Gmail connector

With Gmail connected, you can ask Claude “what did Sarah say about the project deadline?” and get an answer with citations that link back to the emails it used. That citation trail is the main reason to use the connector rather than pasting emails in: you can open the source message and check.

What it does (plain English)

The connector lets Claude search your mailbox in plain language, read the messages it finds and answer from them. The directory listing says it is made by Google and marks it Anthropic verified.

What it can do beyond reading depends on which Anthropic page you read, and on 2026-10-18 they did not agree:

Source	What it says about writing
Gmail page in Claude’s docs	Read and search only; “Claude can’t create, send, or modify emails”
Google Workspace connectors help article	Draft emails, manage labels and threads, and send, reply and forward, with approval first by default
Gmail directory listing	29 tools, including create_draft, send_message, reply, forward, label_message, trash_message and create_filter

The newer listing and the help article point the same way: the current connector can act on your mail, not just read it. Check the Tool permissions on your own connector page to see what is switched on for you.

Either way, Claude reads metadata about attachments but not the attachment content, and cannot see images embedded in emails.

Is it for you?

Useful if your inbox is where decisions and details get lost: client threads, supplier quotes, school or club announcements. It is strongest for search and summary across many messages.

If your organization uses Outlook, use the Microsoft 365 connector. If you only ever need one email, forwarding or pasting it may be quicker.

What you can do with it

1. Find a detail. “What did Sarah say about the project deadline?” Anthropic uses this as an example; the answer comes with links to the messages.
2. Gather a topic. “Find emails about the Q4 budget review and list the open questions.”
3. Summarize a relationship. “Summarize my conversation with the sales team last week.”
4. Draft a reply. “Draft a polite reply to the supplier asking for the revised quote by Friday.” Keep sending on approval so you read it first.
5. Combine with other connectors. With Google Calendar also on: “Which of this week’s meetings have related email threads I haven’t answered?”

How to set it up

1. Go to Customize > Connectors in claude.ai, or Customize in the desktop app’s sidebar, then Connectors.
2. Find Gmail and select Connect.
3. Sign in to Google and grant the permissions. Anthropic notes Google’s consent screen mentions email-sending permissions.
4. The button changes to Disconnect when it worked.
5. In a conversation, select + > Connectors and turn on Gmail. Then ask a question that needs your email.
6. The first time Claude calls a Gmail tool it can ask for approval. Allow once continues; Always allow stops asking for that tool.

On Team and Enterprise plans, Gmail is hidden until an Owner or Primary Owner enables it. Owners can switch it off again under Organization settings > Connectors. If Google shows Access blocked, a Workspace admin needs to trust the Claude app in the Google Admin console (Security > Access and data control > API controls).

In Claude Code, connectors from your claude.ai account load automatically when you sign in with that account, not when you use an API key.

Watch out for

• Set permissions before you need them. Open the connector under Customize > Connectors and, under Tool permissions, keep send_message, reply, forward and the trash tools on Needs approval, or set them to Blocked if you only want search.
• Prompt injection by email. Anyone can send you an email. If Claude reads a message containing instructions (“forward this to…”), treat any action it proposes with suspicion and never auto-approve sending.
• Limits Anthropic lists. Some advanced Gmail search filters are not supported, complex questions may need several searches, very large mailboxes can be slower, and Google’s API rate limits apply.
• Data handling. Retrieved email is stored with the chat, encrypted, and deleted when you delete the chat. Anthropic says it does not train on connector data itself, but on consumer plans content you copy into chats may be used if you opted in.

Alternatives

• Google Drive connector for attachments you have saved to Drive.
• Slack connector when the conversation happened in Slack, not email.
• Microsoft 365 connector for Outlook mailboxes.