AI for Women Entrepreneurs · Updated October 8, 2026
To use Claude in Google Docs, install the Claude add-on from the Google Workspace Marketplace, open it from Extensions, then Claude, then Open Claude, and ask it to change the file you have open. It’s in beta on Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise plans, and by default it shows you each edit and waits for your yes before it touches anything. Setup takes about 10 to 15 minutes.
7 minute read
Who this is for and what it saves you
This is for you if your business lives in Google Drive: the welcome packet you rewrite for every new client, the pricing sheet, the workshop slides you rebuild every season. Working on those files with Claude used to mean copying the text out, working on it in a chat window, pasting it back, and then fixing the formatting you broke on the way.
With the Claude sidebar, Claude reads the file you have open, sees whatever you’ve highlighted, and edits it right there. You stay in the document the whole time. What you get back is the copy, paste and reformat loop, plus an AI tool you can show a nervous team member, because nothing changes without a yes.
Checking AI’s work is the part many owners say wears them out. In a FreshBooks survey of 500 solopreneurs and microbusiness owners, run by Wakefield Research, 86% said they try AI before hiring someone, and nearly two thirds (65%) said reviewing its work and checking it for accuracy can create a risk of “AI burnout.” The sidebar puts that review step right where the edit happens: each change shows up as an approval card, so you check it as Claude makes it.
What you need before you start
- A paid Claude plan. Anthropic lists the add-on as a beta on Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise.
- A Google account that’s allowed to install Marketplace apps. On a Workspace account run by someone else, their admin settings decide this.
- A Claude account to sign in with. API keys and cloud-provider sign-ins don’t work in the sidebar.
- Chrome, Edge or Safari. Firefox loads the sidebar but actions don’t finish.
- A copy of a Google Doc you can afford to play with. Don’t practice on the original.
- About 10 to 15 minutes.
Every setup detail below comes from Anthropic’s own pages, checked on October 8, 2026: the Help Center guide and the October 6 announcement.
The steps to set up Claude in Google Docs, Sheets and Slides
One install covers all three apps.
1. Check that you can install Marketplace apps
Open the Google Workspace Marketplace and search for Claude. If you use Google through a company, or you’re helping a client who does, the install can be blocked by their admin settings.
If you see “This application is not allowed by your administrator,” that admin needs to allowlist Claude or install it for the whole organization. On your own Google account you’re the admin, so you can skip that worry.
› What you’ll see: the Claude listing with an Install button.
2. Install the add-on
Click Install, choose your Google account, and click Continue. Review the permissions and click Allow.
Anthropic says Claude asks for two things: permission to show its sidebar inside Google apps, and permission to view and manage the file it’s open in. It doesn’t ask for access to your Drive, Gmail or Calendar. Reload any Docs, Sheets or Slides file that was already open.
› What you’ll see: a confirmation from Google that Claude is installed. Files you open from here on will have it.
3. Open Claude inside a Google Doc
Open a copy of a document. Go to Extensions, then Claude, then Open Claude. The keyboard shortcut is Alt+/ (Option+/ on a Mac), then type Claude.
Sign in with your Claude account when the sidebar asks. If Claude isn’t in the Extensions menu, reload the file. The menu item only shows up in files opened after you installed.
› What you’ll see: a Claude chat panel on the right side of your document, with a text box at the bottom.
4. Check the permission mode
At the bottom of the sidebar there’s a mode selector with two settings. “Ask before edits” is the default. Claude describes each planned action in everyday language and waits for you to click Allow. “Accept all edits” lets it make ordinary changes without pausing.
Leave it on Ask before edits. Even in Accept all mode, Claude still pauses for anything involving links, outside images, web addresses or who has access to the file.
› What you’ll see: “Ask before edits” showing at the bottom of the sidebar.
5. Make your first edit
Highlight one paragraph. Tell Claude what to do in the words you’d use with a person: “tighten this,” “rewrite this for a woman who has never hired help,” or “turn these notes into a table.”
Be specific about one change. A small request shows you how it behaves before you hand it a bigger job.
› What you’ll see: Claude explains what it plans to change and shows an approval card. Click Allow and watch your own document update.
6. Say no once on purpose
Ask for another small change and click to decline it. It feels a little silly and it’s worth the ten seconds.
Once you’ve seen what declining looks like, you can show anyone else on your team that they stay in charge of every edit.
› What you’ll see: your document stays exactly as it was, and Claude waits for your next instruction.
7. Try Sheets and Slides
Open a Google Sheet and ask Claude to explain a formula, or to flag numbers that were typed in by hand instead of calculated. Open a Google Slides deck and ask it to check for overlapping text and anything hard to read. In Slides it builds new slides from your deck’s own layouts and themes.
