Summary
- Anthropic's Claude has added the ability to send emails directly in Gmail and manage Google Drive files
- When asked to reply to an email thread, Claude drafts and sends the response, with users configuring when approval is needed
- The feature works by connecting Gmail or Google Drive through the connectors menu and is available on all paid plans
If you tell Claude, "reply to Maya's offsite question and send it," Claude will read the Gmail thread, draft a reply, and actually send it. Anthropic announced on August 18, 2026 that Claude can now send emails in Gmail and manage Google Drive files. A demo screen shown in the announcement depicted Claude drafting a reply — "Thursday works, the budget is approved, and the design team will join remotely" — sending it to the recipient, and then displaying a notification that read "Replied to Maya."
Importantly, users can decide when they want to be asked for approval during this process. If you want confirmation before every send, you can set it that way, and for trusted, repetitive tasks, you can let Claude skip the approval step entirely. To use the feature, connect Gmail or Google Drive from the connectors menu, with each service toggled on separately.
This announcement fits a broader trend of Claude expanding from a conversational chatbot into an agent that operates real work tools. Anthropic first launched Claude Cowork as a beta for Max plan subscribers on July 7, then expanded it to mobile and web for all paid plans on August 18. Cowork let tasks continue running even after closing a laptop, with results checkable from a phone; this new Gmail and Google Drive integration extends that idea, moving Claude beyond conversation to directly touching work files and inboxes.
Given that OpenAI's ChatGPT work features and Microsoft Copilot have similarly deepened their integration with email and document tools, this update can be seen as another scene in the competition over how finely AI assistants can be delegated authority over work accounts. Attaching external services through connectors is likely to be used alongside other extension features, such as skills or plugins, that teach Claude repetitive work procedures.
Paid-plan users can now connect Gmail or Google Drive through the connectors menu and hand off repetitive email replies or file organization tasks to Claude. However, since this also grants actual sending authority, it's worth carefully deciding how much can be delegated without approval based on the nature of each user's work.
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