Claude AI can now search your Outlook emails and Teams chats for free: Here’s how it works

Anthropic has announced a big change for all Claude users, allowing all its users to access the Microsoft 365 connector. Notably, the feature was earlier available only to Claude Team and Enterprise users, but with the new update, even free users can get Claude to access their Microsoft apps.

What is Claude’s Microsoft 365 connector?

The Microsoft 365 connector allows users to connect Claude to access, search, and analyse data on their Microsoft apps like Outlook, SharePoint, OneDrive, and Teams.

Rather than requiring users to manually upload files, the Microsoft 365 integration allows Claude to directly access recent emails, meeting transcripts, and stored documents, allowing the AI to gain real-time context from a user’s Microsoft 365 ecosystem to help with reasoning and everyday tasks.

What can Claude connector do with Microsoft 365 services?

Anthropic says that its connector currently provides read-only access to Microsoft 365 services. This allows users to perform the following tasks in the Microsoft apps:

SharePoint & OneDrive: Search and read documents, pages, and specific folders.

Outlook: Search emails using sender or date filters, and read email metadata or entire threads.

Calendar: Search upcoming calendar events and find available meeting times.

Teams: Search through Teams chat messages, channel conversations, and meeting transcripts.

However, Anthropic says the connector currently does not have any ‘write’ capabilities for now. This means that Claude cannot send emails, schedule meetings, create documents, or post messages on your behalf.

How to set up your Microsoft 365 connector

The setup process varies depending on your specific Claude subscription plan. However, Anthropic says all users must authenticate using a Microsoft 365 account tied to a Microsoft Entra tenant.

The AI startup currently does not have support for personal accounts for the Microsoft 365 connector.

For Free, Pro, and Max users:

Anthropic says in its support page that a Microsoft Entra Global Administrator for your organisation must complete a one-time consent process to allow the connection.

Once consent is granted, users can connect their accounts directly through their individual Claude settings under the Connectors menu.

For Team and Enterprise plans:

Anthropic mandates that Workspace Owners must first enable the integration by navigating to Organisation settings > Connectors > Browse connectors and selecting Add “Microsoft 365.”

After this, a Microsoft Entra Global Administrator must complete authentication and grant consent on behalf of the entire organisation.

Once these administrative approvals are in place, individual team members can activate the connector by navigating to their personal settings.