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Claude Configuration Kit: a Claude tailored to your profession

Personal instructions, styles, projects, memory, and Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace connectors: six settings make the difference between a generic chatbot and an assistant that understands your work. This toolkit tells you what to write in each, for employees in large organizations.

📄 Word, 17 pages📊 Excel, 7 tools⚙️ Skill included🆓 Free

Download the kitThe six settings

Most users open Claude like a search engine that responds in sentences: a question, an answer, a copy-paste. The next day, they explain again who they are, what they do, and how they write, and conclude that the tool "writes like an AI."

Configuring Claude means giving it, once and for all, what it needs to know about your work. Each setting takes about ten minutes when you know what to write. This kit provides precisely what needs to be written, and a skill that writes it with you.

1. Configure Claude: the six settings that change everything

Setting	Without	With
Personal instructions	Generic answers, your all-purpose solution	Claude knows your profession, your tone, and the expected format.
Writing style	Texts to rewrite before sending	Drafts that sound like you
Projects	The context needs to be explained again each time	Each mission has its own instructions and reference documents.
Memo	Claude forgets everything, or remembers useless details.	He remembers what matters, and you keep control
Connectors	You copy and paste emails and calendar entries	Claude reads your email, your calendar and your files, with your permissions
Skills and Cowork	The same instructions for each repetitive task	Your expertise is applied on its own; lengthy tasks are delegated.

Start with personal instructions and a first project: these are the two settings that most quickly change the quality of responses, regardless of your plan.

2. Where are Claude's parameters located?

Since September 16, 2026, Anthropic has been gradually rolling out a new experience that brings together conversation and CoworkDepending on your account, the settings are stored in one place or another.

To settle…	New UI	Old interface
Personal instructions	Settings > Your Claude > Instructions	Settings > Profile
Memo	Settings > Your Claude > Memory from cats	Settings > Memory or Capabilities
Connectors	Customize > Connectors	Settings > Connectors
Skills & Tools	Customize > Skills	Settings > Capabilities
Styles	Menu « + » > Use style	Style menu below the input area

Before entrusting a document to Claude, also check your plan: on a personal account (free, Pro, Max), you choose whether your conversations are used to train models; on Team and Enterprise, they are not used by default and your organization administers the space.

3. Write effective personal instructions

Personal instructions are a text that Claude reads before each of your conversations. The best ones are between 1,200 and 2,000 characters long and cover six sections.

Status	What we put in it	Example
Who I am	Profession, organization, who you work for	Purchasing manager in an industrial group of 12,000 people
My context	Missions, recurring topics, in-house vocabulary	Framework agreements, critical suppliers, monthly purchasing committees
Comment j'écris	Tone, register, length, words to avoid	Use formal address, short sentences, never say "don't hesitate"
How do I want your answers?	Default format, level of detail	The answer in two lines, then the details; tables for comparison
What you never do	Limits, excluded subjects, human decisions	You don't invent figures or clauses
How do you check?	Uncertainties, sources, questions	It highlights what is uncertain and asks a question if information is missing.

The kit binder compiles this text from your answers and offers ready-to-paste instructions for eight professions: sales, marketing, communications, legal, finance, human resources, project manager, and general manager. Complete these with your own personal style, created from three to five texts you have written yourself: Claude imitates an example better than he follows instructions.

4. Claude's Projects: The Five to Create First

A project is a space with its own instructions, reference documents, and internal memory. Create one as soon as a task comes up each week: you won't have to explain the context again. The free plan is limited to five projects; on Team and Enterprise, a project can be shared with a team.

Project	It serves to	Files to upload
Emails and letters	Write, reply, rephrase, follow up	Three successful emails, your signature, the editorial guidelines
Meetings	Prepare, write the report, follow up on actions	Report template, list of instances
Monitoring and research	Monitor a sector, competitors, and regulations	Topics monitored, trusted sources, latest monitoring report
Documents and summaries	Summarize, compare, structure a note or a presentation	Note and presentation templates, validated examples
Managing my files	Organize the week, keep track of deadlines	List of ongoing projects, priorities for the year

5. Claude's memory: setting it right

Claude's memory allows him to retain useful information about you and your work from one conversation to the next. Since July 2026, he has been recording topics as they arise, and the same memory is used for both the conversation and... Cowork in the cloud. It is active by default on individual offers; on Team and Enterprise, the administrator authorizes it and then each person activates it for themselves.

• Tell him what to remember and what to forgetIn other words, in the conversation.
• Read it again once a month (Manage button) and delete what is false or outdated.
• Isolate sensitive projects by disabling "Use account memory" on the project page.
• Use an incognito chat for a sensitive, one-off subject: it does not enter into history or memory.

A simple rule: what is stable goes in the instructions, what evolves can live in memory, what only concerns one mission goes in the project.

6. Connectors: Claude in Outlook, Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace

The connectors give Claude access to your applications with your own permissions: he only sees what you already see. The Microsoft 365 connector reads your emails and Outlook calendar, your SharePoint and OneDrive files, and your Teams conversations; it requires a work account and one-time approval from an administrator, and operates in read-only mode by default. The Google Workspace connector covers Gmail, Google Calendar, and Google Drive. On Teams and Enterprise, the administrator first enables the connector, and then each user connects their account.

Routine	What you are asking Claude	When
The morning sorting	Sort emails received since yesterday: to process, to read, to ignore	Every morning
Preparing for a meeting	Participants, recent discussions, recent documents: three points to move forward	Before an important meeting
Draft answer	A draft in your style, without sending	On demand
The reminders	Emails have gone unanswered for five days, with a brief follow-up.	Monday
Plan the week	Available time slots, risks of overflow, what needs to be moved	Monday morning
Friday's recap	Decisions, progress, open topics	Friday

Always proofread a draft before sending, and never let Claude act alone on the basis of an email or document received: it may contain hidden instructions intended for an AI.

