If you've ever typed "VLOOKUP not working" into Google, this one's for you.
Anthropic just put Claude inside Google Sheets. And Docs. And Slides.
It opens in a sidebar next to your file. It reads what's there, and it edits the file itself.
No more copying columns into a chat window and pasting the answer back.
It's in public beta on every paid Claude plan. Free isn't included.
In Sheets, it writes formulas, builds pivot tables and charts, and cleans messy data.
In Slides, it builds slides that match your deck's theme, and checks for anything overlapping, off the slide or hard to read.
Right after this: the three-step setup, and five prompts for the sheet you've been avoiding.
Now a quick word from today's sponsor.
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Right. Back to it.
Three-step setup
Find "Claude" in the Google Workspace Marketplace and click Install. One install covers Docs, Sheets and Slides.
Open any file. Go to Extensions → Claude → Open Claude.
Approve the two Google permissions and sign in with your Claude account.
Use Chrome, Edge or Safari. Firefox doesn't work in the beta.
On a work account, your admin may need to allow it first.
Five prompts for your messiest sheet
Open the sheet, open Claude, and paste one of these:
1. Explain every formula on this tab in plain English. Flag any number that's typed in by hand instead of calculated.
2. Clean up this tab: one date format in column B, no extra spaces anywhere, and split the full names in column C into first and last name columns.
3. On a new tab, build a pivot table of total sales by month and by product, with a chart.
4. The lookup in D2 returns #N/A. Find out why and fix it.
5. On a new tab, build a table showing what happens to my profit if I raise prices by 5%, 10% and 15%.Number 1 is the one I'd start with. Typed-in numbers are where spreadsheet mistakes hide.
Tip: select the cells first, and Claude focuses on just those.
Docs and Slides too
In Docs, try: "Turn these meeting notes into a table of decisions, owners and dates."
In Slides, try: "Split any slide with more than five bullets into two, and make all the titles match."
Four things to know before you trust it
Keep "Ask before edits" on. It's the default, so Claude asks before it changes anything. Switch to "Accept all edits" only once you trust the job.
Keep the sidebar open. Close it and the task stops. Each job also has a six-minute limit, so split big jobs into steps.
Charts it adds to Slides are pictures. They won't update when your data changes.
Mistakes are easy to undo. Open Version history and restore the earlier copy. (Your co-workers see Claude's edits under your name, so check before you share.)
What it can see
Only the file you have open.
It can't get into the rest of your Drive, or your Gmail.
Anthropic says it doesn't use this content to train its models.
Make it stick
Your chat with Claude is saved in that browser, for that file only. Open the sheet on another computer and that chat isn't there.
So when a prompt works, copy it into a note called "Claude prompts". Next month, it takes ten seconds instead of ten minutes.
Your pipeline and your invoices probably live in spreadsheets already, so lay them out properly once and any AI can pick up the work. That's the whole idea behind The One-Person Company Playbook.
It's the complete setup for running a business where AI does the work of a full team. Inside:
A company folder with your brief, pipeline tracker and invoice log already laid out, so any AI picks up where you left off
Thirty AI roles across six departments, from sales to finance, ready to use
Six jobs that run on a clock: the morning briefing, follow-ups, invoice checks and more
The step-by-step path from picking a business model to your first paying customer
Works on Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini or Grok, whichever you already pay for.
The catch: it takes about eight hours over a weekend to set up. After that, it's yours. $97, one-time (down from $297).
Talk tomorrow,
Zephyr
P.S. Run prompt number 1 on your messiest sheet, then hit reply: how many typed-in numbers did it find?