This article walks admins through enabling the Microsoft 365 connector for their organization in Claude—including granting Microsoft Entra consent, restricting access, and managing permissions. Once setup is complete, people in your tenant can connect Microsoft 365 to their own Claude accounts to search across SharePoint, OneDrive, Outlook, and Teams from Claude. You can also enable write tools, which let Claude send email, manage calendar events, create and update files, and send Teams messages on a member's behalf.
The Microsoft 365 connector is available on all Claude plans: Free, Pro, Max, Ultra, Team, and Enterprise.
For end-user instructions on connecting and using Microsoft 365 once setup is complete, see Connect to Microsoft 365.
Important: This article covers work and school accounts, which require a Microsoft Entra tenant. Personal Microsoft accounts need no admin setup and aren't shown on Team and Enterprise plans. Learn more in Connect to Microsoft 365.
Setup overview
Two things need to happen before anyone in your organization can connect Microsoft 365, plus an optional third step if you want to enable write tools:
On Team and Enterprise plans: A Claude organization owner enables the Microsoft 365 connector for the organization.
In every tenant: A Microsoft Entra Global Administrator grants a one-time consent that authorizes the integration for your tenant.
To enable write tools: A Microsoft Entra administrator consents to the updated permission set, and you enable write tools for your organization. See Enable write tools below.
After completing these steps, members can connect Microsoft 365 to their own Claude accounts following the steps in Connect to Microsoft 365.
Enable the connector for your organization
This step applies to Team and Enterprise plans only. On Free, Pro, Max, and Ultra plans, skip to the next section.
Sign in to Claude.
Navigate to Organization settings > Connectors.
Click “+ Add” at the top of the page, then “All available.”
Find Microsoft 365 and click “Add to your team.”
Grant Microsoft Entra admin consent
A Microsoft Entra Global Administrator in your tenant needs to authorize the integration before anyone can connect. There are two ways to do this.
Option 1: Consent through Claude
If your Microsoft Entra Global Administrator has a Claude account, they can grant consent during the standard connection flow:
Navigate to Customize > Connectors.
Find Microsoft 365 and click “Connect.”
Choose “Work or school account,” if you're asked.
Authenticate with Microsoft 365 credentials.
Review and accept the requested permissions, checking the box to grant access on behalf of the whole organization.
After this, other people in the same Entra tenant can connect by following the standard end-user steps. They won't see the consent prompt—they'll just authenticate and start using the integration.
Option 2: Manual setup in Microsoft Entra ID
Use this path if your Microsoft Entra Global Administrator doesn't have a Claude account, or if you need to troubleshoot the app install and permissions setup. You can add the connector apps and grant admin consent directly in Microsoft Entra ID.
This process adds two service principals to your tenant. Each principal establishes a service-level identity for one of the two M365 MCP for Claude app registrations, allowing them to access and interact with your organization's data and resources via the Microsoft Graph API.
1. Add the service principals
Using Microsoft Graph Explorer, add both required service principals:
M365 MCP Client for Claude:
POST https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/servicePrincipals
{"appId":"08ad6f98-a4f8-4635-bb8d-f1a3044760f0"}
M365 MCP Server for Claude:
POST https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/servicePrincipals
{"appId":"07c030f6-5743-41b7-ba00-0a6e85f37c17"}
2. Grant admin consent
Construct and visit the following URLs in your browser, replacing {your-tenant-id} with your organization's tenant ID.
M365 MCP Client for Claude:
https://login.microsoftonline.com/{your-tenant-id}/adminconsent?client_id=08ad6f98-a4f8-4635-bb8d-f1a3044760f0
M365 MCP Server for Claude:
https://login.microsoftonline.com/{your-tenant-id}/adminconsent?client_id=07c030f6-5743-41b7-ba00-0a6e85f37c17When you visit each URL, you'll be prompted to consent to the delegated permissions required by the integration on behalf of your organization.
