Unable to add Claude for Excel or Word--Add In Error, you do not have permission to use this add-in.

Question

Per the title I'm trying to activate Claude for Word/Excel and keep getting this error. I have logged out and in (it did temporarily install when I was NOT logged into my MS Office 365 Family account), but as soon as I log into my account again the add-in, Claude, will not load. I have looked through all my accounts on my PC and do not have any work or school accounts listed under this user name, or any other for that matter. I was able to get it connected via the MS Excel web browser session I ran, but honestly I do not like that version. I do have a paid subscription for Claude and have gone through their technical support, they claim the issue is on the server side for microsoft. Any help for this that I've not already tried?

Answer 1

Hi Dana,

Good day. Claude works when you're signed out of Microsoft 365, but stops working as soon as you sign back into your Microsoft 365 Family account. This more an Office account/permission issue than your Claude subscription.

Since you've already tried signing out and in and worked with Claude support, don't reinstall Office yet. Let's do some checkings first:

1. Open Word or Excel > Home > Add-ins > More Add-ins, then search for Claude. If it shows a permission or access message, let me know exactly what it says.
2. Sign in to your Microsoft account and check your connected apps/services. If you see an old Claude/Anthropic connection, remove it, restart Word/Excel, and try again.
3. If possible, temporarily sign into Word or Excel with another personal Microsoft account and test Claude. If it works there, that would point to something specific with your Microsoft 365 Family account.
4. Also check whether any Microsoft Family Safety restrictions are enabled for the account, as these can affect access to Office add-ins.

Let us also go back to Claude support with this exact detail: the add-in works when you're not signed into Microsoft 365, but immediately fails with "you do not have permission to use this add-in" after signing into your Family account. Ask them to confirm whether their Office add-in supports Microsoft 365 Family accounts and whether they can see your account being rejected by Microsoft's add-in service.

Regards,
Jhun

Answer 2

Hi Dana,

Since this is happening with multiple add-ins, not just Claude, and they work normally when you're signed out of Microsoft 365, this doesn't look like a Claude-specific issue.

The key part is that the same add-ins immediately stop working after you sign back into your Microsoft 365 Family account, all showing:

"You don't have permission to use this add-in. Contact your system administrator to request access."

Since you have already confirmed there are no work/school accounts or restrictions, don't spend more time reinstalling Claude or Office.

At this point, report it through Word or Excel > Help > Feedback > Report a Problem. Mention that multiple add-ins are affected, they work while signed out, and they all fail as soon as your personal Microsoft 365 Family account is signed in.

For now, signing out is a reasonable workaround, although I know the sign-in reminder at the top is annoying. The fact that the add-ins work when you're signed out is actually useful evidence that the add-ins themselves are working.

Regards,
Jhun

Answer 3

this same thing is happening to me!!! it is so frustrating

Answer 4

Yes, this issue is not just Claude, it's pretty much any add-in I attempt to load into my Excel or Word now that I've noticed this. I normally run no add-ins. I can not log into Microsoft with any other account, we have just the one for the family. I have no restrictions set in our Microsoft 365 account. I can work around this by simply sign out of my account then I can load any add-ins and everything works fine, but I do get an annoying reminder message about logging into my MS account at the top of the MS product. Once I do so none of the add-ins work, all have the same message of Add-In Error. You don't have permission to use this add-in. Contact your system administrator to request access.

Answer 5

A similar problem has been reported in https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/6009318/mendeley-reference-manager-add-in-error-you-dont-h. Since this may be a more widespread error than just Claude, you should report it using Help | Feedback | Report a problem.