Anthropic’s Gmail connector lets Claude read, draft and send emails

Once connected, Claude can search and read emails, create draft replies, send or forward messages, and organize an inbox with labels and threads. Users describe what they need in the usual chat interface, and Claude carries out the task. For example, a user can ask Claude to find the last email from a specific contact and draft a reply, after which Claude locates the message, reads it and creates a draft in that thread.

The setup process is straightforward, the report said. Users can open Claude in a browser or app, tap Customize, then Connectors, or tap the plus sign in the chat and choose Connectors. From there, they browse for Gmail, sign in with Google and grant permissions. However, Anthropic’s Gmail connector requires a personal Claude account unless an organization enables the connector at the team or enterprise level.

The connector includes built-in approval controls. By default, Claude requests permission before sending, replying to or forwarding any email, and before creating or deleting labels or marking messages as spam. Read-only tools, such as retrieving emails and list labels, are set to “always allow.” Write and delete tools are set to “needs approval,” giving users a chance to review actions that could affect their inbox. Users can change these settings at any time among Always allow, Needs approval, or Block.

For team and enterprise plans, administrators can decide whether members may let Claude perform such actions without asking every time. Individual users can toggle tools directly in the chat interface. Engadget suggests that users start with the approval requirement and gradually relax it once they are comfortable with the quality of Claude’s replies.