Claude for Google Workspace Adds Claude to Docs, Sheets and Slides

Anthropic launched Claude for Google Workspace in public beta on Tuesday, 6 October 2026, an add-on that puts a Claude sidebar inside Google Docs, Sheets and Slides for every paid Claude plan. In its announcement, Anthropic said Claude can read the open file, see which text, cells or slides a user has selected, and make changes directly in the document. The company also released new Google Docs, Sheets and Slides connectors, also in beta, that let Claude create and edit Google files from a regular Claude chat.

9to5Google reported that the beta became available that day through the Google Workspace Marketplace, giving Claude users an option inside apps where Google already offers its own Gemini assistant.

What the sidebar does in each app

Anthropic's Help Center guide says the add-on is available in beta for Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise plans, and that one install from the Marketplace adds Claude to all three apps. After installing, users open a file and choose Extensions, then Claude, then Open Claude.

In Docs, Anthropic says Claude can fix a sentence or restyle a heading without disturbing the surrounding formatting, and can propose larger rewrites as suggestion cards that highlight the passage they would change. In Sheets, the announcement says Claude can write formulas, build pivot tables and native charts, add tabs, and pull a range into Python for joins or data cleaning before writing the results back. In Slides, Claude can build new slides from a deck's existing layouts and themes, then flag elements that overlap, run off the slide or are hard to read.

Users pick how much autonomy Claude has. In the default "Ask before edits" mode, each change appears as an approval card, and Claude waits for a click before editing. In "Accept all edits" mode, it works through a task without stopping. The Help Center says that even in that mode, Claude still pauses for anything that touches links, external images, web addresses or someone's access to the file, and that it cannot share a file, grant access or change ownership at all.

How the connectors work in the other direction

The connectors reverse the workflow. Instead of opening Claude inside a document, a user can start in Claude, paste a Google file link or ask for a new doc, sheet or deck, and Claude will create or edit it from the conversation. Anthropic says that on supported setups, the file opens in a pane beside the chat, and that Claude's access matches the user's existing Google sharing permissions. On Team and Enterprise plans, an owner or primary owner has to enable the connectors first.

When signed in, the sidebar carries the same models, connectors and skills a user already has in Claude. Anthropic's example is a quarterly business review deck, with Claude pulling account history from Salesforce and recent call notes through a Google Drive connector, then saving the format as a skill so a team can repeat it.

Security limits and enterprise controls

The Help Center spells out what the add-on can and cannot reach. Claude requests two Google permissions: one to display the sidebar and one to view and manage the files the add-on is installed in. Anthropic says it does not request access to Drive, Gmail, Calendar or contacts, and that Google restricts the extension to the single file it is opened in unless a user has connected the Google Drive connector, which is off by default.

Edits are recorded under the user's name and appear in the file's version history. Anthropic says content handled through the add-on is not used to train its models, and that inputs and outputs are deleted from its systems within 30 days, with exceptions described in its retention policy. Chat history is stored locally in the browser for each file and does not sync across devices.

For Enterprise customers, Anthropic's announcement says the Compliance API, customer-managed encryption keys and OpenTelemetry audit export also apply to the add-on. The Help Center lists gaps in the beta: third-party inference through Amazon Bedrock, Google Cloud Vertex AI, Azure AI Foundry or an LLM gateway is not supported, Zero Data Retention is not available, and HIPAA-ready organizations are told not to use the extension with protected health information.

Workspace administrators control access. Super administrators can install Claude for an entire domain, specific groups or organizational units, or allowlist it so employees can install it themselves. The Help Center notes that many organizations block Marketplace installs by default, in which case users see a message from Google saying the application is not allowed.

Beta limitations to know before rolling out

Anthropic lists several limits for the beta. Claude works only on the file it is opened in and cannot open, create or copy other Drive files from the sidebar. The sidebar has to stay open while Claude works, and Google stops any single operation after six minutes, so large jobs need to run in stages. Firefox is not supported; Anthropic recommends Chrome, Edge or Safari.

App by app, Claude cannot read or resolve comments in Docs, cannot accept or reject existing suggestions, and cannot create or reorder document tabs. It cannot read Connected Sheets tabs backed by live BigQuery data. In Slides, charts it creates are inserted as images rather than linked Sheets charts, so they do not update when the numbers change.

The release follows other Claude integrations PromptCrates has covered, including Claude sending Gmail and Cowork opening on paid plans and Claudeforce, the Salesforce CRM built inside Claude. Google has been adding AI inside Workspace too, as with Google Pics bringing Nano Banana to Workspace.

• Anthropic: Claude now works with Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides
• Claude Help Center: Use Claude in Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides
• 9to5Google: Claude launches Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides integration
• PromptCrates: Anthropic lets Claude send Gmail and opens Cowork on paid plans
• PromptCrates: Salesforce and Anthropic launch Claudeforce CRM inside Claude
• PromptCrates: Google Pics brings Nano Banana to Workspace