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Empower · Claude Training

Letting Claude Work in the Background

5 min readAll Empower staffReviewed 2026-04-24

Letting Claude Work in the Background

Most people use Claude like a conversation: ask something, get an answer, ask again. Background tasks flip that model — you hand Claude a bigger job, walk away, and come back to find the work done.

A note on naming. Anthropic has iterated on this feature and the UI label has shifted over time ("Dispatch," background tasks, task mode). What we describe below is the concept, not a specific button label. Expect it to appear in your Claude interface under a menu for longer-running or asynchronous work. If you don't see it, check Settings → Features or ask your Claude admin.

The Concept

Instead of sitting and waiting for Claude to finish typing, you describe what you need, start the task, and Claude works on it in the background while you move on with your day.

Think of dropping a project off at a contractor's shop. You explain what you need, leave it with them, and pick it up when it's ready — you don't stand there watching.

When to Use It

Good fits:

  • Research — "Review these 8 documents and pull out every mention of pricing."
  • Long drafting — "Write a first draft of our handbook section on time-off policy."
  • Multi-document analysis — "Compare these three vendor proposals on warranty terms."
  • Summarization at scale — "Summarize each of these 15 meeting transcripts in two sentences."

Not the right tool for:

  • Quick questions where you want an answer in 10 seconds
  • Back-and-forth refinement as you go
  • Tasks where Claude might need to ask you something mid-way

Rule of thumb: if you'd feel awkward watching Claude type for five minutes, background mode is right.

How to Start a Background Task

The exact UI varies and Anthropic updates it periodically. Generally:

  1. Open Claude. Look for a background / task / dispatch option near the chat input or in a menu.
  2. Describe the task in plain language. Be specific about the output: "Review these and produce a bullet-point summary of action items from each one" beats "Review these."
  3. Attach files or context Claude will need.
  4. Start the task.
  5. Navigate away. Do other things.
  6. Return when notified.

If you can't find it, ask Claude directly: "How do I start a background task on my current plan?"

Example 1: Competitor Research

A business development lead at Empower needs to compare five competitors before a Thursday strategy meeting. On Tuesday morning she starts a background task:

"Research these five companies: <names>. For each one, find: what they offer, public pricing, customer sentiment, and one thing they do better than Empower. Format as a table."

She attaches Empower's one-pager so Claude has context for the last column, starts the task, and goes to her 9am call. By the time her morning is over, Claude has produced a structured comparison table she drops straight into the strategy deck.

Example 2: Bulk Document Review

An operations lead receives 12 vendor agreements to review before kickoff. Reading all 12 would eat most of a day.

She uploads all 12 PDFs and asks:

"Read each agreement. For each one, write a one-paragraph summary covering: contract term length, payment schedule, and any liability or indemnification clauses that look unusual. Format as one summary per agreement."

Two hours later (she's been handling other work), she has a document with 12 clean paragraphs she can scan in 15 minutes. She flags three agreements for a closer legal read based on Claude's notes — agreements she might have glossed past if reading solo.

What Improves Output

  • State the format you want. Table, bullet list, memo, numbered sections. Tell Claude the shape.
  • Give the right context. If Claude needs to know Empower's standards or situation, include or attach it.
  • Be specific about "done." "Analyze these" leaves too much open. "Three bullets per document, each under 20 words" is actionable.

If the first pass misses, follow up in the same conversation to refine. Background mode is a starting point, not a one-shot guarantee.

Try This Now (when available)

Pick a task you'd otherwise skip because "I'd have to read all of these." Five PDFs, ten meeting transcripts, an inbox backlog. Hand it to Claude as a background task while you do your next meeting. Compare what came back to what you'd have produced manually.

What Comes Next

Mobile workflows — voice, photos, share sheets — the patterns that make Claude useful when you're away from a desk. Continue to Lesson 13.