Claude brings AI editing to Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides

Anthropic is bringing its Claude assistant directly into Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides through a new Google Workspace add-on that is now in public beta for paid Claude subscribers.

In an official blog post, Anthropic announces that users can open Claude in a sidebar next to the file they are working on. The assistant can read the active document, spreadsheet, or presentation, recognize selected content, and make changes without requiring users to switch tabs.

The feature is designed to support both small edits and larger production tasks. In Google Docs, Claude can revise individual sentences while preserving surrounding formatting. For more extensive changes, it can present suggested edits as cards that users can approve or reject. It can also turn content such as action items into a table.

In Google Sheets, Claude can create formulas, pivot tables, charts, and additional tabs. Anthropic says it can also use Python for tasks such as cleaning data or joining datasets, then write the results back into the spreadsheet.

For Slides, the assistant can create new slides based on a presentation’s existing layouts and visual theme. It can also check for design problems, including overlapping objects, content outside the slide, and hard-to-read text.

Approval controls and file connectors

Users can choose how independently Claude works. The default setting requires approval for each proposed edit. A separate setting allows Claude to apply changes throughout a task without pausing for confirmation.

The add-on also carries over a user’s Claude models, connectors, and saved skills. On Enterprise plans, Anthropic says existing controls, including the Compliance API, customer-managed encryption keys, and OpenTelemetry audit export, apply to the add-on.

Separate Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides connectors are also in beta. They let users create and edit Google files from a Claude chat. Access follows existing Google sharing permissions. Team and Enterprise customers need an owner or primary owner to enable these connectors first.