Use AI in Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides

Who is this for?

This page is for someone who already has a Google Doc, a Google Sheet, or a Google Slides deck open and wants help inside that file. You might be tightening a memo, cleaning a tab, writing one formula, or turning notes into a few slides. You can see the button, or you are about to learn that your account does not have it.

Two different assistants can sit in those files. They are not the same button.

Gemini is Google's assistant inside Docs, Sheets, and Slides. Google's help says Gemini is built into Docs, Sheets, Slides, and more, and that these features require an eligible Google Workspace or Google AI plan. The getting-started page says a work or school account needs an eligible Workspace plan, and a personal account needs Google AI Plus, Google AI Pro, or Google AI Ultra. The same page says you need to be 18 or over. Look for Ask Gemini at the top right of the file. Google's own check is that icon. If it is missing, ask your admin or read that plan page. This site does not list a price. The chat at gemini.google.com is a different screen from the side panel in a Doc.

Claude for Google Workspace is Anthropic's add-on. Anthropic's announcement says it is in public beta on all paid Claude plans, and that it adds Claude to Docs, Sheets, and Slides. Anthropic's help says the add-on is in beta for Pro, Max, Team, and Enterprise, and that you also need a Google account allowed to install Workspace Marketplace apps. The help page says one install covers all three apps. Open the file, then Extensions, Claude, Open Claude.

The same announcement describes Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides connectors, also in beta, so you can start in Claude and have it create or edit a Google file. The connectors help says those are separate from Gmail, Calendar, and Drive. Turn them on from the plus menu, paste a Google file link, or ask for a Google doc, sheet, or deck by name. On Team and Enterprise, an owner or primary owner has to enable connectors before you can connect. If the toggle is missing, it is not on this account. This page does not claim the connectors are on the free Claude plan. The help page's "all users" line names Gmail, Calendar, and Drive.

Microsoft Word is a different sidebar. Use ChatGPT in Word is that add-in. Copilot in Word, Excel, or PowerPoint is Use Copilot in Word and PowerPoint and Use Copilot in Excel, and only when that button is on the ribbon. A formula you paste into Excel or Sheets from any free chat, and then test, is Get an Excel or Sheets formula.

Google's learning center says not to rely on Gemini features as medical, legal, financial, or other professional advice, and that Gemini may suggest inaccurate information. Claude's help says you should still review what it is about to change. The numbers habit is Give it the numbers.

What do you need before you start?

Gather the items below before you open the chat. You already have most of them.

• The Google file you are allowed to change. If the company or the school said this file stays in their account, stay in that account.
• Ask Gemini on the file, or Claude under Extensions. If neither is there, stop. Do not paste the file into a personal chat to get around a missing button.
• For Claude's add-on, a paid Claude plan that shows it. The help page names Pro, Max, Team, and Enterprise. The announcement says all paid plans, in public beta.
• A row, a sentence, or a number you can check by hand after the edit.
• Version history. In the file, File, then Version history. Claude's help says its edits show up there under your name. You can also Undo the last change.

You do not need this site to be paid. You do need the button your account actually shows.

How do you open the assistant your account shows?

Gemini, when the icon is there. Google's learning center says to look for Ask Gemini, usually at the top right. In Docs you can use the side panel or the bottom bar, and switch between them. In the side panel, pick a suggested prompt or write your own. Sheets help and Slides help use the same Ask Gemini click, then a prompt, then Enter. Sheets help says you can Undo an action from the panel.

Claude's add-on, when you are installing it yourself. The help page says to install Claude from the Google Workspace Marketplace, allow the permissions, reload the file, and open Extensions, Claude, Open Claude. Sign in with your Claude account. The first time, leave the mode on Ask before edits. That mode shows what Claude is about to do and waits until you click Allow. Accept all edits still pauses for a link, an external image, a web address, or a change to someone's access. The help page says Claude cannot share the file or change who owns it.

A Word, Excel, or PowerPoint file opened in the browser will not show the Claude extension. The help page says to use File, Save as Google Docs, Save as Google Sheets, or Save as Google Slides, then open Claude in the new file. The help page also says the sidebar works in Chrome, Edge, or Safari in this beta, and that Firefox loads the sidebar but does not complete actions.