3. Finish setup
Team and Enterprise plans: A Claude organization Owner needs to enable the connector in Organization settings > Connectors. Then members can connect individually.
Free, Pro, Max, and Ultra plans: Members can connect by navigating to Customize > Connectors, finding Microsoft 365, and clicking “Connect.” They choose “Work or school account,” if they're asked.
Restrict who can use the connector
To limit which people in your tenant can authenticate to Microsoft 365 through Claude:
Go to the Microsoft Entra admin center at entra.microsoft.com.
Navigate to the M365 MCP Server for Claude enterprise application.
Go to Properties and set Assignment required? to “Yes.”
Under Users and groups, add the specific users or groups who should have access.
Repeat the same steps for the M365 MCP Client for Claude enterprise application.
Both components need to be restricted to the same set of authorized people.
Restrict which permissions the connector can use
To limit which types of resources the integration can access, selectively revoke permissions from the default set of authorized scopes. This requires Microsoft Entra admin access.
As a Microsoft Entra admin, go to entra.microsoft.com.
Select “Enterprise Applications.”
Next to the search box, remove the application type filter.
Search for and click “M365 MCP Server for Claude.”
Go to Permissions.
Under the Admin consent tab and in the Microsoft Graph list of permissions, select the permission you would like to revoke and click the “…” button.
Select “Revoke permission” and confirm with “Yes, revoke.”
Once revoked, attempts to access a resource with that permission will return a "Failed to call tool" error.
Members can also individually turn off specific tools in their own Microsoft 365 settings to prevent Claude from trying to access a tool for which the permission has been revoked.
To restore a revoked permission, follow the steps to grant admin consent described in Option 2: Manual setup in Microsoft Entra ID. This will revert the permissions to the default state.
Enable write tools
Write tools let Claude send email, manage drafts and calendar events, update mailbox settings, and create and update files in OneDrive and SharePoint, and send messages in Microsoft Teams. Read and search tools work the same whether or not write tools are enabled.
1. Re-consent to the updated permissions
The connector's permission set now includes additional Microsoft Graph scopes to support write tools. If your tenant consented before write tools or the Teams write tools launched, a Microsoft Entra Global Administrator needs to review and approve the updated permission set before write tools activate. Review and approve the updated permissions for the connector in your tenant's Enterprise Applications consent flow.
2. Enable write tools for your organization
Go to Organization settings > Connectors, find “Microsoft 365,” and choose a setting for each write tool: Always allow, Needs approval, or Blocked. Your changes apply as soon as you save. Enterprise plans can enable write tools for a subset of users through custom roles.
For Microsoft Teams specifically, set each Teams write tool individually: the send, post, and reply tools can be set to Needs approval or Blocked (members confirm each send), and starting a new chat can also be set to Always allow. If your organization added the Microsoft 365 connector for the first time after November 9, 2026, the send, post, and reply tools can also be set to Always allow, and members can then choose Always allow for them. Removing the connector and adding it again usually keeps your organization's original install date.
If you see a notice about these tools, you can set them to Always allow now in Review write tools, in Review tool restrictions, or on the Tools tab. The limit ends right away for each tool you set to Always allow, and members can then choose Always allow for it. Some members may have chosen Always allow for that tool in the past. That earlier choice can take effect right away, so Claude can stop asking them. Claude asks everyone else by default until they choose it.
If you have more than one Microsoft 365 connector, save the tool on each one. An Always allow saved before November 9, 2026 doesn't end the limit until you save it again. For the rest of these tools, members must still approve each use until the limit is removed on or after December 9, 2026. Any of these tools you haven't set by then will change to Needs approval, unless the whole connector is set to Blocked.
Changes you save apply right away. A tool set to Always allow turns on right away if it was blocked by default. With Always allow, Claude may use a tool without asking anyone first, including in "Automatically approve" mode and in some scheduled tasks, such as a cloud scheduled task set to "Automatically approve" or a Claude Code routine. Scheduled tasks can lose access to tools on Needs approval. In Cowork, members can choose Always allow for write tools only when the organization setting Allow “Always allow” for connector tools is on.