7. The 7-day course and the "configure-claude" skill

The kit includes a skill that can be installed with a single click (Customize > Skills > Upload a skill). Then type "configure me": Claude will ask you eight questions about your job, your tasks, your writing style, and your tools, then deliver your instructions, three projects, the order in which to activate the connectors, and five custom prompts. A text version, which can be pasted into any conversation, is provided for accounts where the skills are not activated.

Day	Action (10 minutes)	Evening's result
1	Launch the skill and answer the eight questions.	Your complete configuration
2	Paste the instructions, check the privacy settings	Claude writes in your tone
3	Create the first project	More context to explain
4	Connect email and calendar, start the morning sorting	Your important emails in ten lines
5	Create your style from your texts	An email that sounds like you
6	Launch an in-depth research on a topic related to your profession.	A sourced dossier
7	Review the memory, adjust, measure the time saved	The week's figures

8. What the kit contains

The Word document has 17 pages in 8 chapters: why configure Claude, your plan and data, personal instructions and styles, projects, memory, connectors, skills and Coworkand the 7-day course, with the configuration checklist and text version of the skill included as an appendix.

The Excel workbook "Tools from the Configure Claude kit" contains seven tools: the instruction generator, ready-to-paste instructions for 8 jobs, the 5 model projects with their start prompts, the connectors and routines, the data and memory checklist with its score, the 7-day journey tracker and the time saved measurement.

9. Frequently Asked Questions

How do I configure Claude for his work?

In six settings: personal instructions that describe your profession, your tone, and the expected format; a writing style created from your own texts; a project for each recurring task; optimized memory; connectors to your email, calendar, and files; and, for added functionality, skills. Allow one hour in total, or ten minutes a day for a week.

Where are Claude's personal instructions?

In the new interface, go to Settings, then Your Claude, and then Instructions. In the old interface, go to Settings, then Profile, and then the personal preferences field. These apply to all your conversations and are available on all plans.

What is the difference between instructions, projects, and memory?

Instructions are a text you write that applies to all conversations. A project adds instructions and documents specific to a task. Memory is what Claude himself retains throughout the exchanges; you can reread it, correct it, pause it, or delete it.

How do I connect Claude to Outlook and Microsoft 365?

Through the Microsoft 365 connector, in Customize then Connectors. A Microsoft work account and one-time consent from a global administrator are required; on Team and Enterprise, an organization owner first activates the connector, then each user connects their account. Claude can then read your emails, calendar, and files with your permissions, in read-only mode by default.

Are my conversations meant to train Claude?

On Team and Enterprise plans, this is not the default setting. On individual plans (Free, Pro, Max), it's your choice in the privacy settings since Anthropic's 2025 Terms of Service update: if you accept, conversations are kept for up to five years. Incognito conversations are never used for training.

What is the "configure-claude" skill?

This is a skill included in the kit, to be installed in Claude without unzipping the file. When you type "configure me", Claude asks you eight questions and then writes your personal instructions, three projects, the activation order of the connectors, five custom prompts and a seven-day plan.

Is the kit free?

Yes. The Word document, Excel workbook, and skill are free, provided you have a professional email address. The download link is personal and valid for 30 days; we will not send you any unsolicited emails.

10. Going further

Once Claude is configured, the Claude Skills kit provides ten ready-to-install skills, the Cowork kit explains how to delegate entire tasks and the Claude Agents Kit How to create your first agents. To set the framework at the organizational level, the Deploying Claude in the Workplace KitTo train your teams on their real-life cases, the Claude's training in companies.

Read also : Claude's pricing in 2026: Free, Pro, Max, Team, Enterprise, and API et Claude Cowork, Copilot Cowork, ChatGPT Work: the comparison for businesses.

The entire series of free kits. To drive adoption: AI charter template, AI Ambassadors Kit, Manager's toolkit for dealing with AI, AI-powered time-saving kit, Adoption Roadmap Kit, AI maturity grid, AI Measurement and ROI Kit, AI Governance Kit, Cowork kit, 50 Copilot M365 prompts, Copilot Studio kit, Deploy Microsoft 365 Copilot kit, Copilot Kit Cat, Copilot Excel kit, Copilot Teams and Outlook kit, Copilot Word and PowerPoint kit, Configure Claude kit, Deploying Claude in the Workplace Kit, Claude Agents Kit, Claude Skills kit, Claude Plugins Kit, Claude Code kit, Claude Design kit et Vibe coding kitFor the AI ​​project sponsor: AI Act kit, GDPR kit, Security and data kit, Shadow AI kit, AI and Social Dialogue Kit, frugal AI kit, AI Sovereignty Kit et responsible AI kitBy profession: AI HR kit, AI marketing kit, AI finance kit, AI kit for lawyers, AI kit for salespeople, AI toolkit for project managers, AI innovator kit, communicator's AI kit, AI Shopping Kit et AI Kit for Researchers.

11. sources

The information cited on this page and in the kit is based on the following sources, verified on October 31, 2026.

• Anthropic, Claude's help center, customization (instructions and styles).
• Anthropic, Claude's Help Center, Projects.
• Anthropic, Claude's Help Center, Memory and Research in Conversations.
• Anthropic, Claude's Help Center, Connectors.
• Anthropic, Claude Help Center, Microsoft 365 Connector.
• Anthropic, Claude's Help Center, Skills.
• Anthropic, Update to the general public terms and conditions (August 28, 2025).