Claude from the chat, when the connector toggles are there. The connectors help says the live pane works on Claude on the web in Chrome, and on Claude Desktop when the built-in browser is on. If the pane is missing, use Open in Google on the file card. Asking for a generic "doc" or "deck" without the word Google creates a local file instead.

If a Google admin has blocked Marketplace apps, the help page says the message "This application is not allowed by your administrator" comes from Google. Only the admin can allowlist Claude or install it for the organization. That is a setting, not a prompt you wrote badly.

How do you draft and tighten a document?

Say what must stay. Then ask for one change. A rewrite of the whole file is how a number you needed disappears.

Gemini in Docs, from the getting-started page, can help you write and edit, summarize a document, and draft with Help me write. The learning center describes drafting and refining copy in the side panel. Paste your own facts in the prompt. Do not ask it to invent a result, a price, or a citation.

Claude in the Doc, from the help page, can draft, rewrite, and restructure. You can select the passage first. The help page says that in Docs you can also ask for text changes as cards you accept or reject one at a time. The announcement describes those cards for a bigger rewrite. The help page also says Claude cannot read, reply to, or resolve comments in the add-on. Paste a comment into the sidebar if you want it used. The connectors help says the separate Docs connector can read comments and suggestions. Use the tool you opened. Do not assume the sidebar and the connector have the same powers.

Work only in this document. Do not add a fact, a number, a name, or a date that is not already in the file or in the lines I type below.

Change I want: [one change, such as tighten the opening paragraph].
Must stay word for word: [the sentence, the date, or the figure].
Reader: [who].

Show the change and wait if this tool asks before it edits.
If a fact is not in the file or in my lines, write NOT IN THE FILE and leave the sentence out.
Then stop.

Work, for a memo your team will read. Use the work account.

This is a work file in the work account. Do not email anyone.

Tighten the opening to one short paragraph.
Keep these words exactly: [paste the sentence that has the date or the number].
Do not add a result I did not type.
If you are in Claude, stay on Ask before edits.
Then stop.

School, for practice. You write anything you turn in. Follow your teacher's rules.

This is for learning. Do not write anything I will turn in. Follow my teacher's rules.

Here is a paragraph I wrote:
[paste your paragraph]

Ask me which sentence is my point.
Wait for my answer. Then show one tighter version of that sentence only, and ask me what I would change.
Do not write the rest of the assignment. Then stop.

Life, for a note you will actually send, such as a building letter or a family plan. A price still has to come from you.

Do not invent a price, a phone number, or a deadline.

Note I will send: [what it is].
Facts that must stay: [paste them].
Make the note shorter. Keep every fact I typed.
If a detail is missing, write NOT IN MY NOTE.
Then stop.

Read the paragraph against your note before you share it. If the tool changed a word you marked as must-stay, put your word back.

How do you clean up a sheet and write a formula you can test?

Sheets help says Gemini in Sheets can create tables and formulas, summarize, build charts, and do jobs such as a pivot table, a filter, or filling a range. The help page says the feature works best on a native Google Sheet. For an Excel file, use File, Save as Google Sheets. The getting-started page also lists an AI function and Enhanced Smart Fill, and it says availability varies by Workspace edition and by Google AI plan. If the control is missing, do not assume you clicked the wrong menu.

Claude's help says the add-on can build spreadsheet models, write and fix formulas, and clean up data. The announcement says Claude can write formulas, build pivot tables and native Sheets charts, and add tabs. The help page says a Connected Sheets tab that is live BigQuery data cannot be read or edited in the add-on. Use the sheet's own extract command first if that is your tab. The help page also says Claude cannot create triggers, custom menus, or scheduled refreshes.

A formula is not done when it appears. Test it. The longer version of that test, including a free chat when this button is missing, is Get an Excel or Sheets formula.

This is Google Sheets. Use only the columns I name. Do not invent rows.

Headers: [paste the header row].
One row I already understand: [paste it, and the answer I calculated by hand].
Job: [the formula, the cleanup, or the summary].

If you write a formula, put it in one cell and tell me which cell.
Do not fill the whole column yet.
If a value I need is not in the paste, write NOT IN THE SHEET.
Then stop.

After it writes the formula, type the known row's answer yourself. If the cell disagrees, paste the error back and do not fill down. Hide names and account numbers before you ask. The formula does not need the whole workbook.

Work, for a tab you are allowed to use at work:

Work account. Do not email this sheet.

