Claude for Microsoft 365 Essentials
Course Overview
Plenty of people already have a Claude subscription and use it as a slightly better search box. This workshop is about everything else: using Claude properly alongside the Microsoft 365 tools your team works in all day, on the documents, inboxes, transcripts and spreadsheets they actually deal with.
Claude for Microsoft 365 Essentials is a hands-on, one-day workshop that skips the theory. The day works through real workplace scenarios: turning rough bullet points into a finished report, drafting a reply to a difficult email, pulling decisions and actions from a long meeting transcript, explaining a spreadsheet formula in plain language, and querying approved internal documents through Claude Connectors.
One practical difference is worth understanding before you book. Claude sits alongside Microsoft 365 rather than inside it, so much of this workshop teaches people to move work between Claude and Word, Outlook, Teams, PowerPoint, and Excel without creating a privacy problem along the way. That is a different skill from using an assistant embedded in the apps, and it is why data safety appears in the first module rather than the last.
What will you gain?
By the end of the 1-day training, your team will be able to:
- Write structured, context-rich prompts tailored to business tasks rather than generic questions.
- Draft, edit and summarise text for Word, Outlook, Teams and Excel.
- Use Claude Connectors to query approved internal company documents.
- Fact check AI output, and manage data privacy and security risks.
- Build a personal library of reusable prompts for the routine tasks that come round every week.
- Recognise where Claude is genuinely useful, where it is not, and where human review is required before anything is sent.
Who is this course for?
Everyday Microsoft 365 users who want to get through documentation, email and reporting faster. It is written for business users, not for IT, so there is no configuration, no administration and no technical prerequisite beyond ordinary confidence with Microsoft 365.
- Administrative and office support staff
- Team leaders and supervisors
- Project and program coordinators
- Business support teams
- Executive and personal assistants
- Operations, finance and reporting staff who live in Excel
- Anyone whose week is mostly documents, email and meetings
It suits organisations that have bought Claude licences and now want people using them consistently and safely, rather than a handful of enthusiasts working it out alone.
Before you book:
Participants need Microsoft 365 access and a paid Claude licence. Basic working confidence with Microsoft 365 is assumed. Everyone attending needs their own paid Claude licence, and the Connectors content in Module 3 queries approved company documents and SharePoint, which requires a Claude for Work plan rather than a personal subscription.
Course Modules
Three practical modules, all covered across the one-day workshop:
Module 1: Practical Prompting & Daily Workflows
Learn what Claude does well, where it falls short, and where human review is essential. Learn prompt structures that work and how to handle workplace information without risking privacy.
- Introduction to Claude: strengths, limitations, and where human review is required
- Using effective prompt structures and techniques to guide Claude’s responses
- Data safety: how to work with workplace information without putting privacy at risk
- Choosing the tasks in your own week that are worth handing to Claude first
Module 2: Claude + Microsoft 365 Applications
Apply Claude across Word, Outlook, Teams, PowerPoint and Excel on the work you actually do. Turn rough notes into polished reports, summarise long email threads, build presentation outlines and explain complex spreadsheets in plain language.
Claude with Microsoft Word and long-form documents
- Transforming rough bullet points into polished, professional reports
- Adjusting tone and style for executive summaries versus client updates
- Combining notes from multiple files into a single, cohesive document draft
Claude with Microsoft Outlook
- Drafting concise email replies for complex or sensitive discussions
- Summarising long email threads into clear key takeaways and next steps
- Creating reusable email response templates for routine enquiries
Claude with Microsoft Teams and meetings
- Structuring meeting agendas, discussion points and follow-up plans
- Converting raw meeting transcripts into clear action items and decisions
Claude with Microsoft PowerPoint
- Drafting logical storyboards, presentation outlines and slide content
- Writing detailed presenter notes and audience-tailored messaging
Claude with Microsoft Excel
- Using plain language to explain complex formulas and spreadsheet logic
- Summarising large datasets to highlight trends, outliers and key metrics
Module 3: Connected Knowledge & Responsible AI
Use Claude Connectors to query approved company documents and SharePoint files securely. Learn to spot hallucinations, bias and gaps, then build your own prompt bank and workplace integration plan.
- Claude Connectors: querying approved company documents and SharePoint files securely
- Output verification: spotting hallucinations, bias and incomplete data before it reaches anyone
- Knowing what should never be put into an AI tool, and what your policy needs to say about it
- Workshop activity: building your personal prompt bank and workplace integration plan
Duration & Method
Claude for Microsoft 365 Essentials runs as a single 7-hour day, including breaks, led by an Upskilled Tech Academy facilitator. The day is hands-on throughout: participants work on their own documents, emails, and spreadsheets rather than sample files, so what they build during the day is usable the moment they return to their desk.
