Claude now works inside Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides

On October 6, Anthropic launched Claude for Google Workspace: a first-party add-on that puts Claude in a sidebar inside Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides, plus new beta connectors that let Claude create and edit Google files directly from a chat. It is in public beta on all paid Claude plans, and VentureBeat reports Anthropic has not announced a separate price — it is included with paid plans.

This is the same playbook Anthropic already ran on Microsoft's side: Claude for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint is generally available on paid plans. The work now flows both directions in Google's apps — open a file and Claude sits beside it reading the document, or start in Claude, paste a Google file link, and edit the file alongside the conversation.

In Docs, Claude revises a sentence or restyles a heading without disturbing nearby formatting; bigger rewrites arrive as suggestion cards you apply or dismiss. It can also tighten an executive summary and turn next steps into a table in the same pass.

Sheets is the deepest integration. Claude writes formulas, builds pivot tables and native charts, and adds new tabs. For messy work it moves a range into Python — joining datasets or cleaning data — then writes the results back into the sheet. In Slides, it builds new slides from the deck's existing layouts and theme, then inspects its own work for overlaps, off-slide elements, and hard-to-read text.

The default mode is "Ask before edits": every change lands on an approval card with a summary before Claude acts. Flip to "Accept all edits" and it works through a task without stopping. Either way, some actions always need your sign-off — inserting an image from a web address, adding a link, removing someone's access — and some are never allowed: Claude cannot share the file, change who owns it, or set up scheduled automations.

Edits happen in place and are recorded under your name, so they show up in version history like anything you typed yourself; Undo or a version restore reverses them. The sidebar sees only the file you have open, plus any connectors you turn on — not the rest of your Drive — and your content is handled under your existing Claude terms, not used for training.

Install the add-on once from the Google Workspace Marketplace — one install covers all three apps — then open any Doc, Sheet, or deck and go to Extensions > Claude > Open Claude. If the install button is greyed out, your Workspace admin has to allowlist Claude first; that is a Google setting, not a Claude bug. The separate connectors for editing Google files from inside Claude need a Team or Enterprise owner to switch them on.

Two beta caveats worth knowing: chat history lives in your browser per file, so it will not follow you to another machine; and Google caps a single extension operation at six minutes, so break big jobs into pieces and ask Claude to continue. Enterprise shops keep their existing controls — the Compliance API, customer-managed encryption keys, and audit exports carry over to the add-on.