Column [letter] is [what it is]. Column [letter] is [what it is].
Known row: [values] should total [the answer I calculated].
Write the formula only. Explain it in one sentence.
Do not add a chart until the known row matches.
Then stop.

School, when the sheet is how you are learning the idea. You still do the calculation you turn in.

This is for learning. Do not fill in answers I will turn in. Follow my teacher's rules.

I will tell you the columns. Ask me what the formula should do.
Wait. Then show a formula for one practice row I invent, and ask me to compute that row by hand.
Do not do the homework table. Then stop.

Life, for a list of amounts you typed, such as a trip or a household tab:

Amounts I typed are the only amounts. Do not look up a price.

Columns: [headers].
Known row and my hand total: [paste].
Write one formula for that total. Then stop.
I will check it before I copy it down.

How do you turn notes into slides?

Slides come after the notes are yours. Slides help says Gemini can generate and edit slides, generate images, summarize a presentation, and rewrite content. You can ask it to match a presentation's style from Drive. The help page says the feature needs an eligible Workspace or Google AI plan, and that it is also in Google Workspace Experiments for some personal accounts. If you do not see Ask Gemini, skip this step.

Claude's help says the add-on can create new slides or tighten and restyle existing ones. It also says charts Claude creates in Slides are inserted as images, not linked Sheets charts, so they do not update when the numbers change. The connectors help says Claude cannot add charts to Google Slides from those connectors, and that Slides edits may not appear live in the pane. Open the file in Google and look.

The story, before any tool builds a deck, is Make a slide deck with AI. Approve an outline. Then ask for slides. Every number on a slide has to be a number you typed. That check is Give it the numbers.

Turn these notes into slides. Do not add a slide, a number, or a claim that is not in the notes.

Audience: [who]. Length: [how many slides, or how many minutes].
Notes:
[paste]

Use the deck's existing fonts and colors if the file already has them.
Do not invent a chart. If I did not paste the numbers, leave the chart out.
Then stop and let me read the titles.

School stays an outline you can say out loud. Do not turn in the tool's deck. Follow the class rules. The school note on the slide guide is the same rule.

How do you read the edit before you trust it?

This is the checkpoint. Check each phase before the next one.

Open the changed paragraph, the formula cell, or the slide title. Compare it to the sentence you said must stay. For a sheet, recompute the known row. For a slide, delete any figure you did not type. Google's learning center says Gemini may suggest inaccurate information. A smooth paragraph can still be wrong.

If Claude edited the file, the help page says Google records the change under your name. Collaborators see the edit in the file and in version history. They do not see your sidebar chat. Undo, or restore an earlier version, if the pass went too far. Keep the sidebar open until that pass finishes. The help page says closing it stops the current task.

The connectors help says you and Claude can edit the same file at the same time, and that you should still check the result in a busy file. Claude can only change files your Google account can already open.

Do not use the Claude add-on for protected health information. The help page says HIPAA-ready organizations are not covered, and not to use the extension with that information. A Medicare letter or a medical bill does not belong in this sidebar. Those readings have their own guides, and the identifiers stay out.

Do not edit anything else.

List what changed in the last pass:
- the words or cells that changed
- any number in the result
- whether that number was in my notes, or NOT IN MY NOTES

Do not fix the file yet. Then stop.

You delete or you restore. Then you look again.

What does a worked example look like?

You have a one-page update in a Google Doc on your work account. Ask Gemini is at the top right. You select the opening and ask it to cut the paragraph to four lines. You mark the ship date as must-stay. The new opening drops the date. You put the date back before you share.

The totals live on a Sheet tab. You paste the header and one row you added by hand. Claude, in the sidebar, writes a SUM formula. The known row matches. You fill ten more rows and spot-check the last one. You do not ask it to email the sheet.

The deck can wait. You paste the four lines you kept into Make a slide deck with AI only after the date is still in the doc. If Ask Gemini is missing on Slides, you make the slides yourself from those lines.

For a class, you stop at the question the tool asked you. The paragraph you submit is one you rewrote. If the school account has no Ask Gemini and no Claude menu, that is the end of this page for that assignment.

What mistakes should you avoid?

These are the misses that waste the result. Skip them before you send anything.

