These summarization prompts turn articles, meetings, email threads, research papers and long documents into summaries you can actually use, with exact control over length, format and audience. Each one tells the model who the summary is for, how long it should be and what to do when the source doesn't say something, which is what separates a useful summary from a vague paragraph.
How to use these prompts
Each prompt is ready to copy into ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini. Replace the blanks in double braces, or keep the default after the colon: {{length:5 bullets}} means five bullets unless you change it.
Four habits make summaries more accurate:
- Put the text first, instructions last. Anthropic's long context guidance says to "Place your long documents and inputs near the top of your prompt, above your query, instructions, and examples," and notes that "Queries at the end can improve response quality by up to 30 percent in tests, especially with complex, multidocument inputs." The prompts below are laid out that way.
- Give a countable length. Five bullets, three sentences, 150 words. "Brief" is not a length.
- Name the reader. A summary for your manager, for a customer and for yourself next month are three different summaries.
- Ask for quotes on long documents. Anthropic's guide to reducing hallucinations recommends that for documents over 20,000 tokens you "ask Claude to extract word-for-word quotes first before performing its task." Prompt 8 does this.
For files, most assistants accept uploads instead of pasted text. Claude's file upload guide lists "Up to 20 files per chat" and says that for PDFs of 101 to 1,000 pages, "Claude processes text only and doesn't analyze visual elements." If charts matter, paste or upload those pages separately.
Which prompts summarize articles and web pages?
1. Summary with an exact length
The everyday prompt. Change the length and reader and it covers most jobs.
{{text}}
Summarize the text above for {{reader:a busy colleague who hasn't read it}}.
Length: {{length:5 bullets, one sentence each}}
Start with the single most important point. Use only information from the text. If the text doesn't support a point, leave it out. Don't add an introduction or a closing line.
2. Summary with a critical eye
For opinion pieces, reports and anything that argues a case.
{{text}}
For the text above, give:
1. The main claim in one sentence.
2. The 3 strongest pieces of evidence it offers.
3. What it assumes without showing.
4. What a skeptical reader would ask the author.
5. Anything important it leaves out, if you can tell from the text itself.
Keep the whole answer under {{length:200 words}}. Separate what the author says from your own assessment.
3. Summary for a specific purpose
The same article summarized for a decision, a lesson or a newsletter looks very different.
{{text}}
I'm reading this because {{purpose:I need to decide whether our team should adopt this approach}}.
Summarize only what's relevant to that purpose, in {{length:150 words}}. End with one line: what this means for my purpose. If the text has nothing useful for it, say so plainly instead of stretching.
Which prompts summarize meetings and threads?
4. Meeting transcript to decisions and actions
The short version. For agendas, follow-up emails, 1:1s and retros, see the full set of meeting notes prompts.
{{transcript}}
Summarize this {{meeting_type:project meeting}} transcript in this format:
- Summary: 2 to 3 sentences.
- Decisions: each decision and who made it.
- Action items: task, owner, due date ("no date" if none was given).
- Open questions: anything raised but not settled.
Only include what was said. If an owner or date is unclear, mark it "unclear" instead of guessing.
5. Long email or chat thread
For the 60-message thread you were added to on day three.
{{thread}}
Summarize this {{thread_type:email thread}} for someone joining now.
1. What it's about, in one sentence.
2. Where things stand now.
3. Who wants what: each person's position in one line.
4. What's been agreed and what's still disputed.
5. What, if anything, is being asked of {{me:me}}.
Under {{length:200 words}}. Use names as they appear in the thread.
Which prompts summarize research papers?
6. Structured paper summary
A fixed structure makes papers easy to compare later.
{{paper}}
Summarize this paper for {{reader:a reader who knows the field but hasn't read this paper}}:
- Question: what the authors set out to find.
- Method: design, data or sample, and size.
- Findings: the main results, with the numbers as reported.
- Limitations: those the authors state, then any others that are clear from the methods.
- Why it matters: one or two sentences.
Quote numbers exactly as they appear in the paper. Write "not reported" for anything the paper doesn't state.
7. Compare several papers in a table
Upload or paste each paper with a label so the table can point back to it.
