Anthropic Document Skills: Working with Office Files in Claude Code

Official skills: anthropics/skills

Claude Code includes a powerful set of document processing skills that enable creating and manipulating common office file formats directly from natural language instructions. These skills transform Claude from a code assistant into a comprehensive document automation tool.

What Are Document Skills?

Document skills are specialized capabilities that extend Claude Code's functionality beyond code editing. They provide structured workflows for generating professional documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and PDFs—all through conversational commands.

Each skill is invoked using a slash command (like

or ) and guides Claude through the document creation process with appropriate prompts and best practices.

Available Document Skills

1. docx - Word Document Creation

Skill: docx

The

skill enables creation and editing of Microsoft Word documents. It handles document structure, formatting, tables, images, and styling.

Usage:

Copy/docx Create a project proposal document with executive summary, timeline, and budget sections

Capabilities:

• Create new Word documents from scratch
• Add formatted text with headings, paragraphs, and lists
• Insert tables with custom styling
• Include images and graphics
• Apply consistent formatting and styles
• Edit existing .docx files

This skill is ideal for generating reports, proposals, letters, and any structured text document that needs professional formatting.

2. pdf - PDF Generation

Skill: pdf

The

skill handles PDF creation and manipulation. PDFs are essential for documents that need to maintain exact formatting across different systems.

Usage:

Copy/pdf Generate a invoice PDF with company header, line items, and payment terms

Capabilities:

• Generate PDF documents with precise layouts
• Create multi-page documents
• Add headers, footers, and page numbers
• Include tables and formatted text
• Embed images and graphics
• Control page size and margins

Use this skill when you need documents that will be printed, shared externally, or archived in a format that preserves exact appearance.

3. pptx - PowerPoint Presentations

Skill: pptx

The

skill creates Microsoft PowerPoint presentations with slides, layouts, and visual elements.

Usage:

Copy/pptx Create a 10-slide presentation about our Q3 product roadmap

Capabilities:

• Create presentations with multiple slides
• Apply different slide layouts (title, content, two-column, etc.)
• Add text boxes, bullet points, and numbered lists
• Insert images and shapes
• Include speaker notes
• Apply consistent theming

This skill excels at quickly generating presentation decks for meetings, pitches, training materials, and educational content.

4. xlsx - Excel Spreadsheets

Skill: xlsx

The

skill creates and manipulates Microsoft Excel spreadsheets, including formulas, formatting, and data organization.

Usage:

Copy/xlsx Create a budget tracking spreadsheet with monthly columns and expense categories

Capabilities:

• Create spreadsheets with multiple worksheets
• Add and format data in cells
• Include formulas and calculations
• Apply cell formatting (colors, borders, fonts)
• Create data tables with headers
• Set column widths and row heights

Use this skill for financial documents, data analysis templates, inventory tracking, and any tabular data that benefits from spreadsheet functionality.

5. doc-coauthoring - Collaborative Document Editing

Skill: doc-coauthoring

The

skill provides an interactive workflow for editing documents collaboratively with Claude. Rather than generating a complete document at once, it enables iterative refinement.

Usage:

Copy/doc-coauthoring Help me revise my research paper draft

Capabilities:

• Review and suggest edits to existing documents
• Make targeted improvements to specific sections
• Preserve document structure while enhancing content
• Provide explanations for suggested changes
• Iterate through multiple revision rounds

This skill is particularly valuable when you have an existing document that needs refinement rather than starting from scratch.

Getting Started

To use these skills, ensure you have Claude Code installed and the skills enabled. Each skill can be invoked directly:

bashCopy# In Claude Code, simply use the slash command
/pdf Create a certificate of completion for "Introduction to AI" course

/docx Write a meeting minutes document from these notes: [paste notes]

/xlsx Build a project timeline with tasks, owners, and due dates

Practical Applications

These document skills open up numerous automation possibilities:

• Report Generation: Automatically create weekly or monthly reports from data
• Template Population: Fill document templates with dynamic content
• Batch Processing: Generate multiple documents with variations
• Format Conversion: Create documents in specific formats as needed
• Documentation: Produce user manuals, guides, and technical documentation

Summary

Anthropic's document processing skills transform Claude Code into a versatile document automation platform. By combining natural language instructions with specialized document generation capabilities, these skills eliminate the manual work of creating and formatting office documents.

Whether you need a quick PDF invoice, a polished PowerPoint deck, or a complex Excel spreadsheet, these skills provide the foundation for efficient document workflows.

For the latest updates and detailed documentation, visit the official skills repository.