Claude and Gmail: how the Gmail connector works and how to set it up for a team

Anthropic's Gmail connector page (read 6 November 2026) says the connector lets Claude search your email and answer questions from what it finds, with citations that link back to the messages it used. Examples on the page include asking what a colleague said about a deadline, finding emails about a budget review and summarizing a conversation from last week.

Anthropic says Claude accesses only data from the Google account you connected, searches your email only when your request calls for it, and can search only the email you can already access. It lists the connector on the Pro, Max, Ultra, Team and Enterprise plans and does not label it beta.

Source: Anthropic, Gmail connector (https://claude.com/docs/connectors/google/gmail.md), read 6 November 2026.

Anthropic's steps for a member are: go to Customize, Connectors in claude.ai, find Gmail, select Connect, then sign in to Google and grant the requested permissions. When it works, the button changes to Disconnect. In a conversation, select the plus button, choose Connectors and turn Gmail on, then ask a question that needs your email. On Team and Enterprise plans, Gmail appears in the connector list only after an Owner or Primary Owner has enabled it for the organization.

If your company uses Outlook rather than Gmail, Anthropic's page points to its Microsoft 365 connector instead. We cover that on our Claude for Outlook page.

Source: Anthropic, Gmail connector (https://claude.com/docs/connectors/google/gmail.md), read 6 November 2026.

Anthropic's pages differ here. Its Gmail connector page says the connector is read-only and Claude cannot create, send or modify messages. Its Help Center article lists drafting, sending, replying and forwarding, with approval required by default and Owners deciding whether members can skip approvals. We cannot say which is current, so test it in a pilot before you set policy.

Both agree on the access rule: Claude sees only what the signed-in person can see. So govern who connects, which mailboxes are in scope and what staff may ask Claude to read. Anthropic says retrieved data is stored with the chat and removed when the chat is deleted, and that it cannot see embedded images.

Sources: Anthropic, Gmail connector and Help Center (URLs above), read 6 November 2026.

Anthropic's two pages disagree on drafting and sending, and its Help Center article shows only Updated this week, with no date. We did not open Google's documentation or Anthropic's getting-started page, did not confirm whether a person can connect more than one Google account, and did not test the connector. For anything not cited above, check Anthropic's current pages and your Google Admin console.