Setting a connector's default restriction to No restriction doesn't turn on a tool that is blocked by default.
Organizations that have enabled HIPAA aren't part of these changes to default blocks and limits: they don't get a notice, and neither setting Always allow nor adding the connector for the first time ends this limit.
If your Team or Enterprise organization added the connector before November 9, 2026, two limits apply until at least December 9, 2026:
If your organization was using the connector before write tools or the Teams write tools launched, some write tools are blocked by default until at least December 9, 2026. To turn them on sooner, go to Organization settings > Connectors, find "Microsoft 365," and choose a setting for each tool. On or after December 9, 2026, any tool that is still blocked by default will be set to Needs approval, unless the whole connector is set to Blocked. If one of these tools is among the 11 Outlook, Calendar, and Teams tools with a limit that Anthropic will remove on or after that date, you can set it to Always allow now. It turns on right away. Once it's saved on each of your Microsoft 365 connectors, the limit ends for that tool, and members can choose Always allow for it. Claude may then use it without asking anyone first, including in “Automatically approve” mode and in some scheduled tasks, such as a cloud scheduled task set to “Automatically approve” or a Claude Code routine. Scheduled tasks can lose access to tools on Needs approval. Organizations that have enabled HIPAA aren't part of these changes to default blocks and limits. Enterprise plans can enable write tools for a subset of users through custom roles.
Users can't choose Always allow for 11 tools, so in chat and Cowork, they confirm each use. These are the tools that send email or Teams messages, create, change, delete, or respond to calendar events, or set automatic replies. Starting a new Teams chat is not one of them and can be set to Always allow.
Both limits end on or after December 9, 2026. See Coming on or after December 9, 2026: changes to write tools below.
3. Verify
Once enabled, ask Claude to perform a low-risk write action, such as "Draft an email to myself, but don't send it," to confirm write tools are active.
Note: Emails Claude sends include an attribution header identifying them as agent-initiated. File writes, calendar writes, and Teams messages aren't currently tagged. When Claude creates or updates a calendar event, Microsoft 365 automatically sends attendees an invitation or update notice. Attachments aren’t supported in write tools, so sending, forwarding, and drafting all reject messages with attachments. Write tools are also subject to per-user limits on writes, sends, and recipients.
Coming on or after December 9, 2026: changes to write tools
This applies to Team and Enterprise organizations that added the Microsoft 365 connector before November 9, 2026.
On or after December 9, 2026, Anthropic will remove a limit on 11 tools. Until then, in chat and Cowork, Claude asks users before every use of these tools.
The 11 tools:
Outlook: send an email, forward an email, send a draft, set automatic replies
Calendar: create, change, delete, or respond to an event
Teams: send a chat message, post in a channel, reply in a channel
What you can do now:
Choose a setting for any write tool. Your changes apply as soon as you save.
If you see a notice about these tools, you can set them to Always allow now. Users must still approve each use until the limit is removed.
A blocked tool turns on right away when you set it to Always allow or Needs approval.
A cloud scheduled task set to Automatically approve, or a Claude Code routine, can use a tool set to Always allow without asking anyone. Scheduled tasks can lose access to tools on Needs approval.
When the limit is removed:
Any of the 11 tools you have not set individually will be set to Needs approval, even if the connector's default restriction is No restriction.
Settings you have saved are kept. A tool you set to Blocked stays Blocked.
Users can choose Always allow for one of these tools only if you set that tool to Always allow. In Cowork, Allow "Always allow" for connector tools must also be on. It is off by default.
Write tools that are still blocked by default, and that you have not changed, will be turned on and set to Needs approval. To keep a tool off, set it to Blocked.
If you have set the whole connector to Blocked, its tools stay blocked.
Removing the connector and adding it again doesn't remove the limit. Organizations that add the connector for the first time after November 9, 2026 don't have it.
