Beginner - chat vs cowork; projects, memory, and files

Question

Hi!

New to Claude from ChatGPT.

There are things I do not understand.

So, on MacOS in Claude app I see the three different "tabs" or environments: chat, cowork, code.

All chats in Chats share the memories, right?

If I switch to Cowork, and designate a folder - that is like the home folder for Claude Cowork, right? Any different project files for apps, business, finance, marketing, whatever I want, can be sub-folders in here. Right?

If I switch to Cowork - can it recall any chat from the Chat tab/feature? How am i supposed to use the Cowork feature correctly and fully? How can I switch Projects context to work on specific projects?

Can anyone recommend a practical user guide, or youtube or whatever video/lessons to start grasping fully how this works?

Posted Mar 8, 2026, 5:53 PM UTC

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