A large part of the workday is often spent on the work around the actual work: searching through emails, collecting updates, cleaning spreadsheets, preparing meetings, and following up on unfinished tasks.
That’s where ChatGPT Work, a recently launched ChatGPT tool, comes in. Think of it as having some of the support of a chief of staff: someone who can look across the apps and files you choose to connect, gather what matters, and help turn it into something you can use. Perhaps the first version of a presentation, a working spreadsheet, an interactive website or a briefing you can review and shape.
Additionally, ChatGPT Work and Codex have jumped to over 10 million active users – a sign that more people are beginning to treat AI not simply as somewhere to ask questions, but as something they can delegate meaningful work to, guide, and build into their day.
Here are five prompts to help you get started.
1. Organise your day before it begins:
Prompt: “Review my emails, calendar, unread workplace messages and open tasks from the past 24 hours. Tell me what needs my attention, which decisions or responses are pending, and what may be at risk of being missed. Then create a realistic plan for today around my existing meetings, citing the source of every important item. Do not send or change anything without my approval.”
This gives you one clear morning briefing instead of making you check every app separately.
2. Prepare your weekly update
Prompt: “Review this week’s project emails, messages, meeting notes, shared documents and task tracker. Turn them into a concise weekly update covering what was completed, what is still in progress, important decisions, current blockers and priorities for next week. Cite the source of each update and flag anything unclear or contradictory.”
This can reduce an hour of searching and compiling into a draft that only needs your review.
3. Fix and understand a messy spreadsheet
Prompt: “Review this spreadsheet for duplicates, missing information, inconsistent formatting, broken formulas and unusual data points. Create a cleaned version without changing the original, explain what you corrected, identify the most important trends and prepare a short summary with suitable charts. Flag anything that requires manual verification.”
This combines spreadsheet clean-up, analysis and reporting in one task.
4. Catch up after time away
Prompt: “Review my relevant emails, messages, meetings and shared files from [date] to [date]. Give me a concise catch-up on what happened, which decisions were made, what changed, what now requires my response and what I should prioritise first. Group related updates together, cite the sources and do not take any action without my approval.”
This helps you understand what matters without reading every message sent while you were away.
5. Prepare for an important meeting
Prompt: “Review the meeting agenda, previous notes, related emails, shared documents and available performance data. Prepare a briefing that explains the background, recent developments, unresolved questions, likely discussion points and the decisions I may need to make. Include five useful questions I should ask and cite the source of every key fact.”
This turns scattered information into a meeting-ready briefing in minutes.
For the smoothest experience, connect relevant apps and files you would like ChatGPT Work to access for seamless work across chosen tools, while you remain in control of what information is accessible and which actions require approval.
The best way to start is with one recurring task that regularly takes more time than it should. Give ChatGPT Work clear context, describe the output you need and specify which actions require your approval. It can handle the repetitive preparation while you focus on the decisions that need your expertise.
