Claude Cowork and Microsoft 365: The Complete Integration Guide

Two ways Claude works with Microsoft 365

Many teams use both: Cowork gathers material from across the tenant with the connector, and the add-ins polish the final workbook, deck, or memo inside Office.

The Microsoft 365 connector

What it gives Cowork access to

• SharePoint and OneDrive: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF, and plain-text files such as CSV, JSON, and Markdown.
• Outlook mail: email threads and conversations in your mailbox, including shared mailboxes you have delegate access to.
• Outlook calendar: meetings, attendees, and availability.
• Teams: chats and channel discussions you are part of.

Access is always limited to data you can already open in Microsoft 365. Claude cannot see a colleague's private files or bypass SharePoint sharing settings.

Read tools and optional write tools

Search and read tools are always available once you connect. Admins can also enable write tools, which let Claude draft and send email, create, update, and delete calendar events, create and update files in OneDrive or SharePoint, and send Teams messages or channel posts. Teams messages always ask for your confirmation before sending. One current limit: write tools can't send, forward, or draft emails with attachments.

Connect it as a user

1. In Claude, open Customize → Connectors.
2. Find Microsoft 365 and click Connect.
3. Sign in with your work Microsoft 365 account.
4. In a chat or Cowork task, use the + menu to turn the connector on or off for that conversation.

You need a work account tied to a Microsoft Entra tenant. Personal addresses such as @outlook.com, @hotmail.com, or @live.com cannot connect. On Team and Enterprise plans, a Claude organization owner must enable the connector first, and in every tenant a Microsoft Entra Global Administrator has to grant a one-time consent. More background on connectors is in our Cowork connectors guide.

Admin setup and security model

For IT teams, the Microsoft 365 connector is designed around delegated access:

• Delegated permissions. The connector calls Microsoft Graph on behalf of the signed-in user, so data loss prevention policies and existing permissions still apply.
• No caching of content. Documents are fetched only during an active query. Tool results that become part of a saved chat are retained with that chat.
• Token handling. Claude never sees passwords. It uses the OAuth 2.0 on-behalf-of flow, access tokens expire within about an hour, and refresh tokens lapse after 90 days of inactivity by default.
• Granular control. In the Microsoft Entra admin center you can restrict the enterprise app to specific users or groups, or revoke individual permissions, for example removing SharePoint access or the ability to send mail.
• Write tools off by default for early adopters. Organizations that used the connector before write tools launched keep them blocked until an admin enables them.

Pair this with Cowork's own controls, described in our security overview, and decide up front whether members should be able to send email and Teams messages through Claude or only read.

Claude for Excel, PowerPoint, Word, and Outlook

Since May 7, 2026, Claude for Excel, PowerPoint, and Word are generally available on all paid Claude plans for Mac and Windows, and Claude for Outlook is in public beta. Install them from Microsoft AppSource, or have an admin deploy them from the Microsoft 365 admin center. One AppSource listing covers Excel, PowerPoint, and Word; Outlook has its own listing.

• Excel: read and edit workbooks, build and explain models, and trace formulas without leaving the sheet.
• PowerPoint: build and restyle slides, and update charts with the latest numbers.
• Word: draft, edit, and summarize documents in place.
• Outlook: triage your inbox by priority, draft replies that land in the compose pane, and check calendar availability before opening an event.

Work across apps

Turn on Let Claude work across files in each add-in's settings, and Claude can read from one open app and write to another in the same conversation: pull figures from an Excel model into a PowerPoint slide, summarize a Word document into a deck, or open an Outlook attachment in Word with the email thread already loaded as context. The setting is on by default for Pro and Max and off by default for Team and Enterprise, where owners control it under Organization settings → Office agents. Skills you enable in Claude also apply inside each app.

Two limits to know: Claude can only work with files and emails that are currently open, and it cannot open, close, or switch files by itself. The add-ins also keep chat history locally in the browser and do not inherit your organization's custom data retention settings.

Microsoft 365 workflows to try with Cowork

Weekly status report

Ask Cowork: “Search my Teams channels and Outlook threads from this week about Project Atlas, pull the latest numbers from the tracker in SharePoint, and draft a one-page status update.” Cowork uses the Microsoft 365 connector to gather material, writes the draft, and you finish it in Word with the add-in.

Meeting prep

Before a client call, have Cowork read tomorrow's calendar event, find recent email with the attendees, and summarize open issues from shared files. Scheduling this with Cowork scheduled tasks means the brief is waiting each morning.

Model to deck

Update assumptions in an Excel model, then ask Claude in PowerPoint to refresh the charts and talking points in the board deck, carrying the model's context across both apps.

Inbox cleanup

With write tools enabled, Cowork can draft replies to routine requests and create calendar holds for follow-ups, leaving each message for you to review before it goes out.

Tips for better results

• Name the place. Search works best when you mention the SharePoint site, Teams channel, or mail folder, plus a date range, rather than asking about “everything.”
• Quote exact titles. If you know a file name or email subject, include it in quotes to skip a round of searching.
• Ask for sources. Have Cowork list the files and threads it used, so you can open and verify them before sharing the result.
• Keep drafts as drafts. Even with write tools on, ask for drafts first and send them yourself until you trust a workflow.
• Split big jobs. A quarter's worth of email is too much for one pass; ask for one week or one project at a time, then combine.
• Use skills for house style. A skill with your report template or slide rules keeps every output consistent across Word and PowerPoint.

A rollout checklist for IT

Rolling the integration out to a whole company goes more smoothly in stages:

1. Pilot with one team that already uses Claude and has clear, repeatable tasks, such as weekly reporting or sales prep.
2. Grant Entra consent and assign the enterprise app to that pilot group only.
3. Start read-only. Enable write tools later, and consider leaving mail sending off until users are comfortable.
4. Deploy the Office add-ins to the same group from the admin center and decide whether working across apps should be on.
5. Collect examples of good prompts and turn the best ones into shared skills or Cowork plugins.
6. Review usage and feedback after a month, then widen the group assignment in Entra.

Document who approved the consent, which permissions are enabled, and how users should report problems, so the setup survives staff changes.

Claude Cowork vs Microsoft 365 Copilot

Microsoft sells its own agent, Copilot Cowork, which runs inside Microsoft 365 and, at launch, uses Anthropic's Claude models. It is billed per task in Copilot Credits on top of a Microsoft 365 Copilot license. Claude Cowork is Anthropic's own app: it works with Microsoft 365 through the connector and add-ins, and also with local files, the browser, and many non-Microsoft tools. If all your work lives in Microsoft 365 and compliance wants everything inside that boundary, Copilot Cowork may fit; if you work across ecosystems, Claude Cowork is more flexible. Our AI agent comparison goes deeper.

Troubleshooting the Microsoft 365 integration

For problems with Cowork itself, see our Cowork troubleshooting guide.

Frequently asked questions