# How to connect Google Drive to Claude: connector and fixes > Claude's Google Drive connector, made by Google, searches and reads your files, and now shares and trashes them too. Setup, limits, fixes and safety. Updated 2026-11-02 · https://upsy.ai/guides/claude/google-drive ## Short answer Yes, Claude connects to Google Drive. Open **Customize › Connectors**, click **Google Drive**, then **Connect**, and sign in with Google. It takes a minute. Claude can then search Drive and read Docs, Sheets, Slides, PDFs and Office files. Since August 2026, on paid plans, it can also save, copy, share and trash files, asking you first before it shares or trashes one. Editing an existing Doc or Sheet is a separate, beta connector: see [Google Docs with Claude](/guides/claude/google-docs) and [Google Sheets with Claude](/guides/claude/google-sheets). Add Drive through Upsy instead if Claude should suggest changes rather than make them, never share or trash a file, use more than one Google account, or keep the same limits in Claude Code. ## The built-in way ### Claude's Google Drive connector Claude's directory lists the connector as [made by Google](https://claude.com/connectors/google-drive), added in March 2026. Anthropic's [help page](https://support.claude.com/en/articles/10166901-use-google-workspace-connectors) puts the Google Workspace connectors (Gmail, Calendar and Drive) on every plan. Its August 18, 2026 announcement added file management "on all paid plans", so Free likely gets reading only. 1. In Claude, open [Customize › Connectors](https://claude.ai/customize/connectors) and click **Google Drive**. 2. Click **Connect**, pick your Google account and allow access. 3. In a chat, click **+**, hover over **Connectors** and check that Google Drive is on. Two more ways to use a file: - **In a chat:** **+ › Add from Google Drive**, then search or paste a link. Claude reads it again with each message. - **In a project:** under **Files**, click **+ › Drive**. This works only in private projects, and Claude refreshes the file now and then, when you open the project. On Team and Enterprise, an Owner turns the connector on first, then each member signs in with their own Google account. If Google says your admin needs to review "Claude for Google Drive", a Google Workspace admin has to trust it (see Troubleshooting). Cowork uses the same connectors, and Claude Code shows your claude.ai connectors under `/mcp` when you sign in with your Claude account. There's no separate Drive plugin for Claude Code. ### What it can do Per Anthropic's help page and the directory listing, Claude can: - **Search** your Drive, list recent changes, and see a file's details and who it's shared with. - **Read** Google Docs, Sheets and Slides, PDFs, Microsoft Office and OpenDocument files, and PNG and JPEG images. - **Save** files: upload any type of file, convert it to a Google format, copy a file, create folders, and save files Claude makes (with code execution on). - **Share, move and trash** files. Claude asks before each of these by default. On Team and Enterprise, Owners decide whether members can skip that. ### Where it stops - **No folder limit.** Claude can reach every file your Google account can open. You can't limit it to one folder, only turn single tools off. - **Per-tool limits, inside Claude only.** Under **Customize › Connectors › Google Drive**, each tool can be **Always allow**, **Needs approval** or **Blocked**. A [June 2026 report](https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/64521) found that Claude Code ignores those settings and uses its own rules. - **Text only.** Images inside a document are dropped, and Google exports Docs, Sheets and Slides only up to about 10 MB, so a bigger file arrives without its content. - **No comments.** Anthropic's [Drive docs](https://claude.com/docs/connectors/google/drive) say the connector can't read a file's comments or suggested edits. - **One Google account.** Work and personal Drive can't be connected side by side. - **No record outside the chat.** What Claude did in Drive is in each conversation, with no list across chats. ### Where Upsy fits - **Nothing shared or trashed.** Upsy has no tool that shares, moves, trashes or deletes files. Read-only holds on Upsy's side, in claude.ai, Claude Desktop and Claude Code alike. - **Suggestions, not overwrites.