ClaudeEditingLevel 2: Context

How Do You Get Claude to Cut a Draft to Length?

Give Claude the target length, the things that must survive, and the whole draft in one message. Then ask for a list of what it removed, so you can put back anything it shouldn't have cut. "Make it shorter" gives Claude no way to tell your main point from your padding.

Prompt to copy 
Here is my draft:

<draft>
[paste the full draft]
</draft>

Cut it to [target, for example 500 words].

These must survive unchanged in meaning:
- [the main point]
- [the ask or decision needed]
- [specific numbers, names, dates]

Remove repetition, background the reader already knows, and sentences that only introduce the next sentence. Don't add anything new.

Give me the cut version, then its word count, then a list of what you removed, in order of how much I might miss it.
  • Target lengtha number, not "shorter"
  • Must-keepswhat has to survive
  • The whole draftin one message
  • List of what wentso you can restore it
A rule of thumb, not an Anthropic chart: a target with no must-keeps leaves Claude guessing what matters.

Try it now

  1. 1Open a new chat, click +, choose Add files or photos and attach your draft, or paste the text.
  2. 2Paste the prompt with your real target and must-keeps, then send it.
  3. 3Read the removal list first. Ask Claude to restore anything you want back, naming what it can take out instead.
  4. 4You'll know it worked when every must-keep is there, the length fits, and nothing on the removal list surprises you.

Use it when

A proposal over a page limit, a talk that runs long, an abstract with a hard word cap, or a client email you know is twice the length it should be. It's most useful when the limit is fixed by someone else and you've already decided what the piece says.

Skip it when

Skip it when the draft's argument is still wrong, because you'd be polishing text you may throw away. Get a critique first. Also skip it for legal or contract language where a removed qualifier changes the meaning. In that case, cut it yourself or review every deletion as a tracked change.

Why it works

Anthropic's prompting guide says to treat Claude like a new employee who doesn't know your norms, and to be specific about the output and its constraints. A cut only protects what you've named. Anthropic's help page for the Google Docs sidebar lists the same job: shorten a long document while keeping required items.

Sending the full text matters too. Anthropic's usage advice is to send whole texts for editing in a single message rather than splitting them up, which also lets Claude see repeats across sections. Word counts are the weak spot. Rule of thumb, not a vendor figure: treat a number written in a prompt as approximate, and check the result yourself or ask Claude to count with code when Create and edit files is on.

Example

Say a grant funder allows 500 words and your project summary runs to 1,400. Your must-keeps are the amount you're requesting, the start date, the two measures of success, and your partner organization's name. You attach the .docx and ask for 480 words, leaving a small margin. The removal list shows what went, so you can judge whether the paragraph about your team's history was the right thing to lose. If it wasn't, you ask Claude to put back one sentence from it and take 20 words from the budget section.

Going further

Cut where you can review each deletion. In Claude for Word, tracked changes mode lands every edit as a revision you accept or reject in Word's own review pane, which suits a heavy cut far better than comparing two versions by eye. In Claude Docs, highlight just the bloated section and click Edit with Claude.

There's one trap in Google Docs. Anthropic's help page says Claude's edits there are direct edits, not suggestions. Stay on Ask before edits, or ask it to propose changes as cards you accept one at a time. File > Version history is your way back.

Common mistakes

  • Pasting one section at a time. Claude can't see that section 4 repeats section 1, and you spend more usage on the back and forth.
  • Asking for "about 500 words" against a hard limit of 500. Aim below the cap and check the count, since a figure in a prompt isn't a guarantee.
  • Leaving Accept all edits on in the Google Docs sidebar during a big cut, then finding the deletions already made under your name.
  • Skipping the removal list. Without it, you only find out what disappeared by rereading the original.

Sources

Checked 6 November 2026. Products change often, so confirm details with the vendor.

Related

Technique How Do You Get Honest Feedback on a Draft From Claude? Workflow How Do You Edit With Claude One Pass at a Time? Technique How Do You Stop Claude Rewriting Your Voice When It Edits? Workflow How Do You Design a SaaS Database With Claude?

Beyond the course

Glossary Prompt engineering Pricing guide Claude pricing, plans and models