Connectors
Give Claude your apps, not just your files. It can search your email, read your Drive and check your calendar, only where you allow.
The Connectors building block from Claude 101, in depth. New to Claude? Start there: Claude 101 →
Read
Let it find what you already have
Search your email, read your Drive, look at your calendar.
No more copying and pasting context into the chat.
- Where does the context Claude keeps missing live?
- Which inbox, drive or calendar would save the most copying?
- Is that your work account or your personal one?
Claude inherits your permissions: if you cannot open it, neither can Claude. In Gmail it sees attachment names, not what is inside them.
Act
Let it do things, with you watching
Draft an email, create a calendar event, work with your files.
Sending an email or sharing a Drive file asks for your approval by default.
- Should it draft, or also send?
- Which actions should always ask you first?
- What must it never touch?
Read first, act later. Start with drafts, not sends, and widen what it may do as you trust the results.
Safely
Connect only what you trust
A connector gives Claude your account’s access, and sometimes the power to change things.
An email or page it reads can hide instructions meant to steer it.
- Is this an app you trust and actually need?
- What access is it asking for, before you sign in?
- Could a message from a stranger push Claude into sending something?
- Which connections have you stopped using?
You stay responsible for what Claude does for you. Approve anything hard to undo, like sending a message.
Your first connector, in four steps
Pick the one app that holds the context you retype most.
- 1
Open Customize, then Connectors. Click the + to browse the directory.
- 2
Choose the app and click Connect. Read what access it asks for before you sign in.
- 3
Sign in with the right account. Microsoft 365 needs a work account: personal Outlook and Hotmail addresses cannot connect.
- 4
Ask for something only that app knows, and name the app. Start small, like a summary of last week’s email.
Gmail, Calendar, Drive and Microsoft 365 are on every plan, Free included. At work on a Team or Enterprise plan, your admin switches a connector on first.
A connector or a desktop extension?
Most connectors are the first kind. The second is for things that live on your own computer.
Connector
apps you sign into online- Gmail, Slack, Notion and the like.
- Works everywhere you use Claude.
Desktop extension
things on your computer- Local files and desktop apps.
- Claude Desktop and Claude Code only.
No connector for your tool? Anything that supports MCP can be added as a custom connector. Free plans get one.
- Read: Claude searches your apps, only where your account can see.
- Act: drafting is easy; sending email asks you first.
- Safely: connect what you trust and need, and approve what is hard to undo.
- Start small: one app, read-only jobs, then build trust.
This week: connect one app and ask it one question only that app can answer.
Give that context a permanent home: Projects → Make every answer honest by default: General Instructions →
Do it with someone. Everything here is free and you can run it alone. If you would rather work through it with me, one to one, book a free 30-minute chat. No pitch.