Permissions reference
The Microsoft 365 connector uses delegated permissions, meaning Claude acts on behalf of each individual user and can only access data that user already has permission to view in Microsoft 365. Permissions are read-only by default. Claude can only send, create, or update content if you enable write tools.
During authentication, the integration requests the following permissions:
Basic access
User.Read: Sign in and read user profileopenid: Sign in with organizational accountoffline_access: Maintain access to dataemail: View email addressprofile: View basic profile information
Email (Outlook)
Mail.Read: Read email messagesMail.ReadBasic: Read email metadata (sender, subject, date)Mail.Read.Shared: Read emails in mailboxes the user has access toNote: Shared mailbox access is included through the
Mail.Read.Sharedpermission. Users can search shared mailboxes they have delegate access to in Microsoft 365, including full access and folder-level delegation. No setup is needed beyond standard admin consent and the delegate permissions already configured in Microsoft 365.
MailboxFolder.Read: Read mailbox folder structureMailboxItem.Read: Read items in mailboxMailboxSettings.Read: Read mailbox settings, like the user's timezone
Note: Email search covers each user's primary mailbox, including its Archive folder, and any shared mailboxes they can access. It doesn't cover the separate Online Archive mailbox (also called the In-Place Archive), so messages that a retention policy has moved there won't appear in results.
Calendar
Calendars.Read: Read calendar eventsCalendars.Read.Shared: Read calendars shared with the user
Teams chat
Chat.Read: Read Teams chat messagesChat.ReadBasic: Read Teams chat metadataChatMember.Read: Read information about chat participantsChatMessage.Read: Read Teams chat messages
Teams channels
Team.ReadBasic.All: Read the names and descriptions of teamsChannel.ReadBasic.All: Read channel names and descriptionsChannelMessage.Read.All: Read channel messages
Meetings
OnlineMeetings.Read: Read online meetingsOnlineMeetingTranscript.Read.All: Read meeting transcriptsOnlineMeetingAiInsight.Read: Read AI-generated meeting insightsOnlineMeetingArtifact.Read.All: Read meeting recordings and artifactsOnlineMeetingRecording.Read.All: Read meeting recordings
Files (OneDrive and SharePoint)
Files.Read: Read user filesFiles.Read.All: Read all files the user can accessSites.Read.All: Read items in SharePoint sites
Write permissions
The following permissions support write tools and are included in the updated consent set:
Mail.Send: Send and forward emailMail.ReadWrite: Create, update, and delete drafts; move and label messagesCalendars.ReadWrite: Create, update, delete, and respond to calendar eventsFiles.ReadWrite.All: Create, update, and delete files and folders in OneDrive and SharePoint. Deleted items go to the recycle bin.MailboxSettings.ReadWrite: Manage categories, inbox rules, and automatic repliesChatMessage.Send: Send a Teams chat message on the user's behalfChannelMessage.Send: Post or reply in a Teams channelChat.Create: Start a new chat on the user’s behalfPeople.Read: Find people in the organization to start a chat with
User directory
User.ReadBasic.All: Read basic profile information for all users in the organization (used for finding meeting availability)
The Microsoft 365 connector searches SharePoint across the entire tenant using the permissions of the user. Site-specific search restriction isn't supported.
Privacy and security
Permission inheritance: Claude mirrors each user's existing Microsoft 365 permissions. Members can't access anything through Claude that they couldn't already see directly in Microsoft 365.
On your request. Claude accesses Microsoft 365 when you ask, or when a scheduled task you set up needs it.
Revocable access: Members can disconnect their own integration through Customize > Connectors. Team and Enterprise plan Owners can also remove the connector for the entire organization in Organization settings > Connectors.
For more detail, see the Microsoft 365 connector security guide.
Troubleshooting
A member can't authenticate
Confirm their account is tied to a Microsoft Entra tenant, not a personal Microsoft account.
Confirm their Microsoft 365 license is active.
Confirm admin consent has been granted using Option 1 or Option 2 above.
