How to use Claude in Microsoft Word

Claude for Word is an add-in that opens Claude in a panel inside Word. It reads the open document, including its text, comments, tracked changes, footnotes, and tables. It answers questions with links to the sections it used, edits selected text while keeping its formatting, and works through comment threads by editing each commented passage and replying with a note. With tracked changes mode on, every edit arrives as a revision you accept or reject in Word’s review pane.

It is included in the Pro, Max, Team, and Enterprise plans and uses the same usage limits as the rest of your Claude account. The add-in offers a subset of Claude’s models, so the list can be shorter than on claude.ai. It shares context with Claude for Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook.

You also need a supported version of Word, listed below. The add-in itself has no separate charge.

Anthropic lists these versions as supported:

• Word on the web
• Word for Windows with a Microsoft 365 subscription, version 2205 or later
• Word for Mac, version 16.61 or later

It does not run on Word for iPad or Android, or on Word 2016 and 2019 with a perpetual or volume license. Legacy .doc files need to be saved as .docx first.

1. Open the Claude for Microsoft 365 listing on Microsoft AppSource and select Get it now.
2. Open Word and start the add-in. On Windows it is under Home, Add-ins. On Mac it is under Tools, Add-ins.
3. Sign in with your Claude account.
4. Turn on tracked changes mode if you want each edit as a Word revision.
5. Select a passage and ask for an edit, or ask a question about the whole document, then review the result in Word.

In an organization, an admin can deploy the add-in to everyone from the Microsoft 365 admin center, under Integrated apps. Anthropic says a full rollout can take up to 24 hours. Admins can also route the add-in through Amazon Bedrock, Google Vertex AI, or Azure AI Foundry, in which case users don’t need individual Claude accounts.

Anthropic says inputs and outputs are deleted from its backend within 30 days, with exceptions it lists, and that chat history is stored in your browser. It also recommends using the add-in only with documents you trust.

Microsoft’s Copilot can also use Claude. Copilot in Word has a model selector, and Microsoft says that depending on your subscription and availability you can choose models such as Claude Sonnet or Claude Opus, or leave it on Auto. To use it, open Copilot in Word, choose an available Claude model in the selector, and then ask Copilot to draft or edit. Your choice lasts until you change it or end the session.

Microsoft says custom model selection is available with “eligible premium subscriptions”, and that users without it get Auto, Instant, and Think deeper. Its business plans list model choice as a feature. Microsoft 365 Copilot costs $30 per user per month, billed annually. Microsoft 365 Copilot Business costs $21 per user per month, billed annually, or $18 per user per month for the first year under a promotion available through December 31, 2026. Both are add-ons that need a qualifying Microsoft 365 plan.

Microsoft 365 Personal ($9.99 a month), Family ($12.99), and Premium ($19.99) include Copilot in Word for the subscription owner. The Microsoft pages we reviewed do not say whether these plans include Claude in the model selector. In organizations, admins control whether Anthropic models are available. Microsoft turns them on by default for most commercial customers, and the defaults differ in the EU, EFTA, and UK.

• Claude itself. On every plan, including Free and subject to its usage limits, you can upload a .docx to Claude and ask it to create Word files. Anthropic notes that it reads the text of uploaded documents other than PDFs and does not interpret embedded images. Claude returns a downloadable file, and Anthropic’s documentation does not say whether this keeps existing tracked changes or marks edits as Word revisions.
• Claude’s Microsoft 365 connector. The connector lets Claude search documents in SharePoint and OneDrive, and write SharePoint files when an admin enables it. It needs a work or school Microsoft account and your organization’s consent, and it does not work with personal Microsoft accounts.
• Revise. A browser word processor that imports and exports .docx and preserves the Word features it documents, including tracked changes, comments, and footnotes. Its agent proposes text and formatting edits as suggestions, which export as Word tracked changes. Claude models are on paid plans. You can also connect your own Claude account, including a free one, through Revise’s MCP server, which needs a Revise account but no Revise subscription. Claude’s usage limits and Revise’s MCP rate limits apply. It is a separate editor, not a Word add-in.

If you want Claude inside Word itself and have Claude Pro or higher, Claude for Word is the most direct route, with edits as Word tracked changes. If your organization already pays for Microsoft 365 Copilot, check whether Claude appears in Copilot’s model selector before buying anything else. On a free plan, or if you don’t need to stay inside Word, Claude can work on uploaded .docx files, and editors outside Word can run Claude on the file and send it back as a .docx.