Reads
- Search your mail in plain language and read whole threads
- Email details, including attachment names, but not attachment contents
- Your labels and saved drafts
How to connect Claude to Gmail
Gmail has an official Claude connector, made by Google, in Claude’s connector directory. In Claude, go to Customize, then Connectors, add Gmail, and sign in with Google. Claude can then search and read your email, draft replies, and send, reply, or forward. By default it asks for your approval before each send. It’s available on every Claude plan.
Set it up in five steps
About two minutes for a rep. Longer only if your Google Workspace admin has to approve Claude first.
Step 1: Check your admin settings
On a Claude Team or Enterprise plan, an Owner or Primary Owner has to enable the Google Workspace connectors for the organization before anyone can sign in.
Step 2: Add Gmail in Claude
Go to Customize, then Connectors, and click the plus sign. Find Gmail and click Connect.
Step 3: Sign in with Google
Choose the Google account to connect. Google’s consent screen mentions sending email. That’s expected: Claude can send, but it asks you first by default.
Step 4: If Google blocks the sign-in
If you see “Access blocked: your institution’s admin needs to review Claude,” your Google Workspace admin marks Claude as trusted: admin.google.com, Security, Access and data control, API controls, and Manage third-party app access. It takes about 15 minutes to apply.
Step 5: Turn it on and set permissions
In a chat, click the plus sign, then Connectors, and toggle Gmail on. In Customize, then Connectors, you can set each Gmail tool to Always allow, Needs approval, or Blocked.
What Claude can do in Gmail
From Gmail’s and Anthropic’s own docs, as of October 20, 2026.
Changes
- Draft emails and replies, and update drafts
- Send, reply, and forward, with your approval by default
- Apply and remove labels, create filters, mark spam, and move mail to trash
Can’t do
- Claude can’t read what’s inside attachments.
- Some advanced Gmail search filters aren’t supported, and very large mailboxes can be slower.
- Google’s API rate limits apply, and complex questions can take several calls.
Using more than one Gmail account
Claude reads the Gmail for the Google account you connected, and only that account. To use a different one, go to Customize, then Connectors, open the Google connector, click Disconnect, and connect again with the other account.
If you sell from a work account and keep a personal one, connect the work account. Third-party tools and community-built Gmail MCP servers offer several accounts at once, but they hold your Google access outside Google and Anthropic. Check them with IT first.
Three prompts to try with Gmail
Copy one, swap in your own deal, and run it with Gmail turned on. The replies are examples with a made-up company, Acme.
- Prompt 1
A follow-up that sounds like you
Claude reads the thread and drafts the reply. Nothing sends until you approve it, so you can edit freely.
YouFind my last email thread with Dana at Acme. Draft a follow-up in my usual tone that recaps what they asked for, answers their pricing question, and offers two times next week. Don’t send it.
ClaudeExampleDraft reply to Dana at Acme
- Hi Dana, thanks for the time today.
- On pricing: the annual plan covers all 12 seats.
- Does Tuesday at 10 or Wednesday at 2 work?
- Draft saved. Not sent.
- Prompt 2
Find what you promised
Sent mail is where the forgotten promises live. Claude can list them in one pass.
YouSearch my sent mail from the last 30 days for anything I promised a prospect: a deck, a case study, an intro, or a call. List each one with the date and whether I followed through.
ClaudeExamplePromises from the last 30 days
- Case study to Acme, Oct 3: sent
- CTO intro for Globex, Oct 9: not sent yet
- Deck to Initech, Oct 14: sent
- Prompt 3
Catch up on a long thread before a call
When five people have replied over three weeks, Claude gives you the state of play in a minute.
YouSummarize the full email thread with Acme since our first meeting: who’s involved, what they asked, what we sent, and what’s still open.
ClaudeExampleAcme thread, 14 emails
- Involved: Dana (ops), Jordan (VP Sales), their legal team
- Asked: SSO, data retention, a reference call
- Still open: the reference call
Claude with Gmail vs Arrows
Claude can drive one tool when one rep asks. Arrows drives the whole team’s stack on every deal, with no prompt. Arrows connects to Gmail, Outlook, and Google Calendar. It reads each deal’s emails alongside the CRM and the calls, and drafts the follow-up for the rep to approve.
Questionwith the Gmail connector
with the Gmail connectorWho starts the workA rep types a prompt.Arrows starts on its own when something happens on a deal. No prompt.
How many dealsThe one the rep is asking about.Every deal in the pipeline.
What it followsThat rep’s prompt.Your team’s playbook and each deal’s gameplan.
Which toolsGmail, plus whatever else that rep has connected.Your team’s CRM, email, call recorder, and docs, through MCP.
Who decides what can happenEach person’s tool permissions: Always allow, Needs approval, or Blocked.Leaders set Off, Ask first, or Allow for every tool, for the whole team.
The follow-upDrafted when a rep asks, from the thread the rep points to.Drafted after every call from the transcript, the CRM, and the deal’s emails, with the next step and its date.
SendingClaude asks before it sends, one email at a time.Every draft arrives finished, and the rep approves it before anything sends.
Arrows is its own product, not part of Claude. Your reps can keep using Claude alongside it.
Agent kickoff
Every tool. Every deal. No prompts.
An Agent Architect connects your stack and sets what Arrows can do in each tool. Then Arrows does the follow-through on every deal, and your reps approve what matters.
Book an agent kickoffTool permissionsExample settings
- Gmail
HubSpot
Salesforce
Gong
Granola
Gmail and Claude: common questions
Can Claude access my Gmail?
Yes, once you connect Google’s Gmail connector. Claude can search your mail, read full threads, see attachment names, and work with labels and drafts. It only reads the Google account you connected, and only when you ask for something that needs it.
Is it safe to connect Claude to Gmail?
Claude mirrors your Google permissions, asks before each send by default, and Anthropic doesn’t train on Gmail connector data. Team and Enterprise Owners can block sending for everyone. Keep send on Needs approval, because an email can contain instructions written to steer an AI.
Can Claude send emails from Gmail?
Yes. Claude can send, reply to, and forward email, and by default it asks for your approval before each one. On Team and Enterprise plans, Owners decide whether members can let those actions run without asking.
Can I connect multiple Gmail accounts to Claude?
Claude reads the Google account you connected. To use a different account, disconnect the Google connector in Customize, then Connectors, and connect again with the other one. Tools that combine several accounts are third-party, so check them with IT first.
Is there a Gmail MCP server?
Yes. The Gmail connector in Claude’s directory is Google’s own remote MCP server. Community-built Gmail MCP servers exist too, but they aren’t made by Google or Anthropic.
Can Claude read Gmail attachments?
Not the contents. Claude sees attachment details, such as the file name, but can’t open the file through the Gmail connector.
Why can’t Claude connect to Gmail?
Usually it’s an admin setting. On Claude Team and Enterprise plans, an Owner has to enable the Google Workspace connectors first. If Google shows “Access blocked: your institution’s admin needs to review Claude,” your Google Workspace admin has to mark Claude as trusted under API controls in admin.google.com. It takes about 15 minutes to apply.