<paper id="A">{{paper_a}}</paper>
<paper id="B">{{paper_b}}</paper>
<paper id="C">{{paper_c}}</paper>
Compare these papers on {{topic}} in a table with columns: paper, question, method, sample, main finding, key limitation. Below the table, write 3 to 5 sentences on where they agree, where they disagree and why they might disagree. Only use what the papers say; mark gaps "not reported".
Which prompts handle long documents?
8. Quote-first summary
The most reliable prompt for long or high-stakes documents. Quotes make every point checkable.
{{document}}
Step 1: Find the passages in the document most relevant to {{focus:the main findings and recommendations}}. Copy them word for word into a numbered list.
Step 2: Using only those quotes, write a summary of {{length:200 words}}, citing quote numbers in brackets after each point, like [3].
If no relevant passage exists for something, say so instead of filling the gap.
9. Section by section, then overall
For documents too long to summarize well in one pass, or when you need to know where things are.
{{document}}
1. For each section or chapter, give the heading and a {{section_length:2-sentence}} summary.
2. Then write an overall summary of {{length:150 words}} that pulls the sections together.
3. List the 3 sections a reader in a hurry should read in full, and why.
10. Executive summary for a decision maker
Leads with the conclusion and the ask. Background goes last or nowhere.
{{document}}
Write an executive summary of the document above for {{reader:our VP of Operations}}, who has two minutes.
Format:
- Bottom line: one sentence.
- Decision or action needed, by when.
- 3 key points with the numbers that support them.
- Main risk if we do nothing.
Under {{length:150 words}}. Use headings and bullets. Use only facts in the document and write "not specified" for anything missing.
11. Plain-language summary of a contract or policy
For terms of service, leases, HR policies and vendor agreements. It's a reading aid, not legal advice.
{{document}}
Summarize this {{doc_type:contract}} in plain language for {{reader:a non-lawyer signing it}}.
Cover: what each party must do, money and dates, how it can be ended, what happens if something goes wrong, and anything unusual or one-sided. Quote the clause for each point you make. List anything ambiguous separately. End with a reminder that this isn't legal advice.
Which prompts control summary length and format?
12. One text, three lengths
Useful when you're writing for several places at once: a chat message, an email and a report.
{{text}}
Summarize the text above three times:
1. One sentence, under 25 words.
2. One paragraph, under {{paragraph_length:80 words}}.
3. A half-page version with {{sections:3}} short headed sections.
Each version must stand on its own. Keep the most important point in all three.
13. Summary in a specific format
When the summary feeds something else: slides, an FAQ page, a table in a doc.
{{text}}
Turn the text above into {{format:an FAQ with 6 questions and 2 to 3 sentence answers}} for {{reader:customers}}.
Use only information from the text. Write questions the reader would actually ask, in their words. If the text doesn't answer an obvious question, list that question at the end under "Not covered".
14. Check a summary against the source
Run this before you send a summary anyone will act on.
<source>
{{source}}
</source>
<summary>
{{summary}}
</summary>
Check the summary against the source, claim by claim. For each claim, quote the supporting passage or mark it "NOT SUPPORTED". Then list any important point in the source that the summary leaves out, and any number, name or date that differs between the two. Don't rewrite the summary.
What makes a summary good?
A good summary is faithful, sized for its reader and honest about gaps. OpenAI's ChatGPT prompting guide opens its practical use cases with summarizing a document, and its most detailed version asks for a "decision-ready summary of the document below" for a named audience and goal. The same shift, from a general summary to one built for a purpose, helps every prompt on this page.
Watch for these common failures:
- Added facts. A summary that mentions something you can't find in the source. Prompt 14 catches these.
- Lost qualifiers. "May reduce costs in some cases" becoming "reduces costs". Check claims that sound more certain than you remember.
- Wrong emphasis. A minor point from the end promoted to the top. Ask for points ordered by importance.
- Changed numbers. Rounded, merged or swapped figures. Verify every number against the source.
Which summarization prompts are worth saving?
Most people summarize the same few kinds of text every week: meetings, long threads, reports, papers. Save one prompt for each with your usual reader and length as defaults. If you summarize documents for study, the study prompts turn those summaries into quizzes and flashcards, and the research prompts cover literature work in more depth.
Kipt keeps prompts like these as Markdown files in a private GitHub repo you own. Blanks like {{reader}} stay fillable, tags keep your summary prompts together, and ⌘K finds the right one in a couple of keystrokes.