ChatGPT Prompts for Work: Forty Prompts That Save Time
Forty ready-to-copy ChatGPT prompts grouped by job, from email and meetings to spreadsheets, support, sales and HR, each with the one thing to check before you use what comes back.
13 min read
The best ChatGPT prompts for work are not clever. They say what you want, give ChatGPT the material to work from, say what the result should look like, and set the one or two limits that matter, such as “do not change the numbers” or “draft only, do not send”. Below are forty of them, five for each of eight jobs: writing and email, meetings, research, planning and tasks, data and spreadsheets, customer support, sales, and HR. Copy one, replace the square brackets with your own details, and read the note under it before you use the answer, because each note names the mistake that prompt is most likely to produce.
Two neighbors cover what this list does not. The techniques behind a good prompt, with a reusable template, are in prompt engineering, and prompts for running a project have their own library, linked in the planning section below.
How these ChatGPT prompts are built
Each prompt follows the four parts in OpenAI’s own prompting guide (opens in a new tab): a goal, the context that could change the result, the output you need, and boundaries, meaning what must stay unchanged and what ChatGPT should check with you before it acts. The guide also says a short prompt is often enough and that follow-up messages are the normal way to improve a result, so treat these as a first message, not a finished script.
- Paste the material. A prompt that says “from the notes below” and then includes the notes beats one that relies on what ChatGPT might know.
- Ask for the gaps. Most prompts tell ChatGPT to write “not stated” instead of guessing a name, date or number.
- Keep it a draft. Nothing here sends, publishes or changes a record. You do that, after checking.
- Stay inside your company’s rules. Use the work account your company approved, and keep out what it has not cleared; ChatGPT for business lists what never goes in.
Writing and email prompts
Writing and email: prompts 1-5
1. Reply to a hard email Draft a reply to the email below. Goal: [say no / ask for more time / chase an unpaid invoice]. Friendly and direct, under 120 words, ending with one clear next step. Promise nothing that is not in my notes. Email: [paste] My notes: [paste] 2. Bullets into an email Turn these bullet points into an email to [audience]. Put the request in the first two sentences. Plain American English, under 150 words. [paste bullets] 3. Rewrite for a different reader Rewrite the text below for [a customer / our CEO / a new hire]. Keep every fact and number exactly as written; change only tone, length and order. Then list anything you left out. [paste text] 4. Cut it in half Cut this to half its length without losing any decision, date or number. Show the shorter version, then a list of what you removed. [paste text] 5. Proofread only Proofread the text below in American English. Fix spelling, grammar and punctuation only. Do not rephrase. Return the corrected text, then a list of every change you made. [paste text]
- Hard email: check every date, amount and promise against your notes before you send.
- Bullets into an email: check that the request in the first two sentences is the one you meant.
- Rewrite: compare the numbers line by line with the original; rewrites drift.
- Cut it in half: read the list of removals, not just the result.
- Proofread: skim the change list for rewording you did not ask for.
Meeting prompts
Meetings: prompts 6-10
6. Agenda Write a 30-minute agenda for [meeting] with [who]. We need to decide [decision]. Put that item first, give each item a time and an owner, and list what people should read beforehand. Background: [paste] 7. Notes into decisions and actions Sort these meeting notes into three lists: decisions, action items (one owner and one due date each) and open questions. If an owner or date is not in the notes, write "not stated". Notes: [paste] 8. Follow-up email Draft the follow-up email for this meeting: decisions first, then actions with owners and dates, then open questions. Under 200 words. Draft only; do not send. Notes: [paste] 9. Prep brief I am meeting [name, title, company] on [date] about [topic]. From the material below, write a one-page brief: their likely priorities, three questions I should ask, and the one outcome I want. Mark anything you inferred rather than read. Material: [paste] 10. Summary for people who missed it Summarize this transcript in eight bullets or fewer for someone who missed the meeting. Quote the exact words used for every decision. Transcript: [paste]
- Agenda: check that the owners named have agreed to own those items.
- Decisions and actions: resolve every “not stated” before the list goes out.
- Follow-up email: ask yourself whether everyone in the room would agree that is what was decided.
- Prep brief: treat the inferred items as guesses to confirm, not facts to repeat to the person.
- Summary: search the transcript for each quoted decision; a quote that is not there was invented.
