Claude connects to Microsoft 365
Claude introduces new add-ins available for Microsoft 365 that are designed to streamline working with multiple files at once. In the article below, we’ll give you an overview of them
Imagine receiving an email from a client asking for a proposal. You open the attached document in Word, refine the content, update the cost calculations in Excel, and then create a PowerPoint presentation for a sales meeting. Normally, this means constantly copying information between applications and repeatedly explaining your work to an AI assistant. Claude for Microsoft 365 aims to work differently. It maintains the context of a task across applications, allowing you to complete multiple stages of work within a single conversation.
Organizations using Microsoft 365 have long had access to Copilot. Now, Claude is entering the same ecosystem with a different approach to AI-assisted work.
How Does Claude Work in Microsoft 365?
In practice, Claude introduces two distinct solutions that are important to understand before exploring the individual features.
One works as a sidebar within the application you already have open, allowing Claude to view and edit the document you’re actively working on. The other operates within Claude.ai and can search across your organization’s files, emails, and chats that you have permission to access, without opening a specific document.
The second option is the Microsoft 365 Connector. Rather than operating inside an Office application, it works within Claude.ai. It allows Claude to actively search organizational data through Microsoft Graph APIs across SharePoint, OneDrive, Teams, and Outlook without requiring a specific file to be opened. The distinction between these two approaches is fundamental.
Claude Add-ins for Microsoft 365
Claude for Word
Claude for Word answers questions about document content with citations pointing to specific passages. It edits selected text while preserving the existing style and formatting, and applies changes using native Track Changes functionality, allowing users to accept or reject modifications in Word’s Review tab.
Additionally, it reads and replies to comment threads, supplements templates with new sections and tables, and searches for content semantically—for example, retrieving all records related to data retention, rather than just exact keyword matches.
Example: „Rewrite the paid leave section using the updated information from this spreadsheet.”
Claude for Exel
Claude for Excel helps users analyze, create, and modify workbooks directly within Excel.
Key Features:
- Answers questions about workbook content with citations to specific cells.
- Understands relationships between worksheets, tables, and formulas.
- Modifies business assumptions such as profitability metrics, margins, and growth rates.
- Populates existing templates with user-provided data.
- Identifies and helps fix errors such as
#REF!,#VALUE!, and invalid references. - Creates and modifies charts, pivot tables, conditional formatting, sorting, and filtering.
- Maintains a log of actions performed in a dedicated worksheet.
The plugin does not yet support VBA, Data Tables, or macros.
Example: „Create a summary chart from this information and add it to the Word document I currently have open.„
Claude for PowerPoint
Claude for PowerPoint reads the slide master, layouts, fonts, and color scheme of the corporate template, building slides strictly according to its rules. It allows you to prepare a logical structure for the entire presentation, and even perform pinpoint edits on a single slide or a group of slides (e.g., simplifying text, adding a chart, or restructuring the narrative) without generating the deck from scratch. Furthermore, it can convert bullet points into editable diagrams, process flows, or native PowerPoint charts, rather than just inserting static images.
Example: „Using this data file, create a five-slide presentation explaining Claude’s capabilities in Microsoft 365„
Claude for Outlook
Claude for Outlook helps users manage email and calendars without leaving Outlook.
Key Features:
- Categorizes unread messages into: issues requiring your attention, messages for which it can draft a reply, and information noise.
- Creates replies as unsent drafts: Reply, Reply All, Forward.
- Summarizes long email threads, including references to specific messages.
- Analyzes .docx and .xlsx attachments without the need to open them.
- Searches for messages semantically (based on meaning and context), rather than just keywords.
- Checks participant availability and prepares invitations in the native Outlook form.
- Generates brief pre-meeting briefings based on previous correspondence and related attachments.
The same logic applies to time management: Claude checks participant availability and prepares invitations in the native Outlook form, and prior to a meeting, it independently compiles short briefs from the latest threads and attachments related to that specific meeting.
Example: „What are the latest emails I’ve received?”
Konektor Claude do Microsoft 365
The Claude Connector for Microsoft 365 allows users to search organizational data without leaving Claude.ai.
Key features:
- Searches SharePoint, OneDrive, Teams, and Outlook from a single conversation.
- Answers questions based on documents, messages, meetings, and files you have access to.
- Combines fragmented information across multiple Microsoft 365 locations into a single response.
- Searches for information semantically.
