Claude now works right inside Google Docs, Sheets and Slides. It opens in a side panel next to your file. It reads what you have open and makes the edits for you. No more copy, paste, repeat.
What changed?
Before, you had to copy your words out of a Google Doc and paste them into Claude. Then you pasted the answer back. Over and over.
Now Claude comes to the file you are already in. Anthropic calls it Claude for Google Workspace. One install covers all 3 apps.
Here is what it can do:
- In Docs: draft, rewrite and reshape long documents.
- In Sheets: write and fix formulas, and clean up messy data.
- In Slides: make new slides, or tighten and restyle the ones you have.
Does it change my file without asking?
Not by default. It starts in a mode called "Ask before edits." Claude shows you the change and waits for your OK.
Say it. It builds. You approve.
Who can use it?
It is in beta. That means it is new and still being tested.
It works on every paid Claude plan: Pro, Max, Ultra, Team and Enterprise. Your Google account also has to be allowed to install apps from the Google Workspace Marketplace. That is Google's app store for Docs, Sheets and Slides.
How do you turn it on?
Anthropic says it takes about 2 minutes.
- Find Claude in the Google Workspace Marketplace and click Install.
- Pick the Google account you use for Docs and click Continue.
- Reload any Google files you already have open.
- Open a Doc, Sheet or deck. Go to Extensions, then Claude, then Open Claude.
- Sign in with your Claude account in the side panel.
Is the Install button gray? Or do you see "This application is not allowed by your administrator"? Then the person who runs your company's Google account has to allow it first. That message comes from Google, not Claude.
Try this: clean up your client list
Most of us have a sheet of leads or clients that got messy. Names in all caps. Phone numbers written 3 different ways. Some rows with no email.
Open that sheet. Open Claude from the Extensions menu. Then type:
Clean up this sheet. Make every name look like "Jane Smith." Write every phone number the same way. Add a column called "Missing email" and mark any row that has no email. Show me the changes before you make them.
Claude will tell you what it plans to do. Read it. If it looks right, approve it.
Then try one more:
Sort this list so the people I talked to longest ago are at the top.
Now you know who to follow up with first.
What should you watch out for?
It is a beta, so treat what it makes like a first draft from a smart helper. Check it before anything goes to a client. Keep the original copy of an important file until you are happy with the changes.
The bigger picture
Here's the thing. You already live in Docs and Sheets. Now the AI comes to you instead of you going to it.
The tools moved. The habits did not.