Claude now works inside Google Docs, Sheets and Slides with a public beta add-on
In 30 seconds
Anthropic is rolling out a public beta add-on for Google Docs, Sheets and Slides, open to anyone on a paid Claude plan. Claude works from a panel beside the file: it understands the selection, writes formulas, prepares slides and, unless automatic mode is on, asks before every change. The add-on comes through the Google Workspace Marketplace, and an administrator can switch it on for the whole company or only some groups.
Anthropic has launched Claude for Google Workspace, an add-on that brings its assistant to Google Docs, Sheets and Slides, Google's documents, spreadsheets and presentations. It is in public beta on all paid Claude plans.
Claude opens in a sidebar next to the file: it reads the open doc, sheet or deck, sees what the user has selected and makes changes directly in the file. In Docs it can fix a sentence or restyle a heading without touching the surrounding formatting and, for bigger rewrites, it proposes suggestions that can be applied or dismissed one by one. In Sheets it writes formulas, builds pivot tables, charts and new tabs, and can pull data into Python to join or clean it. In Slides it builds new slides from the deck's layouts and theme, and flags elements that overlap, run off the slide or text that is hard to read.
By default, Claude asks for approval before each change; in "Accept all edits" mode it applies them without stopping. The sidebar has the same models, connectors (links to other apps) and skills (saved instructions to repeat a task) that the user has in Claude. On Enterprise plans, enterprise controls also apply, such as customer-managed encryption keys and audit log export.
Anthropic is also releasing, in beta as well, Google Docs, Sheets and Slides connectors to create and edit Google files from the Claude chat itself. Access matches the sharing permissions each file already has in Google.
The add-on is installed from the Google Workspace Marketplace, and admins can deploy it to their whole organization or to selected groups from the Google Admin console. On Team and Enterprise plans, an account owner has to enable the connectors first.
Why it matters · analysis and opinion
With this add-on, Claude stops being a separate window: it works on the open doc, sheet or deck and, through the connectors, follows how each file is shared in Google. It matters to companies and professionals who already use Google Workspace and pay for a Claude plan: reports in Docs, figures and pivot tables in Sheets or sales decks in Slides. A small business can install it from the Google Workspace Marketplace and try it on specific tasks, such as cleaning a data sheet or reworking a few slides. On Team and Enterprise plans, the account owner has to turn the connectors on first. In our view, it is best to start with the mode that asks before editing and to review each proposal, because it is still in beta and edits working files directly.
Official source: Anthropic · Written with the help of AI: how we make the news
