- Claude is now available directly within Word, Excel and PowerPoint
- It is designed for more specific use cases than Copilot, at the moment
- You can connect Claude with Word whether you're using Windows, Mac or the web
Anthropic has launched a new add-in for Claude to embed its AI assistant directly into Microsoft Word, giving users an alternative to Copilot for asking questions about documents, editing and generating content.
Currently available in beta for Team and Enterprise plans, there's no word on a broader consumer rollout across the wider word processor scene as yet.
As for the add-in, it reflects Anthropic's broader push to embed Claude across workplace tools like Microsoft 365, offering third-party alternatives to existing built-in systems.
Anthropic's Claude add-in comes to Word
This particular plug-in will be of most use to document-heavy workflows, such as workers across legal, finance and HR, where the AI can summarize lengthy contracts, suggest edits and analyze changes between different versions.
The strategy of targeting high-value niches first, rather than going for the mass market, puts Claude in a slightly different category to Copilot, however evolutions of each product will ultimately see them both compete on a more level basis.
"[Claude] reads complex multi-section documents, works through comment threads, and edits clauses while preserving your formatting, numbering, and styles," the plug-in's description reads. It's available to install across Windows, macOS and the web, linking to Word itself rather than being platform-specific.
In a LinkedIn post, Anthropic stressed that "edits appear as tracked changes," making it easy to see changes and avoiding blurred boundaries.
While Microsoft 365 add-ons seem to be Anthropic's primary target, the company isn't avoiding other platforms. There's also a Claude for Google Sheets extension, while Claude itself can use sources like Google Calendar, Google Drive and Gmail as connected data sources to provide the regular chatbot with more context.
