How to Connect Claude to Gmail and Google Calendar (Step by Step)

Quick answer: In Claude, open Customize > Connectors, find Gmail or Google Calendar, click Connect, and sign in to Google. Free? Yes on Anthropic's pricing page (Connectors are listed for every plan, as of 13 October 2026), though some docs pages list paid plans only. Time: about 3 minutes.

Once connected, you can ask Claude things like "What meetings do I have tomorrow?" or "Find emails about the Q4 budget review", which are example prompts from Anthropic's Calendar and Gmail documentation.

What do you need before you start?

You need a Claude account and the Google account whose mail and calendar you want Claude to use. Claude is limited to the data that connected Google account can already access, per the Claude Help Center.

Here is the checklist:

• A Claude account, signed in on the web, the desktop app or mobile.
• A Gmail or Google Workspace account you can sign in to.
• On a Team or Enterprise plan: your organization's Owner or Primary Owner must enable the connector first (see Method 2 below).
• On a work or school Google account: your Google administrator may need to approve Claude (see the error section below).

How do you connect Claude to Gmail and Google Calendar? (Method 1: on your own account)

Open Customize > Connectors in Claude, select the connector, and sign in to Google. These steps follow Anthropic's getting started guide and the Gmail connector page. Repeat them once for Gmail and once for Google Calendar.

1. Open Claude on the web at claude.ai, or open the desktop app.
2. Go to Customize > Connectors. In the desktop app, select Customize in the sidebar, then Connectors.
3. Select Discover.
4. Use Search connectors and type Gmail. Open the Gmail connector's page.
5. Select Connect to Claude.
6. Sign in to your Google account and grant the permissions Google asks for. On the web, the Google sign-in opens in the same tab. In the desktop app, it opens in your browser.
7. Back on the Connectors page, check that Gmail appears under Your connectors with the status Connected.
8. Repeat steps 4 to 7 for Google Calendar.

Each connector page then shows a Disconnect button instead of Connect.

How do you turn the connectors on inside a chat?

Connecting is a one-time setup, but you also choose per chat whether Claude may use a connector. In a new or existing chat, select + in the message box, select Connectors, and switch on Gmail and Google Calendar. Switching a toggle off keeps the connector connected, according to the getting started guide.

Claude may ask for approval before it uses a tool. The choices are Allow once or Always allow.

Does it work on your phone?

Partly. A service you connect on the web or desktop is available the next time you log in on iOS or Android, according to the connectors Help Center article. Installing connectors from the mobile app is described there as "currently in beta", so do the setup on a computer.

How do you set it up on a Team or Enterprise plan? (Method 2)

An Owner or Primary Owner enables the connector for the organization, and then each member signs in with their own Google account. Enabling it does not give anyone access to anyone else's mail. The steps come from the connectors Help Center article.

For the Owner:

1. Go to Organization settings > Connectors (claude.ai/admin-settings/connectors).
2. Click Browse connectors at the bottom of the page.
3. Select the Gmail connector and click Add to your team. Repeat for Google Calendar.

For each member: open Customize > Connectors and follow Method 1. Until the Owner has added the connector, members see a Request button or a note to ask an Owner.

Two admin details are worth knowing. The Help Center says owners decide whether members can let send, reply and forward actions run without asking each time. It also says that on Team and Enterprise plans, connectors are only available in private projects, and chats with synced content cannot be shared.

How do you control what Claude is allowed to do? (Method 3: tool permissions)

Go to Customize > Connectors, select the connector under Your connectors, and open Tool permissions. Each tool, or group of tools, can be set to Always allow, Needs approval or Blocked, per the getting started guide.

This is the quickest way to answer the question of what Claude can actually do with your account. Whatever tools are listed there are the ones your connector exposes. Setting anything that writes to your mailbox or calendar to Needs approval, or Blocked if you never want it, is a sensible default.

Which method should you choose?

Pick Method 1 if you pay for your own plan or use Free. Pick Method 2 if your company is on Team or Enterprise. Use Method 3 afterwards on either.

What can Claude do with Gmail and Calendar?

The two official Anthropic descriptions disagree, so this section shows both. Check your own Tool permissions list to see which one applies to you.

Sources: Help Center, Gmail docs, Calendar docs.

The Help Center article also says Claude asks for your approval before each of these actions by default. Gmail attachments are metadata only: Claude cannot read attachment content, per the same article.

What's free and what costs money?

Connecting costs nothing extra on any plan. Anthropic's pricing page shows these prices as of 13 October 2026:

Google does not charge for the connection itself. Plan usage limits for chats still apply, and Anthropic's help article says connector rate limits follow Google's API quotas.

What can go wrong, and how do you fix it?

Most problems come down to a Google admin block or an expired sign-in. These fixes are from the Claude Help Center.

Is it safe and allowed?

Claude only reaches data in the Google account you connected, accesses it when your request needs it, and mirrors your existing Google permissions, according to the Help Center. Retrieved data is stored with the chat, so deleting the chat deletes it. Anthropic says data is encrypted at rest and in transit.

On training, Anthropic says it does not train its models on your Gmail, Drive or Calendar connector data. For Free, Pro and Max accounts, there is an exception: if you allowed chats to be used for training, content you copy and paste from the connectors, or Claude responses containing specific information from them, may be used to improve models. These are the company's statements, not an independent audit.

If your mail contains other people's private data, such as client or student records, check your employer's or school's policy before connecting. Many organizations restrict third-party apps in Google Workspace, which is why the admin approval step exists.

What if you want automation without a chat?

Per the Help Center, Claude only accesses your data when you explicitly ask a question or request an action. For hands-off jobs, use a script instead. These guides cover the common ones:

• How to Connect Gmail to Google Sheets and Log Every Email Automatically
• How to Save Gmail Attachments to Google Drive Automatically
• How to Send Emails From Google Sheets Automatically Without Paid Add-ons

What's still unclear?

The biggest open question is what the connectors can write. Anthropic's Help Center article lists sending, replying, forwarding and calendar edits. The Gmail and Calendar documentation pages say read-only. Neither page shows a date that settles which is current, so treat the Tool permissions screen in your own account as the deciding source.

Plan availability is also inconsistent. The pricing page marks Connectors as included on Free, while the Gmail and Calendar documentation pages list Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise. The Help Center says the Google Workspace connectors are available to all users.

The setup depends on Anthropic's menus, and the Help Center article notes that mobile installation is still in beta, so menu names may shift.

Last checked: 13 October 2026.