Connect Multiple Email Accounts to Claude Cowork
Cowork uses Claude’s connectors, so it holds one Gmail and one Outlook at a time and never two of either, but a task can still reach every mailbox you own. Connect each account to Carly, add Carly to Claude once, and a single Cowork task can search or act in whichever inbox you name.
What one session can do afterwards
- Search a personal Gmail and a work Outlook in the same question.
- Compare a thread in one company’s mailbox against another’s.
- Produce a morning briefing grouped by inbox.
- Draft or send from the exact address you choose.
- Label, move, flag or archive in the correct account.
- Check several calendars for conflicts while writing to only one.
Why one connector cannot hold both
Connector authorization is per identity, not per person. ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini each hold one Google account at a time, so the second inbox is reachable only by replacing the first. Both OpenAI and Anthropic have open feature requests asking for several named accounts on one connector, which is a fair signal that it is not possible today.
Cowork has no mail connectors of its own. It uses Claude’s, and Anthropic states the Google limit plainly: Claude accesses “the Gmail, Calendar, and Drive data for the Google account you’ve connected,” singular.
There is a second catch specific to unattended work. Claude’s Microsoft 365 write tools need a live conversation, and Anthropic does not offer “Always allow” for sending mail at all, so a scheduled Cowork task can research all night and then stop at an approval it cannot give itself.
1. Give each mailbox a role
Using fictional addresses:
| Address | Role in Claude Cowork |
|---|---|
fictional.priya.raghunathan@gmail.com | Personal |
fictional.priya.raghunathan@kroger.com | Main Company |
fictional.priya.raghunathan@zoetis.com | Client |
Names like Personal, Main Company and Client read better in everyday questions than “Gmail 1” and “Outlook 2.” Keep the full address for anything that changes a mailbox.
2. Connect the first mailbox to Carly
- Sign in at carlyassistant.com.
- Open carlyassistant.com/integrations.
- Find Gmail or Outlook and click Connect.
- Choose the first account.
- Review and approve access.
- Confirm the connected address in Carly.
A Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 account may need administrator review. Ask the administrator to approve, then finish authorization.
3. Add the rest of the mailboxes
- Return to Carly’s integrations page.
- Select Gmail or Outlook and click Connect again.
- Choose Use another account if the provider preselects your first login.
- Sign in to the next identity.
- Complete authorization.
- Verify the full address before adding another.
Mix providers freely here. This is the step Claude Cowork’s own connectors cannot do: a second Gmail sits beside the first, and Outlook sits beside both.
4. Add Carly to Claude Cowork
- Open Customize → Connectors in Claude.
- Click the + next to Connectors.
- Select Add custom connector.
- Paste
https://carlyassistant.com/mcp/and give it a name. - Continue to authorization and sign in to the Carly account holding your mailboxes.
- Toggle Carly on from the + menu in the message box.
Custom connectors are called from Anthropic’s cloud, so nothing needs to run on your machine. On Team and Enterprise plans an owner may need to enable the connector for the organization first.
5. Leave approval on while testing
- Open Customize → Connectors and select Carly.
- Open Tool permissions.
- Leave sending and other write tools on Needs approval.
- Keep Cowork’s own mode selector on Manually approve for the first few runs.
This shows you the target account before a consequential action runs.
6. Test each address read-only
In
fictional.priya.raghunathan@kroger.com, list the sender and subject of the five newest unread messages. Do not change anything.
In
fictional.priya.raghunathan@zoetis.com, find the newest thread containing “invoice.” State the source account and do not draft or send.
Then a question that crosses providers:
Search the Kroger and personal Gmail example accounts for “renewal” in the last 30 days. Include the full source address on every row.
7. Reuse this routing prompt
Treat
fictional.priya.raghunathan@gmail.comas Personal,fictional.priya.raghunathan@kroger.comas Main Company, andfictional.priya.raghunathan@zoetis.comas Client. Always state the target address before changing data. Wait for approval before sends, moves, deletes, labels or calendar changes.
Then name the target every time:
Draft the reply from
fictional.priya.raghunathan@kroger.com. Do not send yet.
Archive the newsletter thread in
fictional.priya.raghunathan@gmail.comonly.
Claude Cowork’s own connectors versus Carly
| Claude Cowork’s Gmail and Outlook | Carly | |
|---|---|---|
| Gmail accounts at once | One | Every one you connect |
| Outlook accounts at once | One | Every one you connect |
| Gmail and Outlook together | Yes, one of each | Yes, any number of each |
| Says which account it used | Not consistently | On every action |
| Sends with attachments | No | Yes |
| Starts when mail arrives | No | Yes |
The unattended-work gap closed when ChatGPT and Claude Cowork added scheduled runs. Their standard schedulers still start from the clock, not arbitrary events in connected apps; API-triggered ChatGPT Workspace Agents require an external event detector and caller.
Carly’s agents also carry their own name, email address and memory, so a colleague or client can write to one directly and the work begins on arrival rather than when you next open a session. Around the mail sit 260+ native integrations plus your own API key for anything else with an API. AI agents start at $35 a month.
Connect every inbox at carlyassistant.com.
Quick fixes when a mailbox does not appear
- The provider reused your signed-in account. Choose Use another account on the provider’s screen rather than the suggested profile.
- A work account stalls at consent. A Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 administrator has to approve before authorization completes.
- Claude Cowork does not see Carly. Reopen the + menu in the message box and toggle Carly on for the task.
- The wrong inbox answered. Name the full address in the prompt; roles alone are for reading, addresses are for acting.
Frequently asked questions
Can Claude Cowork connect to multiple email accounts?
Its connectors hold one Gmail and one Outlook at a time. Connecting every mailbox to Carly and adding Carly to Claude once lets a single Cowork task reach all of them.
Can Claude Cowork connect two Gmail accounts?
Not natively. Cowork uses Claude’s Google Workspace connector, which holds one Google identity and replaces it when you sign in with a second.
Can a scheduled Cowork task send email?
Not through Claude’s Microsoft 365 connector, which offers no Always allow for sending, so an unattended run stops at the approval. Carly sends on its own.
Does Cowork have its own connectors?
No. It uses the same connectors as Claude, so whatever you connect in Claude is what a Cowork task can reach.
Will it tell me which account it used?
Through Carly, yes. Every action reports the source address.
More: How to connect multiple Gmail accounts to Claude Cowork · Claude Cowork multiple accounts · Claude Cowork connectors · Can Claude Cowork send emails · Best AI assistants for multiple email accounts
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