How to Use Claude for Text Analysis

1. Go to https://claude.ai in your browser (works on any device).
2. If you don’t have an account, click “Sign up” and register with your email or Google. It’s free.
3. Once inside, you’ll see the chat field in the center of the screen.

The free plan includes access to Claude Sonnet 4.6 with a daily usage limit. For most occasional analysis tasks it’s more than enough. If you work with many documents or very long texts, the Pro plan ($20/mo) gives you much more room. Confirm the exact limit at https://claude.com/pricing, it may change.

Claude accepts two ways to receive the text you want to analyze:

Option A: upload a file

1. Click the paperclip icon (attachments) in the chat field.
2. Choose the file from your computer: PDF, Word (.docx), TXT, CSV and other common formats.
3. The file loads and Claude reads it in full, all at once.

Option B: paste the text directly

1. Copy the text you want to analyze.
2. Paste it into the chat field.
3. Write your instruction or question right after it.

Claude can process up to 200,000 tokens at once (about 150,000 words). That’s enough for a long contract, a full report, or an entire academic paper, with no need to split it into parts.

The quality of the analysis depends a lot on how you ask for the result. Here are the most useful types of analysis and how to ask for them:

Summarize a document:

Summarize this document in 5 key points. Use simple language.

Extract specific data:

From the contract I just uploaded, extract:
- Names of the parties
- Start and end date
- Agreed price and payment terms
- Termination clauses

Identify risks or issues:

Analyze this contract and flag any clause that is ambiguous,
unfavorable, or that I should review with a lawyer before signing.

Compare two documents:

Compare these two contracts. What are the differences?
Which one is more favorable to the buyer?

Answer questions about the text:

According to this report, what were the three main causes
of the sales drop in the third quarter?

To write more effective prompts for any situation, read How to write effective prompts for artificial intelligence.

One of Claude’s advantages is that it remembers the document throughout the conversation. You don’t need to upload it again: just ask more questions or request adjustments.

1. If the summary is too long, ask: “Make it shorter, maximum 3 paragraphs.”
2. If you want to go deeper on a point: “Explain the penalty clause in more detail.”
3. If you need the result in a different format: “Give me this as a table” or “Draft an email to my team with these points.”
4. If you want to verify a fact: “Is there any mention of delivery deadlines in this contract?”

Important: Claude is very useful for analysis, summaries and data extraction, but it doesn’t replace a professional (lawyer, accountant, doctor) for important decisions. Use it as a starting point, not the final word.

Claude doesn’t automatically export results outside the chat, but you have several ways to keep them:

1. Copy and paste the response text into a Word document, Google Docs or Notion.
2. Ask for Markdown format: type “Give me the response in Markdown format” and paste it into any tool that supports it.
3. Ask for a final summary: when you’re done, type “Give me an executive summary of everything we analyzed today, in bullet points.”
4. Access the history: the conversation history is saved in your claude.ai account, organized by date, so you can return to it whenever you need.

If you want to take the analysis further, like automating document review or building your own tool, see how to get started in Vibe coding.

Copy and adapt these prompts for the type of document you need to analyze:

For contracts:

Analyze this contract and give me: (1) a summary in 5 points,
(2) the main obligations of each party, (3) any risk clause
I should review before signing.
Base your answer only on the document I uploaded.

For reports:

Read this report and answer: what are the main conclusions?
What actions does it recommend? What data supports
those recommendations?

For articles or papers:

Summarize this article in 200 words. Then tell me: what is
the main hypothesis, what methodology did they use, and what
limitations do the authors themselves acknowledge?

For email threads:

Analyze this email thread. What are the points of disagreement?
What decisions are still pending? Give me a summary
of the current state of the situation.

Problem	Fix
Claude can’t open my PDF	Try copying and pasting the text instead of the file
The response was cut off halfway	Type “Continue” so Claude picks up where it left off
The analysis is too shallow	Ask for more detail: “Go deeper on point 3 with concrete examples from the document”
Claude makes up information not in the text	Write: “Base your answer only on the document I uploaded, don’t add external information”
I hit the free plan limit	Wait for the daily limit to reset or consider the Pro plan ($20/mo, confirm at https://claude.com/pricing)