Claude's Four Built-In Skills That Make Real Excel, PowerPoint, Word and PDF Files
The four prompts I use to get real files out of Claude: a quote with working formulas, slides from that quote, a formatted Word proposal and the PDF jobs nobody wants to do.
Back to all free guidesMost people still copy Claude's answers into Excel and fix the layout by hand. You don't have to. Claude has four document skills built in, for Excel, PowerPoint, Word and PDF, and they hand you the real file. Below are the four prompts I use, in the order I'd try them.
What the four skills do
- Excel. Spreadsheets with working formulas, so a total updates when you change a number. The skill's own rule is "Use formulas, never hardcoded results."
- PowerPoint. Slide decks you open and edit like any other deck.
- Word. Properly formatted documents: headings, tables, page numbers, even tracked changes.
- PDF. Fills in forms, merges files, and pulls text and tables out of a PDF someone's sent you.
You don't pick the skill yourself. Claude reaches for the right one when the job needs it.
Before you start
In claude.ai, open Settings, then Capabilities, and switch on Code execution and file creation. That's the whole setup. Claude makes the file, and you download it or save it straight to Google Drive.
1. A client quote in Excel, with working formulas
Make a client quote as an Excel file for a kitchen fitting job. Line items with quantity, unit price and line total, then subtotal, VAT at 20% and total. Use formulas for every total so it updates when I change a number. Put the numbers I'd change in blue.Open it, click the total and look at the formula bar. Change one quantity and watch the total move. That's the bit that makes it a real file.
2. Turn the quote into slides
Stay in the same chat, so Claude still has the quote:
Turn this quote into a short PowerPoint for the client: the job, what's included, the price and the next step. One idea per slide, and give every slide a visual.3. A Word proposal that's already formatted
Write this up as a Word proposal: a heading for each section, a table of the line items, page numbers, and our contact details in the footer.4. The PDF jobs
Upload the PDF first, then pick the one you need:
Fill in this PDF form from the details in this chat and give me the filled PDF.
Merge these PDFs into one, in the order I uploaded them.
Pull the table on page 2 of this PDF into an Excel file.Tips that make it work
- Say the file type. "As an Excel file" or "as a PowerPoint" in the prompt is what points Claude at the right skill.
- Keep going in one chat. The quote, the slides and the proposal can all come from the same conversation.
- Open the file before it goes out. Click a few totals and read the slides once, the same as you would with anything you send a client.
The same skills in Claude Code
If you use Claude Code signed in with your Claude account, Anthropic's skills sync down to your machine. Mine are all there:
ls ~/.claude/skills/synced/*/You'll see docx, pdf, pptx and xlsx in the list, so the same four skills are there while you code.
Anthropic's own walkthrough is the article Create and edit files with Claude, in the Claude Help Center.