Anthropic folds Cowork into Claude and launches Docs and Slides

Anthropic is combining Cowork, its tool for longer tasks, with the main Claude app and introducing two new editors called Claude Docs and Claude Slides.

Now, users do not have to pick between chatting with Claude or assigning it a task. Instead, Claude will decide how to handle each request, according to a company blog post on Wednesday.

Cowork started in January as a separate space for tasks that require more than one response, such as reading a folder of files or putting together a report. VentureBeat reported that Anthropic said users found it confusing to choose where to do their work.

Anthropic’s video introducing the merged Claude chat and Cowork experience. Video: Claude / YouTube

Now, features like breaking tasks into steps, using tools, and working in the background are part of the regular chat. Users can still set limits on how much Claude does before checking in.

Docs and Slides, which are both in beta for paid plans, let Claude create a document or presentation that users and their colleagues can edit directly.

Each project has a single shareable link for both desktop and mobile, and slides can be shown directly in Claude. According to Anthropic, files can be exported to Google formats, PowerPoint, or PDF.

Claude Design, which Anthropic launched in April using Canva’s design engine, will now be part of the main conversation rather than a separate tool. Claude Code, the tool for developers, will remain separate.

Pro and Max subscribers will get these changes first on web, desktop, and mobile in the next few weeks. Team and Free users will get them later. Anthropic said enterprise administrators will have at least 30 days’ notice before the update.

This consolidation has been in progress for some time. Last month, Anthropic combined memory between chat and Cowork, so anything a user shared with one could be used by the other.

OpenAI made a similar move in July by combining ChatGPT and its Codex coding agent into a single desktop app, introducing a new Work mode for knowledge workers. Both companies are targeting office staff who want complete documents and presentations, not just answers in a chat window.

The new editors also put Anthropic in direct competition with established office software. Docs and Slides are similar to Google Workspace and Microsoft 365, and Anthropic has added Claude to Word and made exporting to those formats a key feature.