How to use Claude inside Microsoft 365

Microsoft 365 Copilot just got significantly more capable. Anthropic's Claude Sonnet 4.6 is now available inside the Copilot experience, which means Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Teams users can access one of the best AI models available without paying for a separate subscription or switching between tools.

For professional services firms, this matters. Most already pay for Microsoft 365. The tools are already open. The only question now is whether people know how to use what they already have.

What changed

Microsoft has expanded its AI partner ecosystem to include Anthropic's Claude. Claude Sonnet 4.6 is now accessible via Microsoft 365 Copilot, running alongside Microsoft's own models. You do not need a separate Anthropic account or an additional subscription. If you have Microsoft 365 Copilot included in your plan, Claude is already there.

The integration makes Claude available in the Copilot sidebar and chat interface across the Microsoft 365 suite.

What you can do in each app

Word

This is where the impact is most immediately obvious for professional services. Claude can draft documents from a brief, edit for tone and clarity, summarise long reports, and restructure content. Give it a set of bullet points and it produces a well-written section. Paste in a 40-page contract and ask it to summarise the key obligations. Ask it to make your prose more concise, and it will.

A solicitor at a mid-sized UK firm might ask Claude to draft a client letter explaining a change in their matter status. The letter comes back professional, clear, and appropriately toned. The solicitor reviews it, makes any adjustments, and sends it. A task that took 20 minutes now takes five.

Excel

Claude can help with data analysis, formula generation, and plain-English summaries of what a spreadsheet actually shows. If you have a financial model and you are not sure what it is telling you, ask. If you know what you want to calculate but cannot remember the formula syntax, ask. If you want to turn a table of numbers into a paragraph suitable for a client report, Claude can do that too.

The formula assistance alone is valuable for people who use Excel regularly but are not power users. It eliminates the need to search for formula help online or ask a colleague.

PowerPoint

Building a deck from scratch is time-consuming. Claude can take a brief and generate a structured slide outline, draft the content for each slide, and suggest how to frame the narrative. You still control the design and the final message, but the blank-canvas problem disappears.

A management consultant preparing a proposal deck can describe the client's situation and the recommendation, ask Claude to structure the presentation, and then refine from there. The first draft that used to take two hours is now ready in minutes.

Teams

Claude in Teams is particularly useful for meeting summaries and follow-up drafting. After a call, it can summarise what was discussed, extract action points, and draft follow-up messages or emails to participants. For firms running a high volume of client calls, this removes a chunk of post-meeting admin that currently falls on fee earners.

It can also help draft responses to messages in Teams channels, useful when you want to say something carefully worded or when you need to communicate a complex point clearly.

How to access it

If your organisation has Microsoft 365 Copilot, access it via the Copilot icon in any of the applications above or through the Copilot sidebar. The interface may allow you to select which AI model to use. Claude will appear as an option where it has been made available.

If you are unsure whether your plan includes Copilot, check with your IT administrator or Microsoft 365 account settings. Copilot is available on Business and Enterprise plans; standalone Microsoft 365 subscriptions may not include it.

Why this matters for SMEs

The adoption barrier for advanced AI tools has always been friction. A separate account, a separate subscription, a separate tab, a learning curve, a reason to start. Most people do not bother.

Putting Claude inside tools that professional services firms already use every day removes that friction almost entirely. The tool is already open. The sidebar is already there. The question is simply whether you use it.

For UK professional services firms, particularly solicitors, accountants, consultants, and IFAs who spend a significant portion of their time writing, summarising, and communicating, this is the kind of capability shift that compounds over time. The firms that build the habit now will be operating more efficiently than those that do not, and the gap will grow.

The tools are in your hands. The question is what you do with them.