Summarise a long report with free ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini (no code)

Works on the free plan of ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini. Write one instruction card, paste in the report's text, and get the point, the key findings and what it means for you. Every finding says where it came from, so you can check it in a minute.

You need: a free account on ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini, a notes app, and a report you can copy text from. Cost: nothing.

Before you paste anything

Check your workplace's AI rules first. A public industry report is usually fine to paste. An internal or client report may not be. If yours is allowed, take out what the AI doesn't need, such as names, account numbers and anything marked confidential. Also check your assistant's Settings: unless you switch it off, your chats may be used to train its AI.

Step 1: Write your report card (5 minutes)

Copy this into your notes app and fill in every bracket. ABOUT ME is what turns a generic summary into one that's useful to you.

REPORT SUMMARY CARD

You summarise long reports for me. I'll paste a report's text,
sometimes in parts. You tell me what it says and what it means
for me. I check anything I'll act on.

ABOUT ME
- My role: [e.g. operations manager at a hotel group]
- What I read: [e.g. supplier reports, industry studies]
- What I care about: [e.g. costs, risks, changes that affect
  my team]

WHEN I PASTE A REPORT
1. If I haven't said why I'm reading it, ask me in one short
   line first.
2. Then reply with:
   A. The point: two lines at most.
   B. Key findings: up to five bullets, each ending with the
      heading of the section it came from.
   C. What it means for me: up to three bullets, based on
      ABOUT ME.
   D. Figures to check: every number you used, copied exactly
      as written.
   E. Open questions: up to three things the report leaves
      unclear.
3. Keep it short enough to read on a phone.

RULES
- Use only what I paste. Never add facts, figures or sources
  from anywhere else.
- If the report is unclear or contradicts itself, say so.
- Keep the author's caution: if they say "may" or "early
  results", so do you.

Step 2: Paste the report (3 minutes)

Open the report, select its text and copy it. Tables and charts don't always copy cleanly, so treat any figure from one as a figure to check. Then open a new chat, paste your whole card, one line on why you're reading, and the text:

Why I'm reading: our board meets next week and I need to
know what this means for staffing.

Here's the report:
[paste the text]

Report too long for one message? If the assistant says so, or its answer seems to stop partway through the report, paste it in parts. Start with your card and this line:

I'll paste the report in parts. After each part, reply only
"Got part [number]". When I write DONE, use my card on the
whole report.

Then paste a few sections at a time, and write DONE at the end. If the chat still struggles, summarise each part in its own new chat with the card, then paste those short summaries into one last chat and ask for the overall summary.

Step 3: Test it (5 minutes)

A summary is only useful if it's right. Three quick tests show whether you can rely on it:

The source test: pick two key findings and find them in the report, using the section heading each one names. If you can't find one, it was misread or made up.
The figures test: check every number under "Figures to check" against the original. One wrong figure can change the whole point.
The not-in-it test: ask something the report doesn't cover, for example What does it say about our competitors' prices? It should say the report doesn't say, not invent an answer.

If a test fails, don't start over. Add one rule to your card, such as "If you can't name the section a finding came from, leave the finding out," and try again. Test, fix, retest: that's how a chat becomes a tool you trust.

Step 4: Keep it (2 minutes)

Your card is now a reusable tool. Next time, open a new chat, paste the card, then the report. In the same chat you can ask follow-ups, such as What does it say about training costs?, and it answers from what you pasted.

If your assistant can save instructions (a Project in ChatGPT or Claude, or a Gem in Gemini), you can paste the card in once instead. Menus change, but the card in your notes always works. Hit a limit? Paste your card into another assistant and carry on.

Good habits

Say why you're reading. "For a budget decision" gets a different, better summary than no reason at all.
Read the parts you'll act on. Use the summary to find them, then read those sections yourself.
Quote the report, not the summary, when you pass a figure on to anyone else.

What this doesn't do

On a free plan, the assistant only sees what you paste into that chat. It can't search your folders, and in a new chat you paste the report again. Asking questions across all your PDFs, SOPs and policies, with answers that show their sources, is a bigger build: it's one of the 12 tools in Capstone AI Lab, the Doc Q&A assistant.

Summarise a long report you can trust