Check whether a Conditional Access policy in your tenant is blocking the connection. See below: Conditional Access is blocking the connection.
Members are seeing "Failed to call tool" errors
A permission may have been selectively revoked in Microsoft Entra. Members can turn off the corresponding tool in their Microsoft 365 settings to suppress the error, or you can restore the permission by repeating the admin consent steps in Option 2: Manual setup in Microsoft Entra ID.
A Teams tool returns a 403 “Missing scope” error
The connector’s permission set now includes Team.ReadBasic.All, which Claude needs to list the teams a user belongs to. If your tenant consented before this permission was added, Teams tools that rely on it return a 403 “Missing scope” error. To fix it, have a Microsoft Entra Global Administrator repeat the admin consent steps in Option 1: Consent through Claude or Option 2: Manual setup in Microsoft Entra ID.
Note: Repeating admin consent grants the connector’s full current permission set, including the write permissions. If you revoked any write permissions on purpose, revoke them again afterward.
Write tools aren't appearing for members
Confirm a Microsoft Entra administrator has consented to the updated permission set that includes write scopes.
Confirm write tools are enabled in the Microsoft 365 connector configuration, or that the member is covered by a role-based access policy that grants them.
Have the member disconnect and reconnect Microsoft 365 in Customize > Connectors.
Claude doesn’t find files that SharePoint search finds
This only applies when SharePoint’s own search finds a file and Claude doesn’t. When Claude searches SharePoint and OneDrive files, it adds isDocument=true to every query, so it only finds files that your tenant’s search index marks as documents. If the index doesn’t mark some files, Claude won’t find them, and no error is shown.
To check whether this is the cause:
Sign in to Graph Explorer as a user who can open a missing file. Consent to
Files.Read.All, if you’re asked.Run this search, replacing
budgetwith a word from the missing file. Choose a word that few other files contain:POST https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/search/query
{"requests":[{"entityTypes":["driveItem"],"query":{"queryString":"
(budget)"},"size":100,"sortProperties":
[{"name":"LastModifiedTime","isDescending":true}]}]}
Run it again with the document filter added, using the same word:
POST https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/search/query
{"requests":[{"entityTypes":["driveItem"],"query":{"queryString":"(budget) AND
isDocument=true"},"size":100,"sortProperties":
[{"name":"LastModifiedTime","isDescending":true}]}]}
Compare the results:
If a Word, Excel, PowerPoint, or PDF file you expected appears only in the first search, your search index isn’t marking it as a document. Open a case with Microsoft Support and share both searches.
If the file doesn’t appear in either search, this isn’t the cause.
Conditional Access is blocking the connection
A Conditional Access block shows up in one of three ways:
A user sees "Authorization with the MCP server failed" and a reference code starting with
ofid_when they try to connect. Our Support team can look up that code.A member who is already connected gets an error when Claude uses a Microsoft 365 tool. The error includes an
AADSTScode, a note that the request was blocked by a Conditional Access policy, and the Trace ID and Correlation ID you can search for in Entra.Members are asked to reconnect Microsoft 365 on a regular cycle, much more often than the normal 90-day expiry. This usually means a sign-in frequency policy.
Connecting Microsoft 365 involves more than the sign-in the member sees. After the member signs in to Microsoft in their browser, Claude's servers exchange that sign-in for access tokens, and later exchange those tokens for Microsoft 365 access on the member's behalf. In our testing, Entra evaluates your Conditional Access policies against these server-side requests as coming from Anthropic’s outbound IP addresses. They identify the member and carry the device recorded when the member connected, not the member's current device or network. So a policy can pass the member's own sign-in and still block the connection a moment later, or block it days later. Learn more about Anthropic’s outbound IP addresses
Find the policy that's blocking the connection
In the Microsoft Entra admin center, go to Sign-in logs and open the User sign-ins (non-interactive) tab. The member's own sign-in appears on the interactive tab and usually shows as successful, so the block is rarely there.
