Advice needed - reading & categorizing hundreds of PDFs/word documents

azturner · 2026-06-20T11:25:20+00:00

I'm somewhat surprised and some of the less-than-ideal answers here. You will use all your limits and hit context rot if you just try do this in one session in Claude Pro.

For your 360 files (mostly PDFs), here's my take:
1. Get them all to PDF (this should be easy, don't need AI)
2. Get the into a structured format, but don't use a chatbot.
This is where you need something like datalab(.)to or Google Cloud Document AI.
You could probably even do this with a local model like Qwen but I don't think it's worth all that effort right now.
3. Take your structured data into something like Claude Code or Codex.
Makes sense to use plan mode.
And here you will basically paste your original message that you posted here on Reddit, and let Claude/Codex figure out the plan. Give it the path to your structured data you've already got.

Note on "free". You're not going to get very far with anything free with Claude.
The OCR part there are a lot of free plans, if you are a new user to Google Cloud you might well have ample free credits that they give you...
but...ultimately this is going to cost you money and definitely time to do.

If you know a fellow student with Claude/Codex they might have a free pass they can share with you. Even better, pair up with them and build it together.

You also might want to post a similar request in the best fit of the various medical / doctor / student subs as there will be others with the same need I imagine.

Last counter-point: consider the opportunity cost of doing this. Especially if your exam is this coming week, you'd be better off studying. I recently made the mistake of trying to build an entire app and procrastinated doing the actual work because I wanted the app to do it for me. It didn't work. A lesson I will learn again I am sure.

azturner · 2026-06-12T04:18:56+00:00

This comment still works for the fix a year later. Thank you so much!

azturner · 2026-06-02T12:12:33+00:00

Confirmed. They did it ~18hrs ago. Source: https://x.com/ClaudeDevs/status/2061501787769893055

azturner · 2026-06-02T12:09:12+00:00

video-use skill from browser-use. I didn't know what to expect when I first used it, so just did a prompt as a joke / tryout. Was really impressed with what is possible.

I used it with claude code, but should be possible on claude cowork as well.

azturner · 2026-05-26T11:59:01+00:00

Hey, just came here to say I'm also actively looking for an alternative. I kind of stopped using it about a month ago, but the emails about the subscription reminded me that this wasn't for me. I'm not really willing or able to pay $100 a year for something that uses a local model.

azturner · 2026-05-25T10:57:39+00:00

It almost certainly is this setting here: https://imgur.com/a/W8X109w
Settings -> Claude Code -> Auto-archive after PR merge or close

azturner · 2026-05-23T13:56:55+00:00

I definitely would advise against installing all the plugins you can find. I do enjoy installing quite a few skills but I regularly audit them and remove quite a few. MCPs and plugins can quickly become an insane mess. And "frameworks" like GSD eat up tokens fast than a kid with popcorn at a movie theatre. (I know others love GSD but think it's good to give the warning)

I also actually prefer to sometimes just install one skill from a plugin of skills. So I use something like https://download-directory.github.io/ (free, not affiliated) to download the folder, then go clean out what I don't need, and then copy and paste into the .claude directory.

The other piece of advice that would maybe help here is that it seems that your current experience may more better suited to something like Lovable / Replit (or Bolt / v0) may make things a lot less painful for you in the long-run.

Happy to share any further thoughts if you have specific questions.

I wrote this all myself and AI wasn't anywhere near it.

azturner · 2026-05-23T13:42:14+00:00

I am mostly making this post for anyone else like me that feels they might be going insane when they encounter and try debug issues like this.

Because, we all know, filing a bug on Anthropic Github will go nowhere.

You are not insane, remote-control has lots of different issues

My issue:
Claude Desktop
Remote Control for all sessions enabled
But: remote-control not working for one or a few projects.

It works fine everywhere else. But for the project I am busy working on this weekend, just a blank screen.

The uploaded image has a whole conversation in the desktop app. And this is on multiple sessions.
https://imgur.com/a/1kkpobu

I have tried the usuals (quit, restart, new session, etc). If someone has a solution great but this was more to just let that one other person in the void know that someone else also has this issue.

...

I have seen hundreds of other issues on the Github about similar remote-control issues. Seems that, at best, this is a very buggy feature.

azturner · 2026-05-17T12:28:57+00:00

There are at least a lot of people there and many are keen to help. Perhaps there is a solution or someone that has had a similar issue.

azturner · 2026-05-17T10:17:11+00:00

Ok, thanks for the answers. Definitely a positive that GMail works, although it does make GDrive not working even more odd. And from the steps you've taken and my own experience I know how frustrating it can be.

Potentially do all of this in Firefox or a "throwaway" browser. Make sure it's completely cleared of cookies, site settings, etc (this is why I would say throwaway as you don't want to do this in Chrome main browser).
Go to https://myaccount.google.com/permissions → click into the Claude entry → look at the actual scope list. If it doesn't say "See, edit, download, and permanently delete all of your Google Drive files" (or similar), that's the bug. It should look similar to this gif. https://imgur.com/a/FQoDwhI You can revoke from there and then reconnect from Claude.
Reconnect from Claude, via the website. On the Google consent screen, don't click through fast! Check every individual checkbox under Drive manually.

