1In one sentence
On your computer, you can let Claude see one folder and work inside it: read the files, make new ones, rename and sort them.
2New words
- Desktop app — the Claude app installed on your computer. Folder access only works there, not on the website, because the website cannot see your disk.
- Connect a folder — choosing one folder that Claude may use. Everything outside it stays invisible.
- Folder instructions — a note Claude reads whenever it works in that folder ("invoices go in Invoices/2026", "never rename client files").
3Why you would want it
"Sort these 200 photos by month." "Turn every PDF in here into one summary sheet." "Rename these files to date-client-subject." These are an afternoon by hand and a few minutes for Claude, and the result lands in your folder, not in a chat.
4Try it now
(desktop app, paid plans)
- Make a copy of a messy folder. Work on the copy the first time.
- In the desktop app, open a new chat and click the + button, then Add folder (or use the Add folder button in the app). Pick the copy.
- Type: Sort these files into folders by type (documents, images, spreadsheets, other) and give me a list of what moved where.
- In Manual mode, approve the moves as they come. Then open the folder and look.
5What you will see
[picture pending: the desktop app with a folder connected, the task list, and the folder before and after] Claude lists the files, proposes the folders, asks before moving, and reports what went where. Deleting is never silent: if a step would delete something, you get a clear Allow button.
6Watch out
- Folder access is desktop-only. On the website, the + menu offers files, skills, connectors and plugins, but no folders.
- Start with a copy, then a small real folder, then the big one.
7Go further
Add folder instructions once ("name new files YYYY-MM-DD-topic") and every future task in that folder follows them. Chapter 2.6 is about the files Claude makes inside those folders.