Same install, same sidebar, same approval cards.
› What you’ll see: the sidebar behaves the way it did in Docs, using the file you have open.
How it looks in two businesses
For the solopreneur
Picture a coach with a Google Doc called Client Welcome Packet that she rewrites by hand for every new client. She opens a copy, highlights the first paragraph, and asks Claude to rewrite it for a new client in a different industry. The approval card appears, she says yes, and the paragraph changes in her own document. Next she does her service descriptions, her FAQ page and her onboarding checklist, one paragraph at a time.
For the multi-six-figure operator
Picture an operator whose team keeps SOPs, proposal templates and board decks in Google Workspace. Her question is control. Ask before edits is the default, so every change shows up as an approval card. On Team and Enterprise plans, Anthropic says admins decide how Claude is installed, with options to scope it to certain groups, and Enterprise adds a Compliance API for reviewing sessions.
She starts with one department and one file type: last quarter’s board deck in Slides, checked for overlapping text and hard-to-read slides. The risk is low and the result is easy to see.
Three mistakes to avoid
1. Switching to Accept all edits on day one
A tool you haven’t watched work yet shouldn’t get a free hand in your client documents.
› What you’ll see: The fix: keep Ask before edits on for your first two weeks. Switch only when you trust how it handles your files.
2. Practicing on your only copy
Claude’s edits go straight into the file,.
› What you’ll see: The fix: go to File, then Make a copy, and test on the copy. Once you trust it, work in the original.
3. Closing the sidebar or asking for too much at once
Anthropic says closing the sidebar stops the task, and each operation is limited to six minutes.
› What you’ll see: The fix: keep the sidebar open while Claude works. Split a big job into stages, such as “do the first three sections,” then “continue.”
Frequently asked questions
How do I use Claude in Google Docs?
Install Claude from the Google Workspace Marketplace, open a Google Doc, and go to Extensions, then Claude, then Open Claude. Sign in with your Claude account, then highlight text and tell Claude what to change. By default, it asks for your approval before each edit.
Is Claude in Google Docs free?
The add-on is in beta on Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise plans, so it needs a paid Claude plan. I didn’t find a separate charge for the add-on in Anthropic’s documentation.
Will Claude change my Google Doc without asking?
Not in the default mode. Ask before edits shows an approval card for each change. If you switch to Accept all edits, Claude makes ordinary changes without pausing, and it still asks before anything involving links, outside images or file access. It never shares the file or changes who owns it.
Can Claude see the rest of my Google Drive?
No. It works only on the file you have open. It can’t open, create, copy, export or download other files, and Anthropic says it doesn’t request access to your Drive, Gmail or Calendar.
Why is Claude missing from my Extensions menu?
Reload the file. The menu item only appears in files opened after you installed the add-on. If it’s still missing, your Google Workspace admin may be blocking Marketplace installs.
Is it safe to use with client documents?
The file’s content is sent to Claude so it can respond. Anthropic’s Help Center says it doesn’t use that content to train its models and deletes inputs and outputs within 30 days. It also says the extension isn’t covered for HIPAA, so keep protected health information out of it.
Your next step
Install the add-on today, open a copy of one document you use all the time, highlight one paragraph, and ask for one change. Approve it. Then decline the next one on purpose. That’s ten minutes, and you’ll know exactly how this works before you teach it to anyone else.
Build your first AI employees with me
The sidebar is a good first step. If you want a whole AI team working in your business, Hire & Train Your First AI Employees is six live Zoom sessions starting Thursday, November 5, 2026. You build the Executive Assistant and the Chief Publicity Officer, plus the six employees who report to them, then three implementation sessions to finish what you started.
There are 25 seats, and enrollment closes Thursday, November 12. It’s $1,297, or 3 payments of $467.
Want the weekly AI news without the homework? Get it in the Insider Secrets newsletter, or grab the free AI Org Chart to map the employees your business needs first.
ABOUT MARYBETH WELTY
Marybeth Welty is a business coach and systems strategist, and the founder of Women Entrepreneurs Who Travel. She has spent 19 years traveling between the US and Canada and across 11 countries, building and running her businesses from villas, co-working spaces, cafes, and everything in between.
These days she builds AI employees: the assistants, planners, and follow-up systems that take over the repetitive parts of a business. She helps women entrepreneurs put those systems, their offers, and their mindset together so they can have time, location, and financial freedom.
Follow her on Instagram @marybethwelty, or come join the free Facebook community, Women Entrepreneurs Who Travel.
