How to use Claude in Google Docs

Anthropic’s Claude for Google Workspace add-on is available in beta on the Pro, Max, Team, and Enterprise plans. Anthropic’s steps:

1. Install Claude from the Google Workspace Marketplace. One install covers Docs, Sheets, and Slides. On a work or school account, your Google Workspace admin may need to allow it first.
2. Open a Google Doc and choose Extensions, then Claude, then Open Claude.

   

3. Approve the two Google permissions the first time, and sign in with your Claude account in the sidebar. API keys are not supported.
4. Ask for a change. In the default mode, Ask before edits, Claude describes what it plans to do and waits for you to click Allow. Accept all edits lets it make ordinary edits without pausing.

Anthropic says Claude makes changes directly in the document, and they are recorded under your name in version history, where you can undo them or restore an earlier version. In Docs you can ask it to propose text changes as cards you accept or reject. Anthropic describes these as similar to suggestions, and Claude can’t accept or reject a document’s existing suggestions. The sidebar has a model picker with the models on your plan.

Anthropic lists these limits for the beta. It works on the open file only, and only on native Google Docs files, so a .docx stored in Drive must be converted first. It can’t read or resolve comments or manage document tabs, the sidebar must stay open while Claude works, and Firefox is not supported.

Revise is a browser document editor with an AI agent that runs Claude and other models. You bring the Google Doc into Revise, the agent proposes text and formatting edits as tracked suggestions, and you move the result back. It works on a copy, so it is a separate step from Google Docs rather than a sidebar inside it.

Step 1 - Bring your Google Doc in

For a quick draft, select all in Google Docs (Ctrl/Cmd+A), copy, and paste it into a Revise document. For a formatted document, choose File → Download → Microsoft Word (.docx) in Google Docs and import that file into Revise, which keeps headings, lists, tables, and styles.

Step 2 - Choose a Claude model and ask

Pick a Claude model in the picker below the chat input and describe the change, such as “Tighten the introduction” or “Make the terminology consistent throughout.” The agent reads the whole document, so requests can cover the whole draft.

Step 3 - Review the suggestions

Text and formatting edits appear inline as suggestions, insertions in green and deletions in red, and you accept or reject each one. Header, footer, and page layout changes apply directly instead.

Step 4 - Move it back to Google Docs

Copy the finished text back into the Google Doc, or export a .docx and upload it to Drive. Pending suggestions export as Word tracked changes, which Google Docs shows as suggestions when it converts the file.

Anthropic positions Haiku as its fast model, Sonnet as the balance of speed and capability, and Opus as the most capable. In the add-on, the models available depend on your Claude plan. In Revise, the free plan includes Claude Haiku 5.5, Claude Sonnet 5.5 needs Plus, and Claude Opus 5.5 needs Pro, and you can switch models between requests in the same document.

For Word documents instead of Google Docs, see our guide on using ChatGPT to edit Microsoft Word files.

Pasting keeps basic structure and works for drafts and text-heavy documents. Downloading as .docx (File → Download → Microsoft Word) and importing that file keeps more of the layout, including tables, nested lists, headings, and images. Check the result after each move, because Google Docs and Word don’t support exactly the same features.

With the add-on, Claude reads the open file through the Google permissions you approve, and Anthropic says chat history is stored in the browser for each file. Its help article notes that Zero Data Retention and HIPAA coverage don’t apply to the add-on. When you use a Claude model in Revise, the content the agent needs is sent to Anthropic’s API to generate responses.

If you have a paid Claude plan and want Claude inside the Google Doc itself, use Anthropic’s add-on, keeping in mind that it is in beta and edits the document directly unless you ask for accept/reject cards. If you want every text edit as a tracked suggestion, want a free option, or want to switch between Claude and other models, edit a copy in Revise and move it back.