Claude gets sidebar in Google Docs, Sheets and Slides

What's new

Anthropic has launched "Claude for Google Workspace." It is an extension that adds a Claude sidebar to Google Docs (text), Sheets (spreadsheets) and Slides (presentations). One installation covers all three programs. The feature is in beta, that is, an early version that is still being polished.

It is for users with a Claude subscription of the Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise types. You also need a Google account that is allowed to install apps from the Google Workspace Marketplace. Individuals can install it themselves if their account allows it, and in companies the IT administrator can install it for the whole organization. The sources say nothing specific about when it will come to Denmark or the EU, but no country restrictions are mentioned.

What's clever

Claude reads the file you have open and can edit directly in it. You avoid copying text back and forth between Claude and Google. You can ask questions about the document and get answers that show where in the file the information comes from. All changes can be seen in Google's version history, so you can undo them.

In Docs, Claude can rewrite text, change the structure of a long document or create a table from messy notes. In Sheets, it can build financial models, fix formulas and clean up data so the format is consistent. In Slides, it can draft slides, spread text across several slides and add charts.

You decide how much control you want. By default, Claude shows its suggestions and you approve them. You can also let it accept ordinary edits automatically. More sensitive actions, such as inserting images from the web or changing access permissions, always require your okay.

Cheaper or better?

A separate price for the extension has not been disclosed. It appears to be included in the Claude subscriptions that provide access, but you should check that on Anthropic's pricing page. So you need a paid subscription, and there is no free version in the beta.

Compared with Google's own AI, Gemini, the difference is that here you use Claude as an assistant inside Google's programs. The sources have no measurements or tests showing whether it is better or worse than Gemini, so we cannot provide that comparison. The beta also has limitations: a task can run for at most six minutes. Claude can only see the file you have open, not other files in your Drive. It cannot create tabs in documents. Spreadsheets connected to BigQuery (Google's data warehouse) require you to extract the data first. Firefox is not supported, while Chrome, Edge and Safari work.

On data protection, Anthropic says that your content is not used to train the models. For Team and Enterprise, a data processing agreement applies. The chat history is stored locally in your browser for each file and does not carry over to other devices.

What it's good for

It is good for everyday office work: putting together a first draft, tightening up a long report, fixing a stubborn spreadsheet formula or making a presentation clearer. It suits employees who already use Google Workspace and a Claude subscription and are tired of switching between tabs.

Companies should be aware that it is a beta version and that the IT department must give the green light for installation. Use the approval feature at first, so you check each change yourself, especially in spreadsheets with important figures.

Anthropic has also launched Claude Docs and Claude Slides, where you can create documents and presentations together with Claude outside of Google. That is separate news from the sidebar.