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ZDNET’s key takeaways

  • Anthropic has launched a new Microsoft 365 connector for Claude.
  • The company has also debuted a new “enterprise search” feature.
  • Use Claude to search company documents and files. 

The AI integrations keep coming: You can now chat with Anthropic’s Claude AI chatbot directly in Microsoft 365. 

Also: This new Copilot trick will save you tons of time in Windows 11 - here’s how

Through a new Microsoft 365 connector, Claude can access SharePoint, OneDrive, Outlook, and Teams to pull information directly from those apps. The idea – which has been rapidly spreading among leading AI developers – is to embed Anthropic’s flagship AI chatbot directly into the digital tools that millions of working people already use on a daily basis.

Claude in Microsoft 365 

By granting Claude access to users’ Microsoft 365 accounts via Anthropic’s Model Context Protocol (MCP), the chatbot will also theoretically be able to generate more personalized and helpful outputs. The added context gleaned from these accounts allows Claude “to collaborate more effectively – helping you reason through complex problems, make informed decisions, and take action faster,” Anthropic wrote in a blog post.

A user might, for example, prompt Claude to sift through recent emails in Outlook that share a particular theme or subject to extract key pieces of information or identify patterns across messages. Or they could ask it to review their team conversations in Teams to generate a bulleted list of important updates on a particular project.

Also: Microsoft debuts its next big high-stakes AI feature in Windows - can you trust it?

The new Microsoft 365 connector is available now to Claude Team and Enterprise subscribers, though account admins must first turn it on before it can be accessed by other team members.

Another new feature for businesses

Anthropic also announced the launch of a new “enterprise search” feature through which businesses can integrate all of their most critical apps, creating a single, centralized resource Claude can quickly retrieve brand-specific information.

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“For example, ask Claude about your company’s policy on remote work and get information from HR documents in SharePoint, email discussions in Outlook, and team guidelines from various sources in one detailed report,” Anthropic wrote in its blog post. 

Also: I unleashed Copilot on my Microsoft and Google accounts - here’s what happened

The company added that the new enterprise search feature can streamline the process of routine and historically time-consuming tasks like onboarding new employees and analyzing customer feedback. It’s currently enabled for all Team and Enterprise customers. Admins must first curate the collection of digital tools that will be included in the team-wide accounts.

Zooming out

The new Microsoft 365 connector arrives shortly after Anthropic’s latest funding round, which reportedly left the company valued at $183 billion – a monstrous figure made possible in large part thanks to the company’s popularity among enterprise users.

Also: I tested all of ChatGPT’s new app integrations - here are the ones actually worth your time

The relationship between Microsoft and Anthropic has become increasingly cozy in recent weeks, as the former has been steadily inching away from its dependence upon its longtime partner, OpenAI. News of the partnership between the two companies first surfaced in early September, and shortly afterwards, Microsoft announced that two of Anthropic’s most powerful models were now accessible through its Copilot AI assistant.

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(Disclosure: Ziff Davis, ZDNET’s parent company, filed an April 2025 lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.)

Microsoft has also been investing more in the development of its own, in-house models. On Monday, it introduced its first image-generating model, which quickly landed a top-ten spot on LMArena.

Artificial Intelligence