files over several sessions without re-uploading each time | You would re-upload every session | Yes — it remembers the folder you pointed it to |
| Let the AI take several steps on its own (open a file, build a spreadsheet, save it) with your approval | Limited — mainly one step at a time | Yes — this is what Codex/Cowork-style agents are for |
Why a desktop app helps for ongoing work: When you return to the same files week after week, a desktop workflow lets you keep them in one place, point the AI at a single working folder, and save each finished version back somewhere you can find it. You still decide which files it uses and whether it replaces an older file.
Example – recurring files: A few ways this shows up in practice. For me, ProVisors photo lists and a master roster are just files in a folder — I keep the current roster and a Photo Lists subfolder together, and the AI reads from and saves to that one folder. The same pattern works for a set of monthly client invoices and a running summary, or a folder of meeting notes and the project plan they feed into. Any recurring task with its own files works the same way — a working file or files, plus a folder the AI can return to.
Some simple first steps
This computer guide has you set up a real folder for one reason: a browser chat only sees what you upload into that one conversation — close the tab, and it forgets. Setting up a real folder on your computer gives the desktop app a fixed, permitted place to look every time, so it can find your current files, notice when you’ve added a new one, and save results back without you re-uploading anything. That folder is also what makes the file-sharing steps below work.
1. Choose a home for your files. Make one folder for the first task you want help with and give it a plain name, such as ProVisors Roster or Client Reports. Keep the current main file there, plus a subfolder for anything new you add, and use file names that tell you the subject and the date.
Most people end up using AI for more than one kind of work, and each new task tends to bring its own files. It helps to put that first folder inside one overall folder — something like AI Projects or Working Files — so you can add a new folder beside it later without moving anything. You do not need to plan out every folder you might eventually want. One parent folder and one real project inside it is plenty for now.
2. Decide whether that folder should appear on your other computers. By default, a folder you create lives only on that one computer’s hard drive — a second computer has no idea it exists. Services such as OneDrive or Google Drive for desktop change that: they keep a copy of the folder on the provider’s servers and quietly push any change out to every computer signed in to that same account, usually within seconds on a normal connection. Once set up, the folder looks and behaves like an ordinary folder in Windows File Explorer or Mac Finder on each machine — you are not visiting a website to see it. Concretely: sign in to the same OneDrive or Google account on your second computer, point that service at (or let it recreate) the same folder, and wait for the little sync icon to show “up to date” before you start working there. If a file is marked online-only, open it once, or right-click and choose “Always keep on this device,” so it is available even without internet. Without one of these sync services, moving a file to another computer means copying it yourself — for example by USB drive, email, or a manual upload — and the two copies will not stay in sync automatically.
3. Install the desktop app you want to use.
For Claude Desktop: go to claude.com/download, choose the installer for your operating system (Mac or Windows), and download it. Open the downloaded file and follow the prompts to finish installing. Once it’s done, launch Claude from your Applications folder (Mac) or Start menu (Windows), then sign in with your Claude account.
For the ChatGPT desktop app: go to chatgpt.com/download, download the installer for your operating system, then open it and follow the prompts to install. Launch ChatGPT and sign in with your ChatGPT account — Codex appears as a mode inside that same app, so there is nothing extra to download for it.
The browser version remains useful; installing the app does not erase your online chats.
4. Give the AI a small, clear starting point. In a browser chat, upload the exact PDF and spreadsheet you want it to use. In the desktop app’s regular chat, select the one project folder you set up in step 1 — mine is Connections — or identify the file paths, and approve access when the app asks. If you’re starting a Cowork or Codex session instead, point that session at the same single folder up front. It will work through several steps in that folder on its own before checking back with you, so scope it correctly before you give the goal. Either way, point it at that single folder rather than the parent folder or your entire computer.
5. Add plugins or connectors only when you need them. In ChatGPT, open Plugins, choose a plugin, and follow any sign-in request. In Claude, use Customize → Connectors for online services; desktop extensions are available in the desktop app for local tools. Read what access each add-on requests. You do not need a Google Drive or OneDrive plugin merely because a synced folder appears on your computer.
6. Optionally, create a matching Project so you stop reintroducing yourself every time. In Claude, click New Project, name it, then use the Instructions field to describe who you are and what the project is for, and add your files under Project knowledge. In ChatGPT, click New Project, use Add instructions for the same kind of standing context, and Add files to attach your working files. Either way, every chat you start inside that project automatically picks up those files and instructions.
What happens on a second computer?
Sign in to the same file-sync service and let your project folder finish syncing. Install and sign in to the AI desktop app on that computer too. Then select the folder or file again and grant access there if asked. The AI app on one computer is not a permanent bridge to every other computer. Save the finished file into your synced folder if you want to see that new file on your other devices.
A useful first request
Put one real file in the folder before you ask for anything. An empty folder gives the AI nothing to confirm, and a folder with twenty files makes it hard to tell whether it found the right one. Save one file that matches your own recurring task — a meeting photo list PDF, a client invoice, a spreadsheet of leads, whatever you actually work with — into your project folder now. (If you are following along toward the Photo List to Roster guide, that file is a meeting photo list PDF.)
Then ask for a read-only confirmation:
Please list the files you can see in this folder, then open [your file’s name] and tell me what’s in it — for example, its file name and the first three rows, people, or items it contains. Do not change or save anything yet.
That one request proves three things at once: the AI can reach your folder, it can read inside the file, and it will wait for your approval before saving anything. If it names the wrong file, sees nothing, or reports the folder is empty, fix the access or the file location before going further.
That’s Part 1 of this ChatGPT and Claude computer guide. The Photo List to Roster guide picks up exactly here: using a skill to turn that starting file into a clean, organized result you can build on over time. It walks through this using a meeting photo list PDF turned into an Excel roster as its example, but the same steps apply to whatever recurring file-based task you set up here.
Frequently asked questions
What’s the difference between the Claude or ChatGPT browser version and the desktop app? The browser version only sees files you upload into that one conversation. The desktop app can be given permission to look at a specific folder on your computer directly, so it can find your current files without a fresh upload every time.
Do I need to know how to code to use Codex or Claude Code? No. Despite the name, Codex and Claude Code are meant to be used with a prepared skill or workflow — you provide the folder, the instructions, and the desired result, and the AI runs the included scripts itself.
What is a Project in Claude or ChatGPT? A dedicated workspace where your files and a standing instruction are attached once, so every new chat you start inside it automatically has both, instead of you re-explaining your setup each time.
How long does the initial setup take? About fifteen minutes — this computer guide’s setup is just creating one folder for your files, installing and signing in to a desktop AI app, and giving it permission to see that folder.
Sources and further reading
Feature names and availability can change. These official guides cover the current setup: