Cloud AI can summarize the text of PDF files for free. Here’s how to use it

You can save time by summarizing long PDF files for free with Anthropic’s AI cloud chatbot. So, the next time someone sends you a 100-page document that you don’t have hours to read, you can just follow this guide and get a quick summary.

Claude allows you to upload PDF files as well as some other files like DOCX, CSV and TXT directly into it. Then, by typing a command like “Summarize PDF”, you can get a clear and concise summary of PDF files on a wide range of topics.

For example, when Cloud comes up with two different publicly available PDF files of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald was fed.“ It returned two different summaries of the novel. Each answer included the main points of the plot. The cloud may return different summaries for the same PDF, even if given the same command, but each summary is still accurate.

The cloud worked well for other content as well. It provided a clear listing of revenue, net income and other financial information from Microsoft’s latest earnings report, all of which were correct. This meant I didn’t have to dig through the income results to find the high-level numbers I was looking for.

Pro tip: There are other commands you can type instead of “summarize.” Try phrases like “Tell me the important information” and “Rephrase that for me” to get the highlights of the document. The summaries that are returned may be different, but still contain accurate information.

The free cloud version has limitations. It can’t process PDFs larger than 10MB and has a limit that seems to be five summaries roughly every four hours.

• Open your favorite web browser and go to claude.ai.
• Enter your email, then check your email and enter the verification code sent to you from the site.
• Enter your name, consent to be over 18 and accept the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
• Enter your phone number and re-enter the verification code.
• Three pages will follow with a revelation about Cloud. Read them and click.
• Press the paper clip on the right side of the ribbon to upload a document.
• Click on the PDF or other type of file you want to upload.
• Type a command such as “Summarize”.
• Press “Enter” on your keyboard or press the airplane logo in the search bar

This is it!