FREE · INSTALL STEPS + 3 PROMPTS
By Abi Odedeyi · CodeFreeIQ
Claude in Google Sheets, Docs and Slides, step by step
The install steps, the one setting I'd leave alone, and the three prompts I typed in the video. Plus the messy practice files, so you can try it before you touch your real work.
By Abi Odedeyi · CodeFreeIQ🧩
Install it once
From the Marketplace, or Extensions in any Google file.
📊
Three prompts
Sheets, then Docs, then Slides: one job through all three.
🛡️
Three checks
What it can see, whose name edits go under, and the limits.
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The steps, the prompts and the practice files
Practice files (made up, every name and number): messy-invoices-september.xlsx (a messy invoice export: two date formats, pound signs on some amounts, a row in twice, a blank client and a totals row) and messy-monthly-update.docx (a rambling monthly update). Upload both to Google Drive and open them in Sheets and Docs. For Slides, start a short deck with a title slide and one content slide.
Who can get it. Claude for Google Workspace is in public beta on all paid Claude plans: Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise. Your Google account also has to be allowed to install Marketplace apps. That is down to whoever runs your Google Workspace. If it is blocked you'll see "This application is not allowed by your administrator", and it's a conversation with your admin.
Install it (once). Go to workspace.google.com/marketplace and search for Claude, or open any Google file and go to Extensions, Add-ons, Get add-ons. Pick the Claude listing made by Anthropic and click Install. Choose your Google account, read the permissions, and allow them. Then reload any Docs, Sheets or Slides you have open. One install covers all three.
Open it. In your file, go to Extensions, Claude, Open Claude. The first time, sign in with your Claude account in the sidebar.
The one setting to leave alone. At the bottom of the sidebar there is a mode. The default is Ask before edits: every change Claude wants to make comes to you as a card first. The other option, Accept all edits, makes changes without stopping. If other people rely on a file, leave it on Ask before edits. Try Accept all edits on a copy.
PROMPT 1. GOOGLE SHEETS: THE MESSY EXPORT.
This is last month's export of invoices. Put a clean date next to the Date column and a numeric amount next to the Amount column, and leave my original columns alone. Flag any duplicate rows and any blank clients, but don't delete anything. Then add a new tab called Summary with total billed, total paid and total unpaid as SUM formulas that ignore the totals row at the bottom, a table of billed by service, and a chart of that table.
Check it. Click the total billed cell and read the formula. Then add up three rows yourself. On the practice file, total billed is £25,040, paid £19,410 and unpaid £5,630. Claude can only see the file it is open in, so copy the Summary table before you go to Docs.
PROMPT 2. GOOGLE DOCS: THE ONE-PAGE WRITE-UP.
First paste the Summary table from Sheets straight under the Summary paragraph. Then:
Rewrite the Summary as three short sentences, using the numbers in the table below it, not the numbers in the text. Turn the next steps paragraph into a table with three columns: Step, Who and By when. Make Summary, Clients, Money, Things to do and Notes from Thursdays call proper headings, all in the same style. Leave the Clients section as it is.
Check it. The practice Doc says "we billed about £24k". The table says £25,040. Read every number in the new summary against the table. Claude can't read comments in a Doc, so put anything you want it to do in the chat.
PROMPT 3. GOOGLE SLIDES: THREE SLIDES.
Type your own numbers in, because Slides can't see the sheet:
Add three slides for Monday's team meeting, using this deck's layouts. Slide one: September's headline, with billed £25,040, paid £19,410 and unpaid £5,630. Slide two: a chart of billed by service, using these figures: Design £11,040, Website £7,830, Photography £4,860, Support £1,310. Slide three: what we do next, in three short bullets. Then check your own work and tell me if anything overlaps, runs off a slide, or is hard to read.
Check it. Look at every slide yourself. Charts in Slides go in as pictures, so if a number changes later, ask for the chart again.
Three things to know before real work. 1. It sees the file you're in, whatever you've selected, and any connectors you switch on. Not the rest of your Drive unless you connect it. 2. Every edit goes in under your name. Use Undo, or File, Version history, to go back. It can't share your file or change who has access. 3. Keep the sidebar open, or the task stops. Big jobs can time out, so break them up. It works in Chrome, Edge and Safari, not Firefox.
What I'd do this week. Check your Google account can install from the Marketplace. Install it and try it on a copy of a file, with Ask before edits on. Then pick the one report you build every month and give Claude just that job. Want help setting it up for your team? Book a call.
Sources: Anthropic, "Claude now works in Google Docs, Sheets and Slides" (claude.com/resources/articles/claude-now-works-in-google-docs-sheets-and-slides, 6 October 2026) and the help article "Use Claude in Google Docs, Sheets and Slides" (support.claude.com), read 11 October 2026. It is a public beta, so buttons and wording may change. Check your own account.