Claude for Microsoft 365

0:00 Claude for Microsoft 365 is Anthropic's family of Office add-ins that open Claude in a sidebar inside Excel, PowerPoint, Word and Outlook; Excel, PowerPoint and Word are generally available on all paid Claude plans and Outlook is in beta, none of them on the Claude Free Plan (as of Nov 6, 2026). One install from Microsoft's store, the "Claude for Microsoft 365" listing, covers Excel, PowerPoint and Word, and Outlook has a listing of its own. The four add-ins share one conversation: a thread read in Outlook can be carried into a Word draft, an Excel model and a PowerPoint deck. This is a different thing from Claude inside Microsoft's own Copilot, which Microsoft runs (see below), and from the Microsoft 365 connector in the Claude app.

Quick facts

Claude for Excel

The Excel add-in explains models with clickable cell citations, changes assumptions while keeping formulas intact, traces errors and builds models; it does not support macros or VBA (Use Claude for Excel). See Claude for Excel.

Claude for PowerPoint

0:01 Claude for PowerPoint builds slides from your company or client template, reading the slide master, layouts, fonts and colors, and edits only the slide or element you select rather than regenerating the deck. It can draft a whole deck from a description and turn bullet points into diagrams, process flows and native PowerPoint charts you can edit, not flat images (Use Claude for PowerPoint). It launched on Feb 5, 2026, the day of Claude Opus 4.6. For decks made inside the Claude app instead, see Claude Slides and Docs and File Creation.

Claude for Word

0:24 Claude for Word answers questions about a document with clickable section citations, edits a selected passage while keeping its styles and numbering, and can work in tracked changes so every edit shows as a revision to accept or reject in Word's own review pane. It works through comment threads one by one, editing the anchored text and replying with what it changed, summarizes a counterparty's redlines and flags the ones worth pushing back on, fills templates in the document's own heading styles and finds every passage on a theme, not only keyword matches (Use Claude for Word). It reads text, comments, tracked changes, footnotes, tables and bookmarks in the open document only. Old .doc files must be saved as .docx first. Anthropic's examples lean toward legal and finance work, and it says the add-in should not replace legal or financial judgment.

4:51 Skills work in the Word panel too: in Anthropic's Aug 25, 2026 walkthrough, typing a forward slash lists them, including a built-in copy edit skill for spelling, grammar, punctuation and consistency, alongside skills made in a Claude account (Claude for Word: Turn a draft into a finished document).

Claude for Outlook (beta)

Claude for Outlook sorts unread mail into what needs you, what Claude can handle and noise; drafts replies, reply-alls and forwards in your voice, learned from your sent folder; summarizes long threads into decisions, open items and who owes what, citing each email; reads .docx and .xlsx attachments without opening them; finds meeting times; and writes a one-page brief before a meeting (Use Claude for Outlook). It never sends anything itself: the add-in does not request Microsoft's Mail.Send permission, and every draft or invite waits in Outlook's own compose or appointment form for you to click Send.

It runs in Outlook on the web, new and classic Outlook for Windows and Outlook for Mac, with a Microsoft 365 subscription and Exchange Online. It does not run on Outlook for iOS or Android, Outlook 2016 or 2019, or mailboxes on Exchange on-premises. PDF attachments are not read inline yet, and all-day events are not supported. Mail and calendar access goes through Microsoft Graph from your browser, and the Graph token stays there, never sent to Anthropic. In an organization, a Global Administrator grants consent once for the whole tenant; otherwise each user sees "Need admin approval". Outlook's docs list the models offered with a Claude account as Claude Opus 4.7, Opus 4.6 and Sonnet 4.6, which looks older than the rest of Anthropic's documentation on Nov 6, 2026.

How do I install Claude for Microsoft 365?

1. Open the Claude for Microsoft 365 listing (Excel, PowerPoint and Word) or the Claude for Outlook listing on Microsoft AppSource.
2. Select "Get it now".
3. Open the Office app and start the add-in: Home > Add-ins on Windows, Tools > Add-ins on a Mac. In Outlook, open an email and select the Claude button in the message ribbon.
4. Sign in with your Claude account.

Admins deploy the add-ins from the Microsoft 365 Admin Center under Settings > Integrated apps, after turning on "Let users access the Office Store", or upload Anthropic's manifest files where the store is blocked. A full rollout can take up to 24 hours (Use Claude for Word). Organizations on Amazon Bedrock, Google Cloud Vertex AI, Microsoft Foundry or an LLM gateway can deploy without individual Claude accounts (Claude on Cloud Platforms).

Working across apps

0:23 Since Mar 11, 2026 the add-ins share conversation context and support Skills, so a letter attached to an email can be opened in Word with the thread already loaded, or figures from an email pulled into an open Excel model (Use Claude for Outlook). Each app keeps its own Instructions and its own chat history.

Privacy, data and limits

With a Claude account, what Claude reads from your files and mailbox goes to Anthropic. Inputs and outputs are deleted on Anthropic's side within 30 days, with the exceptions in its retention policy, and the add-ins do not keep a copy or index of your mailbox. Chat history sits in the browser's local storage and does not sync between computers; clearing it does not delete what Anthropic already holds. The add-ins do not follow an organization's custom retention settings and are not in Enterprise audit logs, but Enterprise gets them through the Compliance API. Through Amazon Bedrock or Vertex AI, no content reaches Anthropic at all (Use Claude for Outlook).

Usage counts toward your plan's Claude Usage Limits. Anthropic warns that outside files and emails can carry hidden instructions (prompt injection), and asks for confirmation before risky operations. After Microsoft 365's September and October 2026 updates on Windows, some users lost their add-in chat history and uploaded skills, which Anthropic's docs say it is fixing with Microsoft (as of Nov 6, 2026).

Claude inside Microsoft 365 Copilot

Separately from Anthropic's add-ins, Microsoft runs Claude models in its own Copilot. It added them on Sep 24, 2025, starting with Claude Sonnet 4 and Claude Opus 4.1 in Researcher and Copilot Studio. By Nov 2026, Microsoft's documentation says Claude models are on by default for most commercial cloud customers, except in the EU, EFTA and UK, in Microsoft Copilot, Researcher, Copilot Studio, Power Platform and Copilot in the Microsoft 365 apps, with Anthropic as a Microsoft subprocessor (Microsoft Learn, updated Nov 4, 2026). Copilot shows when a Claude model is in use, and in the EU, EFTA and UK it is off by default; since Apr 3, 2026 an admin there can make Anthropic the default model in the Microsoft 365 apps. It is not offered in GCC High, DoD or sovereign clouds.

So a Copilot customer may already be using Claude in Word or Excel under Microsoft's terms and billing, without a Claude account. Anthropic's add-ins differ in that they are billed by a Claude plan, share your Claude skills and connectors, and follow Anthropic's terms. See Claude vs Microsoft Copilot.

Learn more: Microsoft 365 Copilot on ai.vi.ki, Microsoft Copilot on ai.vi.ki, ChatGPT in Office on chatgpt.vi.ki

The Microsoft 365 connector

0:03 Inside the Claude app itself, the Microsoft 365 connector lets Claude reach Outlook mail and calendar, OneDrive, SharePoint and Teams. Since Jul 7, 2026 it can draft, send and organize email, manage calendars and mailbox settings, and edit OneDrive and SharePoint files, while Teams stays read-only; it needs consent from a Microsoft Entra admin. See Connectors.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a Claude add-in for Word? Yes. Claude for Word is generally available on paid Claude plans and installs with the same "Claude for Microsoft 365" listing as Excel and PowerPoint. It can edit in tracked changes and work through comment threads.

Can Claude send emails from Outlook? No. Claude for Outlook drafts replies and invites into Outlook's own forms and never sends them; you click Send. It does not even request Microsoft's send permission.

Does Claude for Microsoft 365 work on iPad or Android? No. The Claude add-ins run on Office for the web, Windows and Mac, not on Office for iPad or Android, and Claude for Outlook does not run on Outlook for iOS or Android.

Is Claude for Microsoft 365 in Teams? Anthropic offers no Claude add-in for Microsoft Teams as of Nov 6, 2026. The Microsoft 365 connector in the Claude app can read Teams but not write to it.

Do I need Claude if my company has Microsoft 365 Copilot? Not necessarily. Microsoft 365 Copilot already offers Claude models in most commercial tenants outside Europe, under Microsoft's terms. Anthropic's own add-ins are worth it mainly for people who already use a Claude plan, its skills and its connectors.

Sources

• Collaborate with Claude across Microsoft365 apps, Claude, May 7, 2026 (video)
• Building a PowerPoint with Claude, Claude, Apr 16, 2026 (video)
• Claude for Word: Turn a draft into a finished document, Claude, Aug 25, 2026 (video)
• Connect Claude to Microsoft 365, Anthropic, Oct 16, 2025 (video)
• Claude for Microsoft 365, claude.com, read Nov 6, 2026
• Use Claude for Excel, Claude docs, read Nov 6, 2026
• Use Claude for PowerPoint, Claude docs, read Nov 6, 2026
• Use Claude for Word, Claude docs, read Nov 6, 2026
• Use Claude for Outlook, Claude docs, read Nov 6, 2026
• Plans and pricing, claude.com, read Nov 6, 2026
• Release notes, Claude Help Center, read Nov 6, 2026
• Claude for Microsoft 365 on Microsoft AppSource, Microsoft, read Nov 6, 2026
• Claude for Outlook on Microsoft AppSource, Microsoft, read Nov 6, 2026
• Expanding model choice in Microsoft 365 Copilot, Microsoft 365 blog, Sep 24, 2025
• Claude models from Anthropic in Microsoft Online Services, Microsoft Learn, updated Nov 4, 2026