Claude and Microsoft 365
Claude for Excel: how the add-in works and how to roll it out to a team
A plain guide for finance, operations and IT leads. Every fact about the add-in is taken from Anthropic's own documentation as read on 6 November 2026. Settings and availability change, so check the cited pages before you act.
Claude for Excel is an add-in from Anthropic that lets you ask Claude about the workbook you have open, change values while keeping formulas intact, and debug errors. Anthropic's documentation (read 6 November 2026) lists it as generally available on the Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise plans. Admins can deploy it to a whole organization through the Microsoft 365 Admin Center. This page covers setup, the plugin and connector question, and what a team should decide before turning it on.
plain answer
Claude for Excel: what is it?
Claude for Excel is an add-in that brings Claude into Excel. Anthropic's documentation says you can ask questions about open workbooks and get answers with cell-level citations, adjust assumptions while keeping formula relationships intact, find the cause of errors, and build new models or fill in existing templates.
Anthropic states it is generally available on the Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise plans, so it is not a beta, and it is tied to those plans. It runs on Excel for the web, on Windows with a Microsoft 365 subscription at build 16.0.13127.20296 or later, and on Mac at version 16.46 or later. Anthropic lists Excel 2016 and 2019 perpetual or volume licenses, Excel on iPad and Excel on Android as unsupported, and says data tables and macros or VBA operations are not supported.
Source: Anthropic, Use Claude for Excel (https://claude.com/docs/office-agents/excel), read 6 November 2026.
how to
Claude Excel integration: how do you set it up for a team?
Anthropic says organization admins can deploy the add-in through the Microsoft 365 Admin Center. The documented steps are: turn on "Let users access the Office Store" under Settings, Org Settings, User owned apps and services; open Settings, Integrated apps, Add-ins; search for "Claude for Microsoft 365" in Microsoft AppSource; then assign it to the organization or to chosen users or groups. After deployment, each person activates the add-in from the Add-ins menu in Excel and signs in.
Two exceptions are on Anthropic's page. If your organization uses Microsoft Entra Privileged Identity Management for admin roles, Anthropic says the Integrated apps page does not recognize roles activated that way and deployment fails; it describes this as a known Microsoft issue and suggests deploying from an account with the role permanently active. Where Office Store access is disabled, admins deploy with a custom manifest file instead.
Source: Anthropic, Use Claude for Excel, section Deploy to your organization (https://claude.com/docs/office-agents/excel), read 6 November 2026.
how to
How do you connect Claude to Excel?
For one person, Anthropic's steps are: open the Claude for Microsoft 365 listing on Microsoft AppSource, select Get it now, then open Excel, activate the add-in and sign in with your Claude account. Your use is tied to your existing Claude account and its usage limits.
If your organization sends AI traffic through Amazon Bedrock, Google Cloud Vertex AI, Azure AI Foundry or an LLM gateway, Anthropic says an admin can deploy the add-in without individual Claude accounts. In that mode the models come from that platform and your admin's configuration. Anthropic documents this on a separate page, which we did not open, so check it before planning around it.
Source: Anthropic, Use Claude for Excel (https://claude.com/docs/office-agents/excel), read 6 November 2026.
how to
Is there a Claude Excel plugin or MCP server?
The add-in is what most people mean by a Claude Excel plugin: it installs from Microsoft AppSource and runs inside Excel. Anthropic also says the add-in supports connectors for pulling outside context into a workbook, and Skills for reusable task recipes. Connectors and Skills are enabled in your Claude settings. Connectors are added from the plus button under the chat input; Skills apply automatically or by typing a slash in the sidebar.
On MCP, Anthropic's connectors page says that when you connect through a third-party platform, connectors are the MCP servers your admin configures. It warns that custom connectors can introduce security risks and points to its guidance on remote MCP before you enable one. We found no Anthropic page describing a separate Excel MCP server, so this page does not claim one exists.
Sources: Anthropic, Use Claude for Excel (https://claude.com/docs/office-agents/excel) and Connectors and Skills (https://claude.com/docs/office-agents/connectors-and-skills.md), both read 6 November 2026.
security
What should a team govern before turning on Claude for Excel?
Start with data. Anthropic says the add-in sends your conversations to Anthropic, including content Claude reads from your workbook and files you attach, and that clearing chat history removes only the copy stored in your browser. It says inputs and outputs are deleted within 30 days, with stated exceptions.
Next, oversight. Anthropic states the add-in does not inherit custom data retention settings your organization may have set, and that its activity is not included in Enterprise audit logs. For Enterprise organizations with the Compliance API enabled, it says Claude for Excel sessions are included in that API. Check this before rollout.
Then, risk. Anthropic warns to use the add-in only with trusted spreadsheets, because outside files can hide instructions that try to extract data or change records. It also advises against relying on it for final client deliverables without human review, or for audit-critical calculations without verification.
Source: Anthropic, Use Claude for Excel, sections Data handling, Current limitations and Prompt injection risk (https://claude.com/docs/office-agents/excel), read 6 November 2026.
kriv role
Where Kriv helps
Kriv AI helps teams roll Claude out in the work they already do: who gets the add-in, which workbooks are in scope, how outputs are reviewed before they leave the team, and how people are trained on their own models and reports. Kriv AI has achieved the Select partner tier in the Claude Partner Network Services Track.
Kriv did not build the add-in and does not replace Anthropic's or Microsoft's documentation. Your own admins hold the access, and the settings your plan includes are Anthropic's to confirm.
limits
What this page could not confirm
Anthropic's page for the add-in carries no last-updated date and, as read on 6 November 2026, a warning about missing chat history and skills after recent Microsoft 365 updates on Windows. We did not open Anthropic's pages on data storage, third-party platforms or the Compliance API, did not test the add-in, and did not read Microsoft's own add-in documentation. For anything not cited above, check Anthropic's current page and your own Microsoft 365 Admin Center.
Straight answers
Frequently asked questions about Claude for Excel: how the add-in works and how to roll it out to a team
Is Claude for Excel free?
Anthropic does not list a Free plan for it; it is on Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise (read 6 November 2026). Check Anthropic's pricing page for current plan terms; this page does not quote prices.
Does Claude for Excel work on every version of Excel?
No. Anthropic lists Excel for the web, Windows with a Microsoft 365 subscription (build 16.0.13127.20296 or later) and Mac (version 16.46 or later) as supported, and lists Excel 2016 and 2019 perpetual or volume licenses, iPad and Android as unsupported (read 6 November 2026).
Can Claude run macros or VBA in my workbook?
Anthropic lists macros and VBA operations, and data tables, as unsupported capabilities (read 6 November 2026).
Does Claude for Excel show up in our audit logs?
Anthropic says activity is not included in Enterprise audit logs, and that Enterprise organizations with the Compliance API enabled get Claude for Excel sessions in that API (read 6 November 2026). Confirm which applies to you.
Can Kriv set up Claude for Excel for us?
Kriv AI helps plan the rollout and trains your team on your own workbooks. Your admins deploy the add-in in your own Microsoft 365 Admin Center.
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