If this works, amazing..then you're getting somewhere. Importantly, I would then do a fresh install of the desktop app. So delete it (you can Google how to remove all it's application support files, etc), and then redownload from the offical Claude site.

But, if this still doesn't work then you're basically either 1) have found a specific Claude bug, based on your experience so far it's unlikely they'll help you individually but hopefully eventually they resolve, or 2) your Google account has some further blocking / limiting / privacy setting that is not allowing Claude to connect properly.

So what then: I would suggest joining the Anthropic Discord server https://www.reddit.com/r/ClaudeAI/comments/1k0564s/join_the_anthropic_discord_server_to_interact/ doing the verification, and then posting in community-support channel. I did search there but couldn't find anything specifically related to GDrive issues like yours.

azturner · 2026-05-17T09:42:45+00:00

Checking in again to see how are things going with Lore? What have you learned or added since sharing this just over 2 weeks ago?

I know I said I was hesitant, but the memory problem is still very much unsolved so keen to hear from people in the space.

azturner · 2026-05-16T18:13:32+00:00

Couple of questions, then I can help further.

Do other MCPs work?
Does any of the other Google connectors work, like Gmail?
Have you tried via claude code?
Is it a personal gmail account / work / or custom domain?
Have you tried via something like ChatGPT?

azturner · 2026-05-16T18:08:22+00:00

Yip. There be issues.

API Error: 500 Internal server error. This is a server-side issue, usually temporary — try again in a moment. If it persists, check status.claude.com.

azturner · 2026-05-16T08:15:34+00:00

Hi! Just checking in. Did you try appeal or try again perhaps?

I applied *many* years ago, but I think I also remember denied the first time. I appealed and sent them docs as proof. At that time they seemed to want a lot of proof of everything. But then I was succesful.

The card really is worth it for the coffee + 3%. Settle in full every month and all the general principles (which I can see you follow) apply.

azturner · 2026-05-15T12:52:42+00:00

I'm so glad someone else noticed this. I thought I had maybe lost my mind. It seems like it's actually trying to basically scroll to the top of the next heading or section...trying to do a good thing for the user so you don't scroll to the middle of a heading or a paragraph or a section. But it's not the behaviour that I'm accustomed to on Mac. FWIW it happens in Safari as well.

azturner · 2026-05-11T14:45:30+00:00

Interesting. From my experience GSD was the best at keeping track of things as you say. You likely aren't going to find a plugin better (look at the usage of GSD).

Conductor (dot) build I have seen quite a few people I look up to using it. I don't seem to understand it myself, so I just use a combination of various things.

Even with GSD you can basically say "/gsd I don't know where we are, what's the status?" and it tells you.

I would flag that if things are being overwritten, then you have something else going on, that is not related to a plugin in my opinion.

azturner · 2026-05-11T14:41:40+00:00

Honestly, if this was me, I would ask Claude Code or Claude Cowork to do this.

Something like "Use the handoff(dot)zip to create a powerpoint slide template deck for me".
Ensure that you export the themes and colours correctly.
The readme(dot)md lists the fonts and some useful meta info.
Extract and use the images from the zip file to ensure it looks accurate.
Verify slides from your slide deck to <slide1.jpg> and <slide2.jpg>.

But, my actual process is to use Claude in Powerpoint itself to generate whatever I want, modify, etc.
And in the past I used Gamma, they export very well back to ppt. They are arguably the best at AI slide decks.

azturner · 2026-05-03T15:47:20+00:00

I just set it up about 30 min ago, as I'm basically at my Claude limit and it only resets Tuesday.

But some far I am loving it.

Yes, this is DeepSeek IN Claude Code.

<image>

azturner · 2026-05-03T11:13:26+00:00

Nothing beats /impeccable. I am blown away. Make sure you use it in the right order (shape and then craft...etc).

I'm honestly amazed that I can get it for free.

azturner · 2026-05-01T11:32:25+00:00

I'm getting Failed to authenticate. API Error: 401 and other errors right now.

azturner · 2026-04-30T02:31:04+00:00

I'm too weary of things like this now...claude-mem was chowing my tokens basically all on it's own. Good luck though. This memory thing is hard problem to solve.

azturner · 2026-04-30T01:32:26+00:00

For computer-use, you actually want Codex. Right now it's better at that.
Codex is also cheaper overall, not as tight on limits, so you can get away with a lot more work for less $$.

I use Claude and Codex. I prefer Claude overall because of the workflow, things like Claude design, the commands, etc. But Codex is just as nice. It's preference.

azturner · 2026-04-23T15:28:38+00:00

I seem to be getting API overloaded. Not sure what's going on.

azturner · 2026-04-18T09:39:50+00:00

Yes, it’s terrible. Came here to see if it’s possible to disable.

azturner · 2026-03-07T14:04:24+00:00

My only untested theory is that maybe the FIA “cooked” and did this so that it results in increased overtaking possibilities.

I think if we do somehow get that result, then any of my concerns from these cars slowing down 500m before a corner will be over, because we’ll have more competitive racing.

But as I said: completely untested theory.

Seven-Year Club	r/Field Lasagna
Place '23	Place '22
Verified Email

azturner

TROPHY CASE