Connect Claude to Microsoft 365 | Search Outlook and Teams
When you want to have Claude read your company's emails or SharePoint documents and summarize them, the key is the Microsoft 365 Connector. This official connector from Anthropic enables Claude to search and analyze emails in Outlook, files in SharePoint and OneDrive, and chats and channels in Teams—all in one place. Previously a feature exclusive to Team and Enterprise plans, it was opened to all plans including Free, Pro, and Max in April 2026, making it available for individual users to connect their own Microsoft 365 accounts. This article covers what you can do with it, how it differs from Claude for Excel, the steps to connect, and the security considerations administrators need to know.
The Microsoft 365 Connector is an official read-only integration that connects Claude to your Outlook, SharePoint, OneDrive, and Teams, enabling you to search and summarize scattered work information across all of them. Previously available only for Team and Enterprise plans, it was opened to all plans—including Free, Pro, and Max—in April 2026, allowing individual users to connect their own Microsoft 365 accounts.
Once connected, you can give instructions like "Summarize what was decided in the #product-launch channel last week" or "Pull out unaddressed tasks from the email threads about the product launch." The defining feature is that you get answers to a single question spanning 6 services: Outlook, SharePoint, OneDrive, Teams, Calendar, and Meetings—and no write operations such as editing or deleting files are ever performed.
On the security side, the connector uses delegated permissions, meaning Claude can only access data that the operating user is permitted to see in Microsoft 365. Authentication is via OAuth 2.0, all Graph API calls are recorded in the Microsoft 365 audit log, and the connection can be revoked at the user, admin, or tenant level.
目次 (9)
- What Is the Microsoft 365 Connector — Cross-Service Querying for Your Work Data
- The 6 Services You Can Connect and What You Can Do
- How It Differs from Claude for Excel — Not the Same as "In-File Editing"
- Steps to Connect on Free, Pro, and Max Plans
- Steps to Enable on Team and Enterprise Plans
- The Read-Only Security Design
- Key Points Administrators Should Know
- Summary — Try It Free First, Then Roll Out to Your Organization Gradually
- References
What Is the Microsoft 365 Connector — Cross-Service Querying for Your Work Data
The Microsoft 365 Connector is an Anthropic-hosted integration that connects Claude to your Microsoft 365 tenant, allowing it to search and analyze your work data. Once connected, you can issue instructions directly from the Claude chat interface, such as "Summarize what was decided in the #product-launch channel last week" or "Pull out unaddressed tasks from the email threads about the product launch."
The key point is that this is a read-only integration focused on search and analysis. Claude cannot send emails on your behalf or edit and delete files. It is purely a tool for searching across "data you already have access to" and summarizing it (Claude Official Connectors Page). It is available from the web version, desktop app, and mobile app.
The 6 Services You Can Connect and What You Can Do
The Microsoft 365 services supported by the connector, and what Claude can do with each, are listed below. The corresponding Microsoft Graph permission scopes are also shown (Claude Help Center).
| Service | What You Can Do | Permission Scope |
|---|---|---|
| Outlook | Search and read emails | Mail.Read |
| SharePoint | Search documents within sites | Sites.Read.All |
| OneDrive | Search and view files | Files.Read.All |
| Teams | Read chats and channel messages | ChannelMessage.Read.All |
| Calendar | Check appointments and events | Calendars.Read |
| Meetings | View transcripts and recordings | OnlineMeetingTranscript.Read.All |
For example, you can handle multi-service tasks like "Find and summarize the project proposals I submitted this quarter" or "Gather notes on the Q4 budget plan related to next week's meetings"—all with a single instruction. Everything is read-only; no write operations are provided.
How It Differs from Claude for Excel — Not the Same as "In-File Editing"
It's easy to confuse the Microsoft 365 Connector with Claude for Excel, which runs as a sidebar within Excel or Word. The two have similar names but very different roles. Claude for Excel is an add-in embedded within Office applications that actually creates and edits cells and text, with its primary use cases in model selection and financial modeling (see Choosing a Model for Claude for Excel for details).
The Microsoft 365 Connector, on the other hand, is a feature that reads across your Outlook, SharePoint, Teams, and other data from the Claude side to search and summarize it. A simple way to think about it: the former "works inside files," while the latter "gathers scattered information and answers questions." Using both together, you could gather related materials with the connector and then build out specific numbers with the Excel add-in.
Steps to Connect on Free, Pro, and Max Plans
On personal plans, each member can connect on their own. The steps are as follows:
- Go to Claude's settings screen and open "Customize > Connectors."
- Find "Microsoft 365" in the list and click "Connect."
- On the Microsoft sign-in screen that appears, enter your Microsoft 365 account credentials.
- Review the permission consent screen that is displayed and grant permission.
Once the connection is complete, you can enable the connector within chat and start asking questions about your Microsoft 365 data. Note that depending on your organization's tenant settings, prior admin consent may be required, in which case the Team/Enterprise setup steps below become a prerequisite.
Steps to Enable on Team and Enterprise Plans
For organizational use, setup involves a two-step process on both the Claude side and the Microsoft side.
- The Claude organization owner opens "Organization settings > Connectors" and enables Microsoft 365 by clicking "Add to your team."
- A Microsoft Entra Global Administrator grants consent once for the entire tenant.
There are two ways for the Entra admin to grant consent. One is to check the consent box that appears during Claude's standard connection flow. The other is to manually configure two service principals and permissions in Microsoft Entra ID (Help Center). Because this has a significant impact on the entire tenant, it is recommended to confirm the scopes with your security team in advance when deploying organization-wide.
The Read-Only Security Design
The core of this connector's security is delegated permissions. Claude does not operate with organization-wide elevated privileges; instead, it inherits the permissions of the individual user performing the action. This means Claude cannot access any data in Microsoft 365 that you yourself do not have permission to view (Security Guide).
Authentication is handled via OAuth 2.0 without sharing passwords, and all permissions are limited to read-only. Data is only retrieved at query execution time and file contents are never cached. In addition, all Graph API calls are recorded in the Microsoft 365 audit log, making it possible to trace who accessed what and when. Revocation is possible at the user, admin, permission, or tenant level.
Key Points Administrators Should Know
While convenient, there are considerations from an administrator's perspective. Given that relatively broad permission scopes like Sites.Read.All are granted, it is natural for security teams to proceed with caution. Some permissions can be disabled individually, but functionality will be correspondingly limited (office365itpros explanation).
On the data protection side, Restricted Content Discovery (RCD) works to exclude out-of-scope content, and encrypted sensitivity-labeled files cannot be accessed. There are also preparatory steps required for deployment, such as registering Anthropic as a subprocessor. It's worth noting that Microsoft 365 Copilot has the advantage when it comes to deep integration, auditing, and governance, while Claude's connector is best understood as excelling in use cases where "individuals or small teams need to quickly query existing data"—a framing that makes it easier to determine which to use.
Summary — Try It Free First, Then Roll Out to Your Organization Gradually
The Microsoft 365 Connector is a read-only integration that connects Claude to your Outlook, SharePoint, OneDrive, and Teams to enable cross-service search and summarization of scattered work information. Now that it has been opened to all plans in 2026, a practical approach is to first connect via a personal Free, Pro, or Max account to evaluate its usefulness, and then—if deemed valuable—deploy to Team or Enterprise with consent from the organization owner and Entra admin. Combined with Claude for Excel, which works directly inside files, you can connect the dots from information gathering through to concrete execution, all within Claude.
