That distinction changes the research question you can reasonably answer. A public announcement might describe an event; it cannot establish what your team privately agreed about it.
Enable Research with the right source scope
Anthropic's dedicated instructions, checked October 24, 2026, list Research for paid Pro, Max, Team, and Enterprise users. Open the + menu and choose Research. The documented flow requires web search, permits enabled connectors on web or desktop, and excludes local MCP servers configured in Claude Desktop. Review enabled tools: that flow can call connector tools without separate approval for each call. Official Research instructions
Anthropic is also gradually introducing a unified experience. Its newer instructions offer /deep-research or + → Research, and remove the separate web-search toggle. They describe connected apps and mobile-started tasks but do not explicitly reconcile the dedicated Research page's mobile exception. Identify your interface and verify source coverage; do not assume every account has the same controls or connector behavior. Unified Claude rollout and controls
If the question only needs one public fact, the Claude web-search guide covers a smaller task. Research is useful when the answer requires several related investigations.
Separate a public finding from an internal commitment
Consider this original fictional planning case. A coordinator is preparing a briefing for a community recording project. The example illustrates how to inspect a report; no Claude session or actual archive investigation was performed.
| Source | Supplied information | What it does not establish |
|---|---|---|
| P1: public archive page | The archive accepts oral-history recordings | Whether this particular project meets its requirements |
| D1: internal draft | A volunteer proposed submitting interviews | An approved submission decision |
| M1: meeting record | The team will review consent wording first | That consent review has happened |
A report saying “The team will deposit all interviews in the archive” combines three different claims. P1 describes an external service. D1 records a proposal. M1 records a prerequisite. None confirms the deposit decision.
If Research ran on mobile, D1 and M1 might never have been available through connectors. Asking for a more confident conclusion cannot repair that source gap.
Request a coverage note before the recommendation
Use the real source locations your organization permits. Name the question and which source types are essential:
Use Research to prepare a briefing about whether our recording project
is ready for an archive-submission discussion.
Public source: [OFFICIAL ARCHIVE REQUIREMENTS URL].
Internal sources: [CURRENT PROJECT BRIEF LOCATION] and
[LATEST APPROVED MEETING RECORD LOCATION].
Review date and project scope: [ENTER].
Report which sources you actually accessed and which were unavailable.
Separate public archive requirements, our proposed plans, and recorded
team decisions. Cite the source behind each consequential statement.
Keep consent review, archive eligibility, and the submission decision
as separate questions. Do not infer completion from a planned action.
Return a short briefing with supported findings, unresolved conditions,
and questions for the project lead. If an essential internal source
is unavailable, explain which conclusions cannot yet be reached.
Do not send a message, submit files, or change project records.
A source inventory is a review aid. Check that the cited document is the actual current record, then open the passage behind the claim. A link to a project folder does not show which document supplied the decision.
Repair missing coverage before reusing the report
For the fictional case, a checked briefing would say that the archive accepts the stated category of material, the team has proposed submission, and consent wording still needs review. Whether the project satisfies every archive condition remains a separate investigation.
If your real report lacks essential internal material, continue from web or desktop with the permitted connectors, or supply an authorized excerpt directly. Retain the earlier report's source limitation so it does not circulate as a complete account.
When Research appears inactive, Anthropic suggests explicitly asking it to use the research tool. It also notes that Research can consume usage limits faster than a normal conversation. Check the source problem before repeating a broad investigation. Research troubleshooting
Take the corrected briefing to the person responsible for the project. Keep the unresolved consent and submission decisions visible until the actual decision record resolves them.