Anthropic has released a beta add-on bringing its Claude AI assistant to Microsoft Word, available now to customers on Team and Enterprise plans. The integration allows users to generate new content, edit documents, and handle comments within the app. It offers an alternative to Microsoft's Copilot.
Anthropic announced the Claude add-on for Microsoft Word in a LinkedIn post this week. The feature is free to try for existing Claude customers with Team or Enterprise plans and is currently in beta testing. The company has not specified a timeline for a wider rollout, using the beta phase to identify bugs and gather feedback before broader availability. Claude launched in June 2024 and is already integrated into Google Workspace apps like Gmail, Google Calendar, and Google Drive, as well as Slack. Last week, Anthropic made its AI agent tool Claude Cowork available on paid plans for macOS and Windows. Within Word, Claude can create new documents from templates by description, edit highlighted text to tighten phrasing or adjust tone, and fix issues like broken cross-references. It also analyzes comments in documents; for instance, in a demo with a mutual nondisclosure agreement, Claude summarized changes by a partner's counsel, flagged potential dealbreakers, and drafted pushback language. The add-on comes as Microsoft's Copilot, launched in February 2023, faces competition and user complaints about its presence in Windows 11 and other software. Copilot echoes the infamous Clippy assistant from 1996, which frustrated users until it was disabled by default on April 11, 2001. Reactions to Anthropic's announcement on LinkedIn were mixed, with one user noting Claude sometimes generates Office documents unprompted, while another welcomed the release.