** Claude suggests changes in a Google Doc for you to accept, comments on it, and updates cells in a Google Sheet. - **More accounts:** up to five Google accounts, each with its own access. - **History and alerts:** every search, read and save is listed under Claude, with the file's name. - **One setup:** the same Drive connection works in ChatGPT, Grok and Muse, each at its own level. ## What you need - **A Google account** that can open the files. On Google Workspace, an admin may [restrict third-party apps](https://knowledge.workspace.google.com/admin/apps/control-which-apps-access-google-workspace-data). - **Claude on any plan.** Upsy is a custom connector, and Free allows one. On Team or Enterprise, an Owner adds Upsy first under **Organization settings › Connectors** (**Add › Custom › Web**). - **A free Upsy account.** ## Connect Google Drive to Claude In Upsy, one Google Drive sign-in covers Drive, Docs and Sheets. 1. Go to [upsy.ai](https://upsy.ai) and click **Set up Upsy**. 2. Open **Apps** and click **Connect an app**. Find **Google Drive** and click **Connect**. Upsy explains that Google Drive connects through Composio for now. Click **Continue**, pick your Google account and allow access. 3. Open **Assistants**, click **Add assistant** and pick **Claude**. Copy your Upsy address: ``` https://upsy.ai/connect ``` 4. In Claude, open [Customize › Connectors](https://claude.ai/customize/connectors), click **Add**, hover over **Custom** and choose **Web** (some accounts still show an **Add custom connector** button). Name it Upsy, paste the address and click **Continue** twice, keeping the detected sign-in settings. Then click **Add**. 5. Click **Connect** next to Upsy. On the Upsy page that opens, sign in. Google Drive is ticked, set to **All**. Change it to **Read-only** if Claude should only read. Click **Allow**. 6. In a chat, open **+ › Connectors** and check that Upsy is on. For another Google account, click **Add account** next to Google Drive on the **Apps** page. In Claude Code, run `claude mcp add --transport http upsy https://upsy.ai/connect`, then `/mcp` to sign in. The [custom connector guide](/guides/claude/custom-connector) covers the Claude side in more detail. ## Check that it works > Using Upsy, find the Google Doc I edited most recently and summarize it in three bullets. Claude should name the Doc, link to it and summarize it. It may ask you to allow the tool first. Upsy's **History** shows the read under Claude, with the file's name. ## What Claude can do with Drive, Docs and Sheets **Google Drive** - Search files by name or content, and list the most recently changed ones. - Read a file: Docs and Slides as text, Sheets as CSV, and the text of PDFs and Word files. - Save a new file: text or a file up to 3 MB that Claude made, or a copy of an email attachment (with Gmail connected to Upsy) or one of your Upsy files up to 24 MB. It can go in a folder, and text can become a Google Doc, or CSV a Google Sheet. - Drive tools never change, move, share or delete your existing files. **Google Docs** - Read a Doc with its headings, lists, tables and tabs. - Suggest changes and comment on a passage. Suggestions wait in the Doc until you accept or reject them. - Edit directly, off unless you pick it. Version history keeps the old text. **Google Sheets** - Read a Sheet's tabs and any range. - Update cells, formulas included, add rows after a table, and add a tab. | Level | What Claude can do | |---|---| | Read-only | Search, list recent files, read files, Docs and Sheets | | Full access | Also save new files, update Sheets, suggest changes and comment in Docs | | Pick actions | Only what you tick. The only way to allow direct Doc edits | | No access | Nothing | Upsy can't edit Slides, change sharing, or rename, move or trash files. ## Prompts to try - "Find my 'Q3 budget' sheet and tell me which rows are over budget." - "Search my Drive for contracts with Acme and list each one with its renewal date." - "Read the three most recent files in my Board folder and write a one-page summary." - "Turn this meeting summary into a Google Doc in my Meetings folder." - "Save the PDF from Lisa's email yesterday to my Drive." - "Read my CV and suggest tighter wording for the summary, as suggestions I can accept." ## Troubleshooting ### "You may need to reconnect with your Google Drive account" Anthropic's fix: disconnect Google Drive under **Customize › Connectors** and connect it again. If that doesn't help, remove Claude's access at [myaccount.google.com/connections](https://myaccount.google.com/connections), then connect again. ### "Access blocked" or "your institution's admin needs to review Claude for Google Drive" Your Google Workspace admin has