Filter by the affected member. The blocked requests can appear under either M365 MCP Server for Claude or M365 MCP Client for Claude, so filtering by member is more reliable than filtering by application. Don't filter by resource, which hides some of the rows.
Open the failed entry and select the Conditional Access tab. It names the policy that blocked the request.
The error code tells you what kind of policy it is:
AADSTS70043: a sign-in frequency policy. See the next section.AADSTS53003: a policy set to block access. The Conditional Access tab tells you which one. If it's based on location, see the next section.AADSTS50076: a policy required multi-factor authentication on a server-side request. Disconnecting and reconnecting Microsoft 365 clears it. If it keeps happening, see the Microsoft 365 connector security guide.AADSTS53000: a policy requires a compliant device. The similar codeAADSTS530003means a policy requires a managed device. In both cases the member needs to reconnect from a device that meets the policy. Learn more in the Microsoft 365 connector security guide.
Exclude Anthropic’s IP ranges from sign-in frequency and location policies
Because the server-side requests come from Anthropic’s IP ranges, a policy that limits sign-ins to your own network, or that enforces a sign-in frequency, blocks them for every member. Excluding the two Claude applications from the policy isn’t enough on its own. We recommend excluding Anthropic’s IP ranges from the policy as well.
Note: Don't use this exclusion for a device compliance policy. The server-side requests carry the device recorded when the member connected, so a device policy still applies to them, and excluding Anthropic’s IP ranges would turn the device check off for the connector. Members blocked by a device policy need to reconnect from a device that meets it. Learn more in the Microsoft 365 connector security guide.
If the policy that blocked the request is a sign-in frequency or location policy:
In the Microsoft Entra admin center, go to Conditional Access > Named locations and create an IP range location. Add every current IPv4 range, in full, from Anthropic’s Outbound IP addresses list. Leave Mark as trusted location unchecked so the exclusion doesn’t affect other policies that use trusted locations. If Anthropic adds a range to that list, add it to this location too.
Open the policy that blocked the request and go to Conditions > Locations > Exclude.
Add the named location you created. Keep any existing exclusions for the Claude applications in place.
Save the policy and wait a few minutes for the change to apply.
Have an affected member disconnect and reconnect Microsoft 365 in Customize > Connectors.
Note: Excluding the ranges lifts the policy for every request that comes from Anthropic's addresses, which means all Microsoft 365 connector activity for all of your members. For a sign-in frequency policy, this also means the connector's background requests are no longer subject to it, so a connection stays signed in until it expires after 90 days of inactivity. If you'd rather keep the periodic reconnects, leave the policy as it is. Members who are asked to reconnect can sign out of Microsoft in their browser, or use a private browsing window, before reconnecting. If you want to check the effect of a change before making it, clone the policy in report-only mode first.
Frequently asked questions
What happens if a member tries to connect before consent is granted?
They'll see an error message indicating that an administrator must grant app permissions before they can use the integration. The connection will fail until a Microsoft Entra Global Administrator approves the necessary permissions.
Can the Microsoft 365 connector be used with enterprise search?
Yes. When enterprise search is enabled, it can query Microsoft 365 alongside other connected services for unified search across Slack, Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, and more.
What file types can the connector read?
Claude reads Word, Excel, PowerPoint (including older .doc, .xls, and .ppt files), PDF, and plain-text formats such as .txt, .md, and .csv from SharePoint and OneDrive. Other formats, including OneNote, can't be read. For the full list, see Connect to Microsoft 365.
Can the integration modify Microsoft 365 data?
Only after an Entra admin grants write scopes. With write tools on, Claude can send email, manage drafts and calendar events, update mailbox settings, create and update files in OneDrive and SharePoint, and send messages in Microsoft Teams (post/reply in a channel, send a chat message, or start a new chat on the user's behalf), always within each member's existing Microsoft 365 permissions. Without them, the integration is read-only. Claude still can't change Teams settings or permissions, only send messages.