Research prompts
Research: prompts 11-15
11. Explain a topic Explain [topic] for someone in [role] who has never dealt with it. Use one example from a small US business, define each term you introduce, and end with three questions I should ask an expert. 12. Research with sources Search the web for what [agency or company] currently says about [topic]. Answer in five bullets, each with a link to the page it came from and the page's last-updated date if shown. Say so if sources disagree. 13. Compare vendors Compare [vendor A], [vendor B] and [vendor C] for a [20]-person company on [criteria]. Table first, then a recommendation and its tradeoff. Use each vendor's own current pages and mark anything you could not confirm. 14. Summarize a long document Summarize the attached [contract / report] in ten bullets. Then list every date, dollar amount and obligation with the page number where it appears. 15. Argue the other side Here is my recommendation: [paste]. Argue against it as a skeptical CFO would. Give the three strongest objections and the evidence that would answer each.
- Explain a topic: use it to get oriented, then confirm anything you will act on with a primary source.
- Research with sources: open every link. NIST’s Generative AI Profile (opens in a new tab) calls confidently stated false content confabulation, and it can include sources that do not say what the summary claims.
- Compare vendors: confirm plan names, limits and prices on each vendor’s site yourself before you quote them.
- Long document: spot-check three page numbers; for a contract, the summary is a list of questions for your lawyer, not advice.
- Argue the other side: it is a stress test, not a verdict. Decide which objections are real.
Planning and task prompts
Planning and tasks: prompts 16-20
16. Break down a goal Break this goal into tasks of half a day or less: [goal]. For each, give a title that starts with a verb, what "done" means, and what it depends on. Do not add dates. 17. Sort my list Here is my to-do list: [paste]. Sort it into do today, this week, hand to someone else, and drop, with one line of reasoning each. My fixed commitments today: [paste]. 18. Plan my week Plan my week from the task list and calendar below. Keep two hours a day unscheduled, put focused work in the mornings, and list anything that will not fit. Tasks: [paste] Calendar: [paste] 19. Write a checklist Write a numbered checklist for [closing the store at night / running payroll / onboarding a vendor] as a new employee would need it. Mark every step where a mistake costs money or affects safety. 20. Pre-mortem It is three months from now and [project] has failed. List the eight most likely reasons, each with one early warning sign and one step that would prevent it.
- Break down a goal: read each “done” line; if you could not check it, rewrite it.
- Sort my list: it does not know what happens if something slips. You make the final call.
- Plan my week: check that nothing it moved had a fixed time.
- Checklist: walk through it with the person who does the job today before anyone new relies on it.
- Pre-mortem: keep the two or three risks you had not thought of; drop the generic ones.
For planning a whole project, triaging a backlog or writing status reports, use the dedicated library in prompts for project management with AI.
Data and spreadsheet prompts
Data and spreadsheets: prompts 21-25
21. Write a formula Write a [Google Sheets / Excel] formula that [what it should do]. Column A has [what], column B has [what]. Explain it in one sentence and give me two test rows where I already know the answer. 22. Explain a formula Explain what this formula does, step by step, and name any input that would make it return a wrong or blank result: [paste formula] 23. Clean an address list Clean this customer list: change state names to two-letter postal abbreviations, restore leading zeros on five-digit ZIP codes that lost them, and flag rows you could not fix. Do not delete any row. [paste or attach] 24. Compare two quarters Here is our sales export for Q2 and Q3. Which five products changed most, in dollars and in percent? Show the calculation table before any commentary. [attach] 25. Sales tax check From the attached order export, total the sales tax charged by ship-to state, and flag any order with zero tax that shipped to a state where we collect. States where we collect: [list]. [attach]
- Formula: run the two test rows yourself before you fill the column down.
- Explain a formula: try the input it warns about and see whether it really breaks.
- Address list: compare the row count before and after; a cleaned list that is shorter lost customers.
- Two quarters: recompute one number by hand. If it does not match, trust none of them.
- Sales tax: the rates and the states where you must collect come from your tax software or the state revenue department, never from ChatGPT.
Customer support prompts
Customer support: prompts 26-30
26. Reply to a ticket Draft a reply to this customer. Apologize once, explain what happened in plain words, and offer only what our policy below allows. Policy: [paste] Ticket: [paste] 27. Saved replies Write three saved replies for [common question]: short, medium and detailed, in a warm, plain tone for US customers. Use [NAME] and [ORDER NUMBER] as placeholders. 28. Sort a ticket queue Sort these tickets into bug, feature request, billing, how-to and other. Count each group and quote one example ticket for each. [paste tickets with names and emails removed] 29. FAQ from tickets From these tickets, write the ten questions customers ask most, each with a two-sentence answer based only on the help article below. Mark any question the article does not answer. [paste both] 30. Cool down a reply This customer is angry. Rewrite my draft to be calmer and shorter, without admitting fault and without offering anything that is not already in my draft. Draft: [paste]
- Ticket reply: check that every refund, credit or date matches the policy you pasted.