Delivery Format
- Virtual instructor-led, run live in a virtual classroom so people can join from wherever they work.
- On-site instructor-led, delivered at your workplace or a venue of your choice.
Both formats cover the same three modules. Group size and dates are agreed with you before the booking is confirmed. Get in touch about group training.
What participants need before the day
- Basic working knowledge of Microsoft 365: comfortable with files, email, meetings and documents.
- An active paid Claude licence, set up and signed in before the session starts.
- For the Claude Connectors content, a Claude for Work plan with access to the company documents or SharePoint sites your organisation wants to use on the day.
- Whatever your organisation's AI policy already says, send it through beforehand so the facilitator can teach to it rather than around it.
We will walk through licences and access with you when the booking is made, and check in again in the lead-up to the day, so nobody arrives unable to join the practical exercises. If anything is still being arranged on your side, tell us early, and we will work around it.
What participants receive
- A student handbook covering everything taught on the day, so participants can revisit any section whenever they need it.
- A personal prompt bank built during the day, holding tested prompts for their own recurring tasks.
- A workplace integration plan setting out where Claude fits into the work they already do.
- A repeatable system for running documents and emails through Claude safely and responsibly.
- A certificate issued by Upskilled Tech Academy for each participant who completes the workshop.
Other AI training for your team
Claude for Microsoft 365 Essentials is tool-specific: it assumes your organisation has chosen Claude. Upskilled Tech Academy runs several other AI options for organisations, so if this is not quite the right fit, one of these usually is.
If your organisation uses a different AI tool
- Work Smarter with Microsoft 365 Copilot, for organisations that have standardised on Copilot, which sits inside the Microsoft apps rather than alongside them.
- Introduction to AI for the Workplace, a tool-agnostic workshop that teaches the judgement rather than the product, delivered in whichever AI tools your team already has.
Going wider or deeper
- AI Strategy & Adoption Workshop (for teams), a strategy sprint for cross-functional groups deciding where AI belongs in the business.
- AI in the Workplace, a self-paced online short course for individuals rather than teams.
Pricing Options
Customised Pricing
Get in touch to know more!
This course is tailored to meet your business's unique needs. For pricing and customisation options, please get in touch with an Upskilled Education Consultant.
FAQs
This hands-on, one-day workshop teaches teams to use Claude alongside Microsoft 365. Across three modules, participants learn to write prompts that produce usable work, apply Claude to real tasks in Word, Outlook, Teams, PowerPoint and Excel, query approved internal documents with Claude Connectors, and check output before relying on it. Everyone leaves with a personal prompt bank and a plan for where Claude fits into their own week.
Yes. Every participant needs their own active, paid Claude licence, set up and signed in before the session starts. The Claude Connectors content in Module 3 goes further: querying approved company documents and SharePoint needs a Claude for Work plan rather than a personal subscription. Your organisation arranges licences and access, and they must be in place before the day; without them, the practical exercises cannot run. We confirm this with you when you make the booking.
Different tool, genuinely different skill. Microsoft 365 Copilot is built into Microsoft apps, so the training focuses on using an assistant already inside Word or Outlook. Claude sits alongside Microsoft 365 rather than inside it, so a large part of this workshop is teaching people to move work between Claude and the Microsoft apps deliberately and safely, and to use Connectors to reach approved company documents. If your organisation has standardised on Copilot, Work Smarter with Microsoft 365 Copilot is the right workshop. If you use both, or have not decided, talk to an education consultant.
Connectors let Claude reach approved company information, such as documents held in SharePoint, so it can answer using your own material rather than general knowledge. Module 3 covers how to query connected sources, what stays within your permissions, and how to verify the results. This part of the workshop requires a Claude for Work plan, and your organisation must decide which sources are approved, so it is worth settling that before booking.
One day, seven hours including breaks, delivered either as a live virtual classroom or on-site at your workplace or a venue of your choice. Both formats cover the same three modules. The day is hands-on throughout, and participants work on their own documents, emails and spreadsheets rather than sample files.
Everyday Microsoft 365 users whose week is mostly documents, email, and meetings: administrative and office support staff, team leaders, project and program coordinators, business support teams, executive assistants, and operations or finance staff who work in Excel. It is written for business users rather than IT, so it involves no configuration or administration.
This workshop is group training for organisations and is quoted per booking, so it is not sold to individuals. The licence requirement and the use of your own documents and Connectors both assume an organisation behind the booking. If you are an individual wanting general AI skills that are not tied to one tool, AI in the Workplace is a self-paced online short course you can start straight away.
Upskilled Tech Academy
Industry Recognised Tech Training
Specialised technical courses are designed to equip your team with industry-relevant skills. Guided by top-tier trainers, our hands-on programs are meticulously crafted to align seamlessly with industry standards.
