How to Connect Gmail to Claude

Claude can search your Gmail inbox and answer questions about your emails. Ask "What did Sarah say about the deadline?" and Claude finds the answer directly in chat.

But the Gmail connector doesn't come switched on. It needs a one-time setup in Settings, which includes signing in with your Google account.

In this guide, you will learn how to connect Gmail to Claude, search your inbox from chat, and create drafts, along with the limits to know before you rely on it.

Prerequisites

• A Claude account on any plan, including Free
• A Google account with Gmail

Connecting Gmail to Claude

This is a one-time setup. Once connected, Gmail works in every new chat.

1. Click Customize in the left sidebar.

2. Select Connectors, then click the + icon at the top.

   

3. Click Browse connectors.

4. Search for Gmail and click the + icon next to it. A Google sign-in window opens.

5. Select your Google account and click Continue.

6. Click Allow on the permissions screen. Google redirects you back to Claude automatically.

Note: Google lists email sending access on this screen, but Claude cannot send email on your behalf. Any email still goes out from your Gmail account, sent by you.

7. Back in Claude, confirm that Gmail shows as connected on the Connectors page.

After connecting, Claude shows you a Tool permissions screen. You can control what Claude is allowed to do with your inbox. Toggle each action on the right to always allow, needs approval, or blocked.

For the full list of what the connector can do, see Google Workspace connectors on Anthropic's help site.

Searching Your Inbox with Claude

Open any Claude chat and type a question about your emails. You don't need a command or a special mode.

Good questions to try:

• "What did Maya say about the invoice deadline on Friday?"
• "Show me emails from Sarah about the Q3 report this week"
• "Summarise the feedback thread from John last month"
• "Did Priya reply to my project proposal from last Tuesday?"

Claude replies with a summary and breaks down what it found across your emails.

If Claude can't find the email, your question is likely too vague. Add a sender name, a date, or a keyword. Instead of "Find the project email," try "Show emails from Priya about the Q3 project from last week."

Drafting Emails and Managing Labels with Claude

Claude can write email replies and organise your inbox without you leaving the chat.

Drafting a reply

Ask something like "Draft a polite follow-up to Priya's invoice email from Tuesday." Claude writes the draft in chat and gives you two options:

1. Click Open in Mail to open it directly.
2. Click the dropdown arrow next to Open in Mail and select Send via Gmail to review it first. The Gmail compose window opens with the draft pre-filled.
3. Click Send

Applying a label

Ask Claude to organise your inbox by applying a label. Say "Label every email from the design team this week as Project Phoenix" and approve when Claude asks. The label appears on those emails in your inbox.

Once you're comfortable with Gmail, connect Google Calendar or Google Drive to Claude too, so Claude can work across your inbox, schedule, and files together.

Knowing the Gmail Connector's Limits

Claude cannot send, delete, or read attachment content. It sees attachment names only. Images inside email bodies are also out of reach.

Claude reads your inbox only when your question needs it. Anthropic does not train its models on Gmail connector data.

A connected Gmail account adds context to every message, which can use more of your usage limit. See How to Reduce Token Usage in Claude for ways to manage your usage.

Conclusion

You now have Gmail connected to Claude. You can search your inbox, get summaries, draft replies, and apply labels without leaving the chat.

Claude never sends email without your action. Every draft stays in chat until you click Send via Gmail or Open in Mail. Keep in mind that Claude cannot read attachment content or images inside emails, so questions about those will not return results.