Agent Skills for Document Work

Choose a guide for the file you need to read, create, or edit. Compare PDF, Word, PowerPoint, and spreadsheet tasks, provide the source material and output requirements, and verify the resulting file in the format your recipient will use.

Document tasks differ in what must remain editable and how a result is checked. A PDF page, a Word document, a slide deck, and a workbook need different workflows. Start from the required deliverable, preserve the original input, and follow the selected Skill’s source and tool requirements.

Selected Skills and Original Sources

PDF

Read, organize, create, or process PDF files with task-specific extraction and document workflows.

Read Local Guide →Publisher: Anthropic

DOCX

Create and edit Word documents with structured content, careful preservation, and rendered-page checks.

Read Local Guide →Publisher: Anthropic

PPTX

Create or update editable presentations, with slide-structure planning and rendered-slide verification.

Read Local Guide →Publisher: Anthropic

XLSX

Create and edit spreadsheet files with traceable formulas, data cleanup, and recalculated-output checks.

Read Local Guide →Publisher: Anthropic

This is an independent directory. Check the publisher's source for installation, tools, and availability.

Choose by the Job

A Document Needs Reading or Editing

Use PDF for page-based operations or DOCX for editable Word structure. Identify whether the task changes content, layout, or only the file organization.

A Presentation Needs a Clear Story

Use PPTX guidance when the deliverable is an editable slide deck. Provide the audience, purpose, source material, and any template that must be followed.

A Workbook Needs Reliable Calculations

Use XLSX guidance for structured data and formulas. Separate inputs from calculations and verify recalculated outputs before sharing the workbook.

Explore Other Skill Categories

Choose the next task, not just the next publisher.

Frequently Asked Questions

How should I choose between PDF and DOCX guidance?
Choose PDF for an existing page-based document or a fixed-format deliverable, including extraction, page organization, and PDF forms. Choose DOCX when the result needs editable Word structure such as headings, tables, and tracked revisions.
What should I prepare for a PowerPoint task?
Provide the audience, presentation purpose, source material, and any required template. State whether the task creates a new deck or edits an existing one, and identify content and layout that must be preserved.
How should an agent preserve a spreadsheet’s calculations?
Identify source data, editable input cells, formulas, and the outputs that must remain consistent. Review how calculations reference those inputs, recalculate the workbook, and inspect errors before accepting the edited file.
Can scanned PDFs be handled like selectable text?
Scanned pages may require optical character recognition before text can be extracted. Inspect representative pages first, and compare recognized names, table labels, and numbers with the original instead of assuming extraction is exact.
Does installing a document Skill prepare all file tools?
A Skill provides instructions and references. The selected workflow still needs its document libraries, converters, or rendering tools in the host environment; check the individual guide before starting a file conversion or edit.
Are these Anthropic document Skills open source?
Anthropic describes its document Skills as source-available under their individual licenses. Read the original repository’s terms and official setup instructions; public access to a source file does not make every package open source.
What should I verify before sharing a generated file?
Open the output in an appropriate viewer, compare its content with the sources, and inspect page or slide rendering where layout matters. For spreadsheets, check formulas and recalculated values as well as formatting.

Keep Sources and Deliverables Together

Keep the original material, file requirements, revisions, and review notes available while preparing the final document.