Every AI assistant starts from the same place: trained on the average of the internet, defaulting to hedged language, passive structure, and phrases you'd never use. Left unconfigured, it writes like a committee drafted it.
The fix is not a list of rules ("be direct," "no jargon"). Rules describe what to avoid. What the model actually needs are real examples from your own writing — the same way you'd brief a ghostwriter with pieces you're proud of, not a style sheet.
This guide walks through how to extract those examples, combine them into a voice reference, and give it to Claude so it applies every time you write.
Copilot has access to data Claude cannot reach: your sent emails, Teams messages you initiated, and documents where you are listed as author. Running an extraction here first gives the most representative sample of how you actually write — not what you remember writing.
Paste the prompt below into Copilot Notebook or M365 Copilot Chat. Copy to clipboard, or save the output as a text file — you will bring it to Claude in Step 2.
Open Claude Desktop (recommended) or Claude.ai in a browser. Claude will survey the writing samples you provide — plus the Copilot output from Step 1 if you have it — and produce an annotated voice reference file.
Grant Claude access to a folder containing your writing: emails you've exported, meeting notes, briefs, decks. Claude reads the files directly. No copy-paste needed.
Upload files or paste samples directly into the conversation. Drag in PDFs, text files, or paste excerpts. Filesystem access is not available in the browser — bring the content to Claude.
Once your samples and Copilot output are available, send Claude this prompt:
Review the output before treating it as final. The annotations — not just the examples — are what make it reusable. If a section feels off, paste a sentence you prefer and ask Claude to recalibrate.
Claude Code is an advanced version of Claude that runs as a desktop app or in a terminal. It reads a plain-text instructions file — called CLAUDE.md — at the start of every session. Add a pointer to your voice reference there, and Claude applies it automatically to every writing task without being reminded.
Add this line to your CLAUDE.md:
The full path is wherever you saved the file in Step 2 — use that exact location.
Your CLAUDE.md is at the same location for everyone:
If the file does not exist yet, create it. You can also ask Claude Code to handle this at the end of Step 2: "Save the voice reference and add an instruction to my CLAUDE.md so it applies automatically."
Voice references go stale if they reflect only one type of writing. If you write executive briefs, internal notes, and customer-facing copy, include one example of each. When your voice drifts — new account, new format, new audience — paste a sample you like and ask Claude to update the reference. The model adjusts based on which annotated example most closely matches the current task.