Common mistakes

• Pasting the file into a personal chat because Ask Gemini or Claude was missing at work or school.
• Asking for a full rewrite with no sentence marked must-stay.
• Filling a column before the known row matches.
• Treating a Slides chart from Claude's add-on as a live link to the Sheet. The help page says that chart is an image.
• Turning in, for class, a doc or a deck the tool wrote.
• Using this sidebar for a medical record or a Medicare number. The add-on help says not to use it for protected health information.

When should you not use AI for this?

Some jobs should stay with you. If one of these is true, close the chat.

• The button is not on the screen. Check the plan page or your admin. Do not route around a missing button with a personal login if the file is not yours to move.
• The class rules say not to use these tools on the assignment.
• The file is a Word, Excel, or PowerPoint file and you have not saved a Google copy. Claude's help says the extension does not run there.
• You need a figure the file does not contain. Pull it from the source first. Give it the numbers.
• The file has someone else's medical, bank, or student record and you are not allowed to put it in this tool.

What should you keep private?

The open file is the prompt. Claude's help says the contents of that file, your messages, and files you attach are sent to Claude to generate a reply, and that Anthropic does not use that add-on content to train its models. A work file belongs in the work account. A school file follows the school's tool rules. Leave out passwords, Medicare numbers, Social Security numbers, and a student's private record.

Privacy: what not to paste

The connectors help says Claude can only open files your Google account can already access. It also says that on consumer plans, if you have allowed chats to be used for model training, text you copy from Gmail, Drive, or Calendar into a chat can be used that way. Do not paste a secret to test that. The wider rule is Keep your data private with AI.

Google's getting-started page says that for Workspace accounts, prompts and content you generate with these features stay with your organization and are not used to train models outside your domain without permission. Your admin can still see a work account. A training promise is not a reason to upload a file you were told to keep inside one system.

What should you check before you use it?

Answer each line before you share the file or turn anything in.

Director check: look before you use it

• Is the button the one this task uses? Ask Gemini, Claude under Extensions, or a connector toggle. A missing control means stop.
• Did you name one change and the words that must stay? If the date or the figure moved, put it back.
• Does the known row match a total you calculated? If it does not, do not fill the column.
• Is every number on a slide one you typed? If not, delete it. A chart image does not update itself.
• Can you undo? You know where version history is before you ask for a second pass.
• If this is for class, is the submitted file still your words? If the policy says no, do not turn the tool's file in.

What is one extra tip?

A formula with no side panel is Get an Excel or Sheets formula. The Word sidebar is Use ChatGPT in Word. A deck with an outline you approved first is Make a slide deck with AI. Sheets habits are on Spreadsheets. Slide habits are on Presentations. The tool pages are Gemini and Claude.

One extra tip

The check before you trust a figure is Give it the numbers. The pause before the next edit is Check each phase before the next one.

Which sources back this page?

These are the public pages this guide uses. If a control on your screen disagrees with a sentence here, trust the screen, then the official page.

• Gemini in Docs, Sheets, Slides, Vids, and Forms. Google says these features require an eligible Google Workspace or Google AI plan.
• Get started with Google Workspace with Gemini. Work or school accounts need an eligible Workspace plan. Personal accounts need Google AI Plus, Pro, or Ultra. You need to be 18 or over. Availability varies by edition. Look for Ask Gemini.
• Using Google Workspace with Gemini. Ask Gemini is usually at the top right. Gemini may suggest inaccurate information. Do not rely on it as medical, legal, financial, or other professional advice.
• Collaborate with Gemini in Google Sheets. Formulas, tables, charts, and other sheet actions. Undo is in the side panel. Save an Excel file as a Google Sheet first.
• Collaborate with Gemini in Google Slides. Generate and edit slides, images, and a summary. Eligible plan required.
• Claude now works with Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides. Public beta on all paid Claude plans. Add-on plus Docs, Sheets, and Slides connectors, also described there as beta.
• Use Claude in Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides. Beta for Pro, Max, Team, and Enterprise. Extensions, Claude, Open Claude. Ask before edits is the default. Charts in Slides are images. Do not use the extension for protected health information.
• Use Google Workspace connectors. Turn on the Docs, Sheets, and Slides connectors and paste a link or ask for a Google file by name. Team and Enterprise owners enable them first. The live pane is on the web in Chrome, and on Claude Desktop with the built-in browser.