> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://claude.com/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Video walkthroughs for Claude Desktop
> Watch short narrated walkthroughs of signing in to Claude Desktop with Claude for Government, bringing your work over, and finding your way around the app.
> **Who this is for:** Anyone using Claude Desktop connected to Claude for Government. If you set up or manage Claude for Government for your agency, see [Video walkthroughs for administrators](/docs/government/video-walkthroughs) instead.
Each video is one to three minutes long and narrated, with on-screen captions.
## End-user series
The videos run from the first sign-in to getting help.
### Signing in for the first time
Signing in to Claude Desktop with your work account and a pairing code, and where Chat, Cowork, Code, and the model picker are.
Claude Desktop is installed and connected for you by your agency. You sign in with your work account. No separate Claude account is needed.
Open Claude. The sign-in screen says the app runs through your organization. Choose Sign in with your organization.
Claude shows a pairing code, and opens your browser. The code works for a few minutes. If it expires, just start again.
In the browser, enter your work email and select Continue. Then sign in the way you always do at your agency.
Next comes the system use notification. Read it, and acknowledge it.
Compare the code with the one in Claude, then select Approve. The page confirms you're signed in. Go back to Claude.
You arrive on Home. Home and Code sit at the top of the sidebar, above your projects and recent chats.
If your organization offers both Chat and Cowork, you pick one in the message box. The model picker is at the bottom right. Your seat decides which models it lists, so a colleague may see others.
Code is for software work, in a folder you choose on your computer.
If you can sign in but the model picker is empty, you have no seat yet. Ask your organization's owner to assign you one.
### Bringing your chats and projects over from Claude for Government Web
Copying your conversations and projects from Claude for Government Web into Claude Desktop. Read more: [Run the import](/docs/government/desktop/import#run-the-import).
If you used Claude for Government - Web, you can copy your chats and projects into Claude Desktop. First, sign in to the web app in your browser with the same work email you use in Claude Desktop.
In Claude Desktop, open Settings from the account menu at the bottom of the sidebar, then Import and export, and select Import. The app does not prompt you to do this. Run it when you are ready.
Select Sign in to Claude for Government Web, then Sign in. Claude shows a one-time code and opens the web app in your browser.
In the browser tab that opens, sign in if you are asked, enter the code from Claude, and approve the connection. Then go back to Claude.
Check that the email shown is yours, then select Fetch export. The web app gathers your chats and projects, and Claude downloads them.
Select Continue, review what will be added, then select Import. When it finishes, the dialog reports what came over. Select Done.
Your conversations appear in the sidebar with their files, and your projects under Projects with their files and instructions. Projects other people shared with you do not come over.
Imported chats open in Chat. The first time you continue one, Claude asks whether to resume the imported session. Select Trust and resume to continue the conversation.
A project that had instructions shows a notice. Claude won't follow imported instructions until you accept them: select Review instructions, check them, and save, or choose Use as is.
The import only copies. Your chats and projects stay in the web app too. You can run it again, and chats already imported are skipped. If the Import page says import isn't enabled, ask your administrator.
### Chat, Cowork, and Code
What Chat, Cowork, and Code are each for, when Claude asks for your approval in each, and how projects work.
Claude Desktop gives you three ways to work: Chat, Cowork, and Code. On Home, you pick Chat or Cowork in the message box. Code sits beside Home.
Chat is for quick questions and drafting. For current information, Claude can search the web, if your organization has turned that on.
By default, Claude asks before every search. It shows you the search it wants to run. Allow once runs it, and Deny skips it.
Then Claude searches and answers.
Chat also reads files you attach. Add a document with the plus button and ask for a summary. Out of the box, Chat doesn't reach into folders on your computer.
For work that should end up in your files, switch to Cowork and choose a folder. Claude asks whether it may change files there. Select Allow.
Describe the outcome: here, a one-page summary saved in the same folder. Claude plans the steps and works through them on its own. If it needs another folder, it asks first.
When it finishes, the summary is a real file in your folder.
Code is Claude Code, built into the app, for software development. It works directly in the folder you open, and here it asks before running a command.
Projects keep ongoing work in one place. Under Projects, select New project, then Use an existing folder. Choose the folder, name the project, and create it.
A project holds your folder and instructions, and you start chats or Cowork tasks in it. Projects live on your computer, not in the cloud. They are personal to you and, unlike on Claude for Government - Web, cannot be shared with colleagues.
Chat for questions and documents. Cowork for tasks in your folders. Code for software development. Your organization decides which of the three you have, so a colleague may see a different set. If one is missing for you, ask your organization's owner.
### Connectors, plugins, and skills from your agency
Connecting Microsoft 365, installing plugins your organization offers, and adding a skill, all from **Customize** in the sidebar. Read more: [Plugins in Claude Desktop](/docs/government/desktop/plugins) and [Skills in Claude Desktop](/docs/government/desktop/skills).
Open Customize in the sidebar for your skills, connectors, and plugins. A connector lets Claude reach another service. The ones you can use come from your organization: here, Microsoft 365 and Web Search.
If your organization has set up Microsoft 365, select Connect and sign in with your Microsoft work account. Claude can then search your mail, calendar, files, and Teams chats, reaching only what you can already open.
In a chat, ask about your mail, and Claude asks before it searches. The card shows the search it wants to run. Allow it once, allow it for this task, or deny it.
A plugin packages skills and commands from your organization. Plugins lists the ones already installed. Some install automatically. Open one to see its skills and switch it on or off.
To find the rest, select Browse and open the Organization tab, which lists everything your organization offers you. Each plugin's plus sign installs it, and it then appears under Plugins.
A skill teaches Claude one task your way, set up once and reused. If your organization allows it, select Add under Skills. Upload skill takes a skill file you have, and Create a skill lets you write one.
The skill appears in your list, switched on. Skills you add stay on this computer. To give one to colleagues, your administrators package it in a plugin.
Back in Chat, ask for something the skill covers and Claude loads it on its own. Here it rewrites a sentence in plain language.
If Microsoft 365, web search, or a plugin you expect is missing, ask your organization's owner, who decides what is turned on for you.
### Your account, usage limits, and getting help
The **Account**, **Usage**, and **Sessions** pages, signing in again after an idle timeout, the diagnostic report, and who to ask for what. Read more: [Your account](/docs/government/account/overview).
Your account pages are in the web portal. In a browser, open your agency's Claude for Government address and sign in. Account shows your email, organization, role, and seat tier, all read-only.
Usage shows your allowance: a 5-hour window and a 7-day window, each with the share you have used and when it resets. If either reaches 100 percent, Claude pauses until that window resets. Claude Desktop itself does not show this allowance.
Sessions lists every place you are signed in, whether in a browser or in Claude Desktop, and when each sign-in began. To sign out a computer you no longer have, select Sign out on its row.
In the app, your session ends after a period of inactivity that your agency sets, 24 hours unless they change it. Claude then tells you that you have been signed out and asks you to sign in again.
Select Sign in again. Your browser opens to confirm it is you, and then you are back in the same conversation. Your chats stay on your computer.
If something isn't working, your help desk may ask for a diagnostic report. From Help, choose Troubleshooting, then Generate Diagnostic Report.
The dialog lists what goes in: app and system details, your configuration with secrets removed, network checks, and recent errors. It never includes your conversations. Select Export to file and attach the file to your ticket.
Who to ask: your organization's owner for a seat, a larger allowance, or a wrong organization or role. Your IT help desk for anything about the app on your computer. Your administrators can take it from there.