Claude Now Works Inside Google Docs, Sheets and Slides

Anthropic released Claude for Google Workspace on Tuesday, a beta add-on (a small app that plugs into Google's own apps) that opens Claude in a sidebar next to whatever Google Doc, Sheet or Slides deck you're working in.

You ask for something in the sidebar, Claude reads the open file, and it makes the change right there in the document. One install covers all three apps.

What it does in each app

Anthropic published example requests for each app in its help center, and they show the kind of jobs it's built for.

In Docs, Claude can fix a sentence or restyle a heading without disturbing the formatting around it. For bigger rewrites, it shows each proposed change as a card in the sidebar that highlights the passage, and you apply or dismiss it. Anthropic's examples include cutting a 14-page brief to 6 pages without losing any numbered requirements, and checking a contract for terms that are used but never defined.

In Sheets, it writes formulas, builds pivot tables and native charts, and adds new tabs. For messier jobs like cleaning up data, it runs a bit of Python code behind the scenes and writes the results back into the sheet. You don't write any code yourself. You can ask it to explain how the total in cell H42 is calculated, or to fix a formula that's returning errors.

In Slides, it builds new slides from your deck's own layouts and themes, so they match the rest of the deck. Then it checks its work and flags anything that overlaps, runs off the slide, or is hard to read. You can hand it a slide that's a wall of text and ask it to split it into two.

It can also answer questions without editing anything, like "Which slides mention pricing?"

How the approval works

By default, the add-on runs in a mode called "Ask before edits." Every change shows up as a card with a summary, and Claude waits for you to approve it.

If you trust it with a bigger job, you can switch to "Accept all edits," and Claude works through the task without stopping. A few actions still always ask first, whatever mode you're in: adding a link, inserting an image from a web address, and removing someone's access to the file.

Some things it can't do at all, even if you ask. It can't share the file, give anyone new access, or change who owns it.

Google records Claude's edits under your name, so they show up in File > Version history like any edit you make yourself, with no separate Claude label. If you don't like what it did, you can undo it or roll the file back. People you share the file with see the changes credited to you, and they don't see your chat with Claude.

How to get it

You install it from the Google Workspace Marketplace, Google's add-on store, then open a file and choose Extensions > Claude > Open Claude. Google asks for two permissions, you sign in with your Claude account, and Anthropic says the whole thing takes about two minutes.

It needs a paid Claude plan: Pro at $20 a month, Max, Team or Enterprise. It works in Chrome, Edge and Safari, but not Firefox.

On a work Google account, your company's Google admin decides whether you can install add-ons from the Marketplace. If they've blocked it, you'll see "This application is not allowed by your administrator," and only the admin can fix that.

What it can't see

The add-on works on the one file you have open. Anthropic's help center says that, apart from any connectors you turn on, it "cannot see other files in your Drive, your email, or your calendar," and it can't create or copy other files.

A few more beta limits:

• In Docs, it can't read or reply to comments, or accept suggestions someone else left.
• In Slides, charts it makes go in as images, so they won't update when your numbers change.
• A single task can run for up to six minutes before Google stops it. If that happens, ask Claude to continue, or break the job into smaller steps.
• You have to keep the sidebar open while it works.

Anthropic says it doesn't use your content from the add-on to train its models, and deletes it from its systems within 30 days.

The other half: Google files inside Claude

Anthropic also released Google Docs, Sheets and Slides connectors for the Claude app itself. You don't need them for the sidebar. They're for when you start in Claude instead: paste a Google file link into Claude on the web in Chrome (or the desktop app with its built-in browser on), and the file opens in a pane beside your chat so you can both work on it.

One gotcha from the connectors help page: you have to say "Google." Asking Claude for a "doc" or "deck" without naming Google makes a file inside Claude instead of a Google file.

Anthropic already had the same kind of add-on for Microsoft's Excel, Word and PowerPoint, and Microsoft runs Anthropic's models inside its own Copilot Cowork, and Claude already works in Slack and, through Cowork, on the web and your phone.

Google's own assistant, Gemini, has sat in that same sidebar since 2024, and it can pull from your whole Drive and your Gmail. Claude sees only the file in front of it, plus any connectors you've switched on.

The open file is often all you need. If you draft in Claude and paste the result into a Doc, Claude can now write it straight into the Doc, with every change saved in the version history.

Sources

• Anthropic: Claude now works in Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides
• Claude Help Center: Use Claude in Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides
• Claude Help Center: Use Google Workspace connectors
• @claudeai on X: the launch
• Google Workspace Marketplace: Claude
• 9to5Google: Claude now works in Google Docs, Sheets and Slides
• Digital Trends: Claude just stepped into Google Workspace
• Google: Gemini features in Google Workspace