What Data Can Claude Access Through Connectors? How to Limit It to Specific Folders

Claude can access the data that the account you connect can already open in that service, and nothing beyond it. Anthropic says Claude inherits each person's permissions from the connected service, so a Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox or Box connector can search and read any file that person's account can reach, and Anthropic documents no setting that limits a drive connector to one folder.

Anthropic describes connectors as a way for Claude to access your apps and services, retrieve your data and take actions in them. Its rule for reach is short: if someone can't open a file in the source system, the connector can't reach it from Claude either. A custom connector that signs in with a shared credential reaches whatever that credential can access.

Claude's permission settings narrow actions, not content. An owner can let Claude read files in Google Drive while blocking it from creating or editing documents, and Anthropic says these restrictions never grant more access than the source system allows. They don't choose which folders Claude can read.

That leaves a gap for a common request: a company wants Claude to read one team's or one client's folders and nothing else, controlled in one place. With a drive connector, the boundary is each person's whole account. This guide covers what each connector reaches, what admins can control, and how to give the assistant only the folders it needs.

• Best OpenClaw Tools for Data AnalysisOpenClaw agents automate local data analysis tasks like SQL querying, data cleaning, and visualization. Developers can...
• Top 10 OpenClaw Tools for Data ScientistsData scientists spend most of their time on data cleaning and preparation. OpenClaw tools enable autonomous data...
• How to Give Claude Desktop Access to Local and Synced Cloud FilesGiving Claude Desktop access to local files allows the desktop client to read, analyze, and manipulate local project...
• How to Connect Claude to Excel Workbooks in Cloud StorageA Claude Excel connector links Claude AI models to remote Excel files (.xlsx) in cloud storage, allowing Claude to...
• Claude Connectors Data Access: Permissions, Governance, and Safe Storage SyncClaude Connectors data access refers to the permission boundaries, authentication protocols, and file-level scopes that...
• Can Claude Access OneDrive? Direct Connectors vs Workspace MCPClaude can access OneDrive files through manual file uploads, local desktop sync directory access in Claude Desktop, or...

More on this subject: Claude and Claude Code (285 guides)

Both assistants connect to all four major drives. By default, each one signs in as the person using it:

OpenAI's terms differ from Anthropic's. ChatGPT calls a connection to an outside service an app, and a plugin packages one or more apps or skills for installation. In this guide, ChatGPT connectors means these apps.

For setup errors and permission prompts on a specific drive, see the guides for Claude and Google Drive, Claude and OneDrive, Claude and Dropbox, Claude and Box, ChatGPT and Google Drive, ChatGPT and OneDrive, ChatGPT and Dropbox and ChatGPT and Box.

The drive connectors in both assistants fetch files when a request needs them. Neither vendor describes copying a whole drive ahead of time.

Claude

• Anthropic's Google Workspace article says Claude only accesses your data when you ask a question or request an action that needs it, and retrieves the minimum information needed.
• Data retrieved while using connectors is stored on Anthropic's servers and kept with its chat, so deleting the chat deletes that data.
• The Microsoft 365 connector retrieves data on demand during active queries and doesn't cache file content.
• A Drive file you add to a chat is read again from Drive each time you send a message, so later edits reach Claude.
• Anthropic says it doesn't train its models on Gmail, Drive or Calendar connector data. In consumer accounts that allow training, content you paste from them, or Claude's responses that include information from them, may be used.

ChatGPT

• OpenAI says administrator-managed and individually authorized app sync are no longer available, and members connect Google Drive for live access to supported files and actions.
• OpenAI says the Box app doesn't use individual sync.
• Box lists both its Claude and ChatGPT integrations as Box MCP server integrations, where files stay inside Box unless a query returns them.
• Dropbox says ChatGPT retrieves Dropbox data only when you ask it to act on that data, and that data in a conversation stays stored until you delete the conversation.
• With Memory on, OpenAI says ChatGPT may remember relevant information it accessed from an app.

So the boundary is the live account, not a copy of it.

Anthropic documents these controls for Team and Enterprise plans:

• Enable each connector. On Team and Enterprise plans, an Owner or Primary Owner must enable a connector before members can use it. Enabling it grants no access by itself; each person still signs in with their own account.
• Handle requests. Members can request a connector. Requests are on by default on Team plans and off by default on Enterprise, and owners can approve, decline, or decline and block.
• Set tool permissions. Owners set each tool category or individual tool to Always allow, Needs approval or Blocked, organization-wide, and members can't override it.
• Keep work accounts in the organization. On Enterprise plans, owners can stop services on their verified domains from being connected to Claude accounts outside the organization.
• Limit sharing. On Team and Enterprise plans, connectors work only in private projects, and chats with synced content can't be shared.

Each drive adds its own gate. For the Microsoft 365 connector, a Microsoft Entra Global Administrator grants a one-time consent for the tenant, and setting Assignment required on both Claude enterprise applications limits who can connect. Revoking the Files.Read or Files.Read.All permission in Entra blocks reading files from OneDrive, and Anthropic says the connector's Microsoft Graph calls appear in the organization's Microsoft 365 audit log. For Google Drive, a Google Workspace admin may need to mark Claude as Trusted under API controls. Claude admins can allow or block the Dropbox connector, and Box admins set each MCP integration's state under Integrations in the Box Admin Console.

Connectors added in claude.ai also appear in Claude Code for people signed in with a claude.ai account, and Claude Code applies the organization's per-tool settings.

None of these controls selects folders. They decide who connects and what Claude may do, and what it can read is still each person's account.

ChatGPT can access what the connected account can already open, the same as Claude. OpenAI's Google Drive article says Google permissions determine what the connected account can access, and that ChatGPT can't use files that account can't open.

ChatGPT workspace admins work with three separate controls:

• App access. In ChatGPT Business, apps are enabled by default and admins change workspace-wide availability. New Enterprise and Edu workspaces start with a selected set of apps, and admins can choose which roles use each app.
• Actions. Admins enable the read or write actions an app may take, and choose whether actions added later are enabled, limited to read actions or disabled.
• Permissions. These set when ChatGPT asks before using an app, from Always ask to Allow read actions and beyond. OpenAI says app permissions don't grant new access; they only change when ChatGPT asks.

Providers add their own approval. A Google Workspace administrator decides whether the ChatGPT app is trusted for the OAuth scopes its actions need, and for OneDrive for work or school a Microsoft Entra administrator grants the Microsoft permissions. Enterprise organizations can also ask OpenAI to block work accounts on their verified domain from connecting to supported apps, including Google Drive, Dropbox and Box, from workspaces outside the organization.

Google Drive: whole shared drives only

ChatGPT has one content control for drives. In Enterprise workspaces where the controls are enabled, owners and admins can allow or block selected shared drives by ID and turn My Drive access on or off. