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How to connect Claude to Google Drive and Gmail

Copying emails and documents into Claude by hand is slow and easy to get wrong. Claude's Google Workspace connectors let it search your Drive and inbox directly. Here's how to connect them, control what they can do and use them in a chat.

Updated 18 October 2026

These steps were checked against Anthropic's help pages on 18 October 2026. Claude's menus change often, so names may differ slightly as of your visit.

Connect your Google account

Gmail, Google Calendar and Google Drive are three separate connectors that sign in with the same Google account. They work on Claude on the web and in Claude Desktop.

1. Open a new chat and click the + button in the lower left of the message box (typing / opens the same menu).
2. Hover over Connectors.
3. Switch on the Google connectors you want. If one isn't listed, choose Manage connectors, click the + next to Connectors and find it in the directory, then click Connect.
4. Google's sign-in screen opens. Pick your account and review the access Claude asks for. The Gmail screen mentions sending email: that's expected, and by default Claude still asks you before it sends, replies to or forwards anything.
5. Back in Claude, the connector is ready. You can also start from Customize > Connectors instead of a chat.

On a Team or Enterprise plan, an owner first goes to Organization settings > Connectors, clicks Browse connectors and chooses Add to your team. That makes the connector available, but each person still signs in with their own Google account.

Use Drive and Gmail in a chat

Once connected, you don't need special commands. Ask a question that needs your Google data and Claude works out which connector to use. For example:

• "Summarize the emails about the kitchen renovation from this month."
• "Find the Q3 budget sheet in my Drive and list the three biggest costs."
• "Draft a reply to Sam's last email saying Thursday works."

Claude's answer cites the emails, events or files it used, with links back to the originals where possible, so you can check them. Each action it takes on your behalf, such as sending or forwarding an email or sharing, moving or trashing a Drive file, needs your approval by default.

Add a specific Drive file

When you already know which document you want, attach it directly:

1. Click + in the chat and choose Add from Google Drive.
2. Pick from your recent documents or paste the file's link.
3. Send your message. You can add several files, as long as they fit in the conversation's context window.

To make a Doc available to every chat in a project, open the project's Files section, click +, choose Drive and select the file. This only works in private projects, not shared ones. Our Claude Projects guide explains how project files work.

Control what Claude can do

• Per chat: use + > Connectors to switch individual connectors on or off for the conversation you're in.
• Disconnect: go to Customize > Connectors, click the Google connector, then Disconnect and confirm.
• At work: owners on Team and Enterprise can set each connector's tools to Always allow, Needs approval or Blocked for the whole organization, for example letting Claude read email but never send it. Owners also decide whether members can let send and share actions run without asking each time.

Good to know

• Claude sees only what you can see. It uses your existing Google permissions, so it can't open anything your account can't, and it only touches your data when a request needs it.
• Text only from Drive files. Claude reads the text of a Drive file and skips embedded images. It can see comments and suggestions in Google Docs.
• Retrieved data stays with the chat. What a connector pulls in is stored on Anthropic's servers with that conversation, so deleting the chat deletes it too.
• Gmail has limits. Some advanced Gmail filters aren't supported, very large mailboxes can be slower, and Google's own API quotas apply.
• Live Google Docs editing is a beta. As of October 2026, separate Google Docs, Sheets and Slides connectors let Claude create and edit those files in a pane beside the chat. Ask for a "Google doc" by name, or Claude makes a downloadable file instead.
• Work chats with synced content can't be shared on Team and Enterprise plans.

If you'd rather have an assistant inside Gmail and Docs themselves, see how to use Gemini in Gmail and Google Docs.

If it doesn't work

• "You may need to reconnect with your Google Drive account." Disconnect the connector under Customize > Connectors. The next time you ask for Google data, Claude sends you to Google to sign in again. If that fails, remove Claude's access at myaccount.google.com/connections and reconnect.
• "Access blocked: your institution's admin needs to review Claude for Google Drive." Your Google Workspace admin has to mark Claude as trusted in the Google Admin console, under Security > Access and data control > API controls > Manage third-party app access. The change can take about 15 minutes to apply.
• The Google connectors are missing at work. An owner hasn't added them to the organization yet. If your organization allows requests, select Request on the connector's page in the directory to ask an owner for it.
• Claude ignores your Drive. Check that the connector is switched on in this chat's + > Connectors menu. If it is, ask again more specifically, naming the file, sender or date range you have in mind.

Turning found emails into a to-do list

Connectors help Claude gather information, but the follow-up still has to happen somewhere. Workbranch is a separate AI workspace, with answers from Google Gemini, that breaks each answer into a point-by-point checklist with flags, due dates and reminders. It has a 3-day free trial.

Sources

• Use Google Workspace connectors (Claude Help Center, checked 18 October 2026)
• Use connectors to extend Claude's capabilities (Claude Help Center, checked 18 October 2026)

Frequently asked questions