Claude now works inside Google Docs, Sheets and Slides
Anthropic's add-on puts Claude in the sidebar of the files your team already uses. By default it asks before every edit, so the question is who controls the file.
Anthropic has put Claude inside Google Docs, Sheets and Slides. It’s an add-on in public beta, open to anyone on a paid Claude plan. Anthropic published the announcement on October 6.
The setup is simple. Claude opens in a sidebar next to the file. It can read the doc, sheet or deck you have open, see what you’ve selected, and change it in place. In Docs, it can fix a sentence or restyle a heading without disturbing the formatting around it. In Sheets, it writes formulas, builds pivot tables and native charts, and adds tabs. In Slides, it builds new pages from your deck’s own layouts and themes.
Ask before it touches the file
The setting I’d look at first is permission. By default Claude runs in “Ask before edits” mode. Each change shows up as an approval card, and nothing happens until you click yes. There’s also an “Accept all edits” mode, where Claude works through the whole task without stopping.
For a document that goes to a client, the default is the right one. I’d keep it on until you’ve seen how Claude handles your own files, because an edit you didn’t check is the kind of mistake you only find after you’ve sent the file.
Connectors are the bigger change
Anthropic also released separate Docs, Sheets and Slides connectors, in beta. These let Claude create and edit Google files from inside Claude itself, so the work can start in a chat and end up in Drive.
Anthropic says your connectors, skills and enterprise controls come along too. Its example is a quarterly business review deck, built from account history pulled out of Salesforce and call notes from Google Drive. If you save the deck format as a skill, the next deck can follow the same pattern.
Who this is aimed at
Google has been pushing Gemini into these same apps. Anthropic is now putting a rival assistant in the same sidebar, so the fight over office work is moving into the document itself, not a separate chat window.
What the announcement doesn’t tell you is how well it handles a long, messy file. Anthropic shows examples, not test results, and the only pricing detail is “paid plans”. Before you pick a side, run the same real document through Claude and through Gemini’s panel and compare what each one changes. Our Sonnet 5.5 post covers the model side of Claude’s recent releases.
How to set it up
The add-on comes from the Google Workspace Marketplace. Search for “Claude for Google Workspace” and click Install. Managed work accounts may need an IT admin to approve it first.
Then open any Doc, Sheet or Slides file and go to Extensions > Claude > Open Claude. Sign in with a paid Claude account, and the sidebar opens beside the file.
Who can use it
It’s in public beta for every paid Claude plan: Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise. Free accounts don’t get it.
On Team and Enterprise plans, an owner has to switch on the Google connectors before members can use them. Members can’t enable them alone.
Sources
- Anthropic’s announcement, “Claude now works with Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides”, 6 October 2026. I could not open this page while writing, so the details below come from the press reports that quote it.
- 9to5Google: Claude launches Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides integration, 6 October 2026
- tbreak: Claude now works inside Google Docs, Sheets and Slides
- Free Press Journal: Anthropic brings Claude to Google Docs, Sheets & Slides for paid users