to trust Claude. In the [Admin console](https://admin.google.com), they go to **Security › Access and data control › API controls › Manage third-party app access**, click **Add app › OAuth App Name**, search for Claude and set it to **Trusted**. It can take about 15 minutes to apply. The same admin settings can block Upsy's Google sign-in. ### Claude can't find a file, or a file comes back empty Claude searches the one Google account you connected, so check the file is there, and try its exact title or paste its link. A Doc, Sheet or Slides file over about 10 MB comes back without its content. Split it, or ask about one part. ### Creating a file in a folder fails In May 2026, [users reported](https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/57211) "User cannot add children to the specified folder" when Claude saved into a chosen folder. Users reported it fixed about a week later. If you see it, save the file without a folder and move it yourself. ### Claude uses its own Drive connector, not Upsy If both are on, Claude can pick either. Say "using Upsy" in the prompt, or turn the built-in Google Drive connector off for that chat under **+ › Connectors**. ### Google's sign-in screen names Composio Expected for now. Until Google finishes reviewing Upsy's own app, Google Drive signs in through Composio's verified Google app, which asks for full Drive access. Upsy uses it only for the tools above. ## Security and privacy - **Training.** Anthropic says "We do not train our models on your Gmail, Drive, or Calendar connector data" ([help page](https://support.claude.com/en/articles/10166901-use-google-workspace-connectors)). What Claude reads is kept with the chat, and deleting the chat deletes it. - **What it can reach.** Claude's connector sees every file your Google account can open. To keep Claude away from some files, block its tools, or use a Google account that holds only what Claude should see. - **Through Upsy, Claude never gets your Google tokens.** It calls Upsy, and Upsy calls Google. Upsy never deletes, trashes or shares Drive files, and suggestions wait for you in the Doc. - **History** lists each search, read, save and edit under Claude, with the file's name. - **Alerts** email you when one assistant reads from your apps 100 or more times within 10 minutes. - **Turning it off:** set Google Drive to No access for Claude, click **Remove Claude** on its page in Upsy, or disconnect Google Drive in Apps. Disconnecting also removes the connection at Composio. ## FAQ ### Can Claude access Google Drive? Yes. Claude's Google Drive connector searches and reads your files, and on paid plans saves, shares and trashes them. Upsy adds suggestions in Docs, Sheets updates, more than one account, and limits Upsy enforces itself. ### Can Claude access a single Google Drive folder? Not as a setting. Claude's connector and Upsy both reach everything your Google account can open. To keep Claude to a few files, add just those to a chat or project with **Add from Google Drive**, or connect a separate Google account that has only those files shared with it. ### Can Claude write to Google Drive? Yes. Since August 2026, Claude's connector saves, copies, shares and trashes files on paid plans. Through Upsy, Claude saves new files and suggests changes in Docs, but never shares, moves or trashes anything. ### Can Claude read PDFs from Google Drive? Yes, their text. Both Claude's connector and Upsy read PDFs, Office files and Google files. Images inside a document are left out. ### Is it safe to connect Claude to Google Drive? Anthropic doesn't train on connector data, and Claude asks before sharing or trashing a file by default. The risks are its reach (every file you can open) and documents that hide instructions aimed at AI. Keep write tools on **Needs approval**, or use Upsy's Read-only. ### Does Claude Cowork work with Google Drive? Yes. Cowork uses the same Google Drive connector as Claude, loaded when a session starts. --- Upsy connects personal AI assistants (Muse, Grok, ChatGPT, Claude, Cursor, Claude Code, Codex, Devin) to your Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Drive, Slack, Notion and other apps through one MCP server, with a shared memory, files and a cloud browser signed in to your sites. You choose what each assistant may do in each app, see everything it did, and turn it off in one click. Upsy is free. To add Upsy to an assistant, add a remote MCP server (Streamable HTTP) named Upsy at https://upsy.ai/connect. It signs in with OAuth; there is no API key.