Claude Cowork's Microsoft 365 integration covers two distinct layers:
- The M365 MCP Connector — launched February 13, 2026. Lets Cowork read your Outlook, OneDrive, SharePoint, and Teams data from within desktop task sessions.
- Excel and PowerPoint Add-ins — launched February 20, 2026 (beta). Embeds Claude directly inside Excel and PowerPoint for in-app assistance.
Together, they enable end-to-end workflows like: analyze an Excel model → build a summary presentation in PowerPoint → draft the email to distribute it in Outlook — all within a single Cowork session.
Part 1: The Microsoft 365 MCP Connector
What It Gives Cowork Access To
| Service | What Claude Can Do | |---------|-------------------| | OneDrive / SharePoint | Search and read documents across drives and sites | | Outlook | Read email threads, find messages, extract information | | Teams | Search chat history, channel discussions, meeting summaries |
Important: The current connector provides read-only access. Claude can read your M365 data but cannot send emails, create calendar events, or modify files in SharePoint without separate permissions.
Setting Up the M365 Connector
Step 1: Enable the connector in Claude Desktop
Open Claude Desktop → Connectors → find Microsoft 365 → click Connect.
You'll be redirected to a Microsoft authentication page. Sign in with your work or personal Microsoft account and approve the permissions.
Step 2: For Enterprise / Team plans — admin setup
Admins enable the connector organization-wide from the Anthropic dashboard:
- Go to claude.ai/settings/organization
- Select Connectors
- Toggle Microsoft 365 to enabled
- Employees will see the connector available in their Claude Desktop
Step 3: Verify the connection
In a Cowork session, try:
Search my OneDrive for documents related to [project name] and summarize what you find.
If it returns results, the connector is working.
What Cowork Can Do With M365 Data
Synthesize information across sources:
I'm preparing for the Q2 planning meeting.
Search my OneDrive for any Q1 reports, check Teams for any relevant channel discussions
from the past month, and write a briefing document that captures the key themes.
Extract insights from email:
Search my Outlook for all emails from [vendor] over the past 6 months.
Summarize the key asks, commitments made, and any unresolved issues.
Find documents without knowing where they are:
I need the contract template we used for enterprise customers last year.
Search SharePoint and OneDrive and find it.
Security Model
The M365 connector uses user-delegated permissions, meaning Claude only has access to files and emails your Microsoft account already has permission to view — it doesn't gain any elevated access.
Your M365 data is not cached. Anthropic only retrieves data on demand during active queries and does not store it beyond the session.
The connector is available for Team and Enterprise plans by default. Pro and Max users can enable it individually from Claude Desktop settings.
Part 2: Excel and PowerPoint Add-ins
The add-ins put Claude directly inside Excel and PowerPoint as a sidebar panel. This is different from the M365 connector — instead of Cowork reaching out to read your Office files, Claude is available inside the apps themselves.
Installing the Add-ins
In Excel:
- Open Excel → Insert tab → Get Add-ins
- Search for Claude by Anthropic
- Click Add → the Claude panel appears on the right side of the screen
In PowerPoint: Same process — Insert → Get Add-ins → Claude by Anthropic.
Alternatively, the add-ins are available on the Microsoft AppSource marketplace.
What the Excel Add-in Can Do
The Claude panel in Excel understands the spreadsheet you have open. You can ask it questions or give it instructions using natural language.
Formula help:
Write a formula that calculates the compound annual growth rate from cells B2 (start value)
to B8 (end value), where the years are in column A.
Data analysis:
Analyze the data in Sheet1. What are the top 3 trends? Are there any outliers I should investigate?
Chart creation:
Create a bar chart comparing Q1-Q4 revenue by region using the data in columns A through E.
Data cleaning:
In column C, some dates are formatted as MM/DD/YYYY and others as YYYY-MM-DD.
Standardize them all to YYYY-MM-DD.
What the PowerPoint Add-in Can Do
Generate slides from an outline:
Create a 5-slide executive summary presentation based on this outline: [paste outline]
Improve existing slides:
The text on slide 3 is too long for a presentation. Rewrite the bullet points to be
concise and scannable (max 8 words per bullet).
Write speaker notes:
Add speaker notes to slides 4 through 7. Each note should include the key message
to convey and one supporting data point.
Accessibility audit:
Review this presentation for accessibility issues: missing alt text, low-contrast text,
slides with too much content. Give me a list of what to fix.
Part 3: Cross-App Workflows (Excel ↔ PowerPoint)
The most powerful capability comes from combining the add-ins with Cowork's desktop agent: multi-step workflows that move context seamlessly between Excel and PowerPoint.
Claude retains context across the entire workflow — you don't need to re-explain the data when you move from Excel to PowerPoint.
Example: Earnings Analysis → Slide Deck
1. Open ~/Finance/Q4-earnings-model.xlsx and analyze the revenue and margin trends.
2. Update the summary table on the 'Dashboard' sheet with Q4 actuals.
3. Based on the updated model, build a 6-slide earnings summary presentation and
save it to ~/Presentations/Q4-earnings-summary.pptx
4. Add speaker notes to each slide with the key talking point for that section.
Cowork handles steps 1-4 as a single session, passing context from the Excel analysis into the PowerPoint build without losing state between apps.
Example: Weekly KPI Report
1. Read ~/Data/weekly-metrics.csv and calculate week-over-week changes for each KPI.
2. Update the metrics table in ~/Reports/kpi-tracker.xlsx with this week's numbers.
3. Create a PowerPoint slide with a visual summary of the top 3 metrics
and save to ~/Presentations/weekly-kpi-{date}.pptx
Comparison: Connector vs. Add-ins vs. Cowork Session
| | M365 Connector | Office Add-ins | Cowork Session | |--|---------------|---------------|----------------| | Where it runs | Claude Desktop | Inside Excel / PPT | Claude Desktop | | Access | Read-only (Outlook, OneDrive, Teams) | Active workbook only | Files + connectors | | Best for | Research, synthesis, finding docs | In-app assistance | End-to-end workflows | | Multi-step tasks | No | No | Yes | | Plans | Team / Enterprise | Pro, Max, Team, Enterprise | All paid plans |
For most enterprise workflows, use Cowork sessions when you need the full multi-step workflow, and the add-ins for quick in-document help.
Troubleshooting
"M365 connector can't find my documents" Make sure you authenticated with the correct Microsoft account. If your org uses multiple tenants, confirm you're signed into the right one.
"Excel add-in doesn't see my data" The add-in only has access to the currently open workbook. Close and reopen the workbook and try again.
"Cross-app workflow stopped between Excel and PowerPoint" If Claude Desktop loses the session, restart the Cowork task and reference the already-saved Excel file explicitly by path.
Next Steps
- Set up scheduled tasks to run M365-connected workflows automatically
- For financial workflows, see the Financial Analysis and Investment Banking plugins
- For full enterprise setup, see the Enterprise Deployment Guide