- Saved replies: read them aloud once; a reply that sounds odd spoken sounds odd to customers.
- Ticket queue: remove names, emails and order details before you paste, and spot-check a few categories.
- FAQ: the unanswered questions are the real output. They show what the help center is missing.
- Cool down: compare it with your draft line by line for new promises or admissions.
Sales prompts
Sales: prompts 31-35
31. Account research Using [company]'s own website and its recent press releases, summarize what it does, its likely priorities this year, and three reasons it might need [what we sell]. Link each point to its source. 32. First email Write a 90-word first email to a [role] at a [type of company] about [problem we solve]. One specific observation about them, one question, no hype, no fake familiarity. Subject line under six words. 33. Follow-up Write a follow-up to the unanswered email below that adds one new, useful thing ([a short case study / a relevant number]) and makes it easy to say no. Under 80 words. [paste] 34. Objections List the ten objections a [role] is most likely to raise about [product], each with a short, honest answer that uses only the facts below. Say so where the honest answer is "we don't do that". [paste] 35. Call recap Turn these call notes into a recap email: what they need, in their words; what we agreed; the next step with a date; and open questions. [paste notes]
- Account research: open the links, and keep anything it guessed out of your email.
- First email: commercial email in the US must follow the CAN-SPAM Act (opens in a new tab), which requires, among other things, a subject line that does not mislead, a working opt-out and your valid physical postal address.
- Follow-up: check that the case study or number is real and that you may share it.
- Objections: remove any answer that claims a feature, integration or certification you do not have.
- Call recap: send it only if the customer would recognize their own words in it.
HR prompts
HR: prompts 36-40
36. Job posting Write a job posting for a [title] in [city, state]. Include what the job involves, required and preferred qualifications, the pay range [range] and benefits [list]. Plain, inclusive language; no wording that suggests a preferred age, gender or background. 37. Interview questions Write eight structured interview questions for [role], each tied to one of these requirements: [list]. For each, say what a strong answer includes. Job-related questions only. 38. First-week plan Draft a first-week plan for a new [role]: day by day, who they meet, what they read, and one small task they can finish by Friday. 39. Policy into an FAQ Rewrite our PTO policy below as a plain-English FAQ for employees. Keep every rule and number exactly. Where the policy is unclear, list the question instead of answering it. [paste policy] 40. W-2 note Draft a short note to employees saying when their Form W-2 will be available in [payroll system], how to download it, and who to contact about a mistake. No tax advice.
- Job posting: the EEOC says it is illegal to publish a job advertisement (opens in a new tab) that shows a preference based on age (40 or older), sex, race or other protected traits, with “recent college graduates” as an example. Also check whether your state or city requires a pay range.
- Interview questions: delete anything about age, family plans, health, religion or national origin, and ask every candidate the same questions.
- First-week plan: confirm the people it names are available that week.
- Policy FAQ: have whoever owns the policy check every answer; the unclear-policy list is a gift to them.
- W-2 note: take the dates from your payroll provider, and point questions about the form itself to the IRS page on Form W-2 (opens in a new tab).
Keep the prompts that work
A prompt you use every week should not live in your chat history. Preferences that apply to everything you ask, such as American spelling or plain language, belong in ChatGPT custom instructions. Prompts for one body of work belong in that project’s instructions. For a team, keep the tested ones in one shared place with the note on what to check, so the next person inherits the check as well as the words.
On a fenbs board, two features make several of these prompts shorter. Copy as Markdown copies the board, so you can paste real tasks into a status or planning prompt instead of retyping them. Add many pastes a list in as tasks, one per line, with the kind (feature, enhancement or bug) and the lane chosen once for the batch, so the action items from prompt 7 become tasks in one step. Standing rules for every assistant, such as “never guess a date”, can go in AI context, which connected assistants read before they start. fenbs does not store or version prompts for you, and it has no due dates or settable assignee, so dates and owners from prompt 7 go in each task’s note.
Related
Prompts for building software: vibe coding prompts. When a prompt needs your documents behind it: what is RAG. Checking what comes back: verifying AI-generated work. Connecting ChatGPT to a board: ChatGPT and fenbs.