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Week 1 · Guide 7 of 7

Prompting

Get Unstuck with a Screenshot

Field Guide

  • 30 minGuided walkthrough

If you can't find a filter, sort or display setting, show your agent a readable screenshot and your goal. Check each suggested action against your screen.

You’ll leave with

A reversible change on your screen and a method for checking screenshot advice next time.

What You Need for This Guide

  • A screen holding you up and a display change you can undo.
  • Image upload in your approved AI tool.
  • Your usual notes app for saving the control that worked.

Choose the tool you’re allowed to use

Your approved tool

The tool your company approved.

Pick your approved tool above to see the steps and screenshots for it.

Start guide
6 steps · At your own pace
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Standard Data rules for AI at work

Data Rules

Data rules for AI at work

Check with your IT Team before you paste any work data into an AI tool. Avoid names, account numbers, customer data, or anything sensitive without explicit permission from IT. If you aren't sure, redact anything sensitive and replace it with generic information. AI makes mistakes, make sure to fact check your agents outputs even if they sound right.

Before you start

  • Check with your IT teamAsk what your company allows before you put anything from work into an AI tool. Your company policy is the one that counts, and it is the one this library cannot see.
  • Use the tool your company approvedChatGPT, Claude, Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat and Gemini Enterprise are all covered here. Use the one your company approved, not the one you like best.
  • Sign in with your work accountA work account keeps your chats inside the agreement your company signed. A personal account in the same product sits outside it.
  • No approved account yetFollow the steps with made-up example text, or on paper, until IT gives you one.

Never put this into an AI tool

  • Customer or personal detailsNo names, email addresses, phone numbers, home addresses or account numbers. That covers colleagues as well as customers.
  • Regulated recordsHealth, financial, HR and legal records stay in the systems built to hold them, unless IT has told you in writing that this tool may see them.
  • Passwords, keys and access codesNo credentials of any kind, yours or anyone else’s, and nothing that grants access to a system.
  • Anything under an NDA or not yet publicUnreleased plans, contracts, pricing and source code need clearance before they go near a chat window.
  • Anything your company policy prohibitsYour company’s rules win over anything in this library. If policy keeps something out of AI tools, it stays out, whatever a guide suggests.

Do this instead

  • Swap real details for placeholdersWrite “Customer A”, “[client name]”, “$X”. You get the same quality of answer, and you put the real details back yourself.
  • Describe the situation rather than pasting the documentMost of what an agent needs is the shape of the problem, not the file it arrived in.
  • Trim a file before you upload or paste itTake out the identifying columns and pages first, or work from a short extract.

Check the answer before you use it

  • Read it as if a colleague had drafted itAn agent states wrong things with complete confidence. Your name goes on the work, so the check is yours.
  • Say where the agent helpedFollow your company rule on disclosing AI assistance, especially in client-facing or formal work.

When you are not sure

  • Ask before you paste or upload, not afterA question to your IT team takes a minute. Cleaning up after a data incident takes a great deal longer.
  • When in doubt, leave it outIf you would not put it in an email to someone outside the company, keep it out of the chat.

On this guide

  • Frame the application area only. Inspect the saved image for notifications, browser tabs and other windows before attaching it.
  • Use a reversible display change for practice. Do not follow screenshot advice that sends, deletes, pays, grants access or changes a security setting.
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Step

Open your own screen

Choose one visible change on a screen blocking you: a filter, sort, view or setting you can undo. Avoid sending, deleting, paying or changing access.

If unsure, look at:

  • a report with too many rows
  • a settings screen with a hidden option
  • a photo, music or budgeting app needing a different sort
  • an account page with an unfamiliar label

If no screen is ready, open an app you use and find a list or view to change. If nothing fits, return when a screen blocks you.

Write the visible result you want, such as only this month's rows. Use this goal in step 3.

Step

Capture the part the agent needs

Capture readable headings, controls near your goal and enough content to explain the screen. Exclude anything you don't want to send.

  • Windows: press Windows + Shift + S and drag around the area. Select the capture notification to open Snipping Tool, then choose Save. Save a PNG in a folder you can find again.
  • Mac: press Shift + Command + 4 and drag around the area. Find the image on the Desktop unless you changed its save location.
  • iPhone: briefly press Side + Volume Up together. On a Home-button phone, use Home with Side or Top, depending on your phone. Save to Photos.
  • Android: briefly press Power + Volume Down together, or your phone's shortcut. Find it in Photos or Gallery.

Open the saved image and read its labels. If too small, recapture more closely.

Step

Attach the image and ask for one action

In a new chat in your assigned tool, attach the saved screenshot:

In ChatGPT, open the + menu beside the message box and choose the option to add photos or files.

In Claude, open the + menu in the message box, then Add files or photos.

In Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat, open the + menu beside the message box, then Upload images and files. Image access can depend on your organization's license.

In the Gemini app with your approved Google Workspace account, open Upload & tools beside the message box, then choose Upload files.

On a phone, select it from Photos, Gallery or Files. If upload is missing or blocked, ask your support contact: this method needs an image.

Copy the card into this chat. Replace [the visible result I want], including brackets, with your step 1 goal. Wait for the attachment to appear beside your message, then send and stay here.

Ask for help with your own screen
Download
Help me with this screenshot. My goal is [the visible result I want].

Give me one next action using a control you can actually read in the image. Explain what should change, then wait. If the image does not show enough, ask for the specific view or detail you need. Do not invent controls, claim to act for me, or tell me the task is complete without an observed result.

Step

Match the instruction to the screen

Find the reply's exact control on your screen. If it is inside a closed menu, open that menu, capture it and attach the image in this chat.

If the instruction doesn't match your screen, name the mismatch before you click.

For a missing control, copy the repair card into this chat. Replace its three bracketed parts with the agent's label, labels you can read and your step 1 goal. Recheck the corrected instruction against your screen.

Correct a control you cannot find
I cannot find the control you called [missing control]. The visible labels are [labels I can actually read]. My goal is still [the result I want].

Use the screenshot and these observations to correct your next action. If you need a different view, name the view you need. Do not guess a hidden control or claim the task is finished.

Step

Make the change and inspect the result

Note the current setting so you can restore it. Do only the action you checked. Compare the screen with the reply's prediction and your goal.

If it matches your goal, you have your result. For an expected menu or view, attach a fresh screenshot in this chat and ask for one next action. Repeat step 4 before acting. For an unexpected result, restore the original setting only if you can identify it, then describe what happened in chat. If you cannot confidently restore it, stop and use the app's help or your support contact.

Step

Save what worked for next time

In your notes app, record the screen, goal, working control and observed result. Include Ask for help with your own screen, the card's name, to find it again.

For another screen, use the card in step 3 in a new chat with a fresh screenshot and new goal. Adjust its wording for your task, then check each suggested control against the screen.

Get Unstuck with a Screenshot

Confirm your result

Confirm the outcomes below to finish this guide.

Final checks

Your own screen shows the change you asked for, and you can name the control that produced it.

You can point to the screen evidence that supports an instruction and explain how you would correct a missing control.

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Available Friday, October 9, 2026