- Cites the sources used to generate the response.
- Identifies connections between documents, correspondence, and other organizational resources.
- Enables quick generation of summaries for projects, clients, meetings, or topics scattered across various Microsoft 365 systems.
Unlike standard Office add-ins, it does not operate on a single open document. Instead, it searches across the user’s entire Microsoft 365 environment, respecting their existing permissions. If a user does not have access to a specific file, SharePoint library, or message, Claude will not be able to use it either.
Example: „What are the latest emails I’ve received?”
Licensing
Claude for Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and Outlook require a paid Claude plan (Pro, Max, Team, or Enterprise) and work on the web version, on Windows (with a Microsoft 365 subscription), and on Mac. The only exception is the iPad – which is only supported by Excel. As of July 22, 2026, Excel, Word, and PowerPoint have full availability status, while Outlook is still in beta.
The Microsoft 365 Connector works differently – it is not installed from the Microsoft Marketplace but is enabled directly within Claude.ai. An administrator does this once for the entire organization in the Admin Settings under the Connectors tab, and each employee individually connects their account in:
Settings > Connectors > Microsoft 365, logging in with their corporate credentials.
It is worth adding that the Microsoft 365 connector – unlike the add-ins – does not require a paid plan. It is available on all Claude plans, including the free tier (however, a Microsoft 365 account linked to an organizational Microsoft Entra ID is required, rather than a personal @outlook.com account).
Within the add-ins themselves, you can select the model that Claude operates on – currently available options include Claude Fable 5, Claude Opus 4.8, and Claude Sonnet 5, as well as Opus 4.7 and Opus 4.6 for backward compatibility with older settings. When connecting via a third-party platform (e.g., Amazon Bedrock, Vertex AI, or Microsoft Foundry), the availability of specific models depends on the organization’s gateway configuration – it is recommended to verify this with your IT administrator.
Claude or Copilot? You Don't Have to Choose One
Claude for Microsoft 365 and Microsoft 365 Copilot can operate side by side within the same organization.
In Claude’s case, the primary role is played by open documents and the ongoing conversation with the user. As mentioned above, it operates on two levels to provide full support.
Microsoft 365 Copilot, on the other hand, is more deeply embedded in the Microsoft 365 ecosystem and is frequently used for scenarios involving organizational knowledge retrieval, multi-source data analysis, or work based on Microsoft Graph.
In practice, many organizations may use both solutions simultaneously: Copilot for working with organizational knowledge and Microsoft 365 processes, and Claude as an additional tool for working with documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and multi-step tasks performed across different applications.
Data Security
Using an external tool like an AI assistant means that Claude has access to truly sensitive data – financial models, contracts, client correspondence. This raises security questions that ultimately boil down to: „What does the AI have access to, and on what terms?” It is therefore worth breaking down the security architecture of Claude for Microsoft 365.
Delegated permissions, not application permissions
In the case of add-ins, it’s simple – Claude only sees the file we have opened, so by definition, it does not exceed our access boundaries. In the Microsoft 365 Connector, this same principle is ensured by the delegated permissions mechanism (it requests data on our behalf, rather than as a separate application) – every query is executed as the specific user, never as a standalone application with broad, organization-wide access. If we don’t have access to a file in SharePoint, Claude won’t see or open it either. This is the exact same logic behind Microsoft 365 Copilot.
If Restricted Content Discovery (RCD) is enabled on SharePoint within the organization – the same mechanism used for Copilot – Claude will also automatically not see this content, without requiring any additional configuration.
Nothing happens without our confirmation
This principle is integrated at every level: in Word, edits are applied as tracked changes to be accepted or rejected; in Excel, modified cells are highlighted; in Outlook, drafts wait in the inbox; and calendar invitations open in the native form – we are always the ones who choose to click „Send.”
Administrators can centrally manage access to the Microsoft 365 connector and limit or revoke selected Microsoft Graph permissions at any time, which may result in disabling certain features.
Summary
Claude for Microsoft 365 should be viewed as an extension of daily work within the Microsoft ecosystem, rather than a mere alternative to Copilot. This approach can be particularly useful where teams frequently work on multiple files simultaneously, especially when it involves dynamic transitions between correspondence and various file formats.
If an organization is already using Microsoft 365, it is worth considering Claude as an additional tool to test in selected scenarios: working with documents, data analysis, preparing presentations, or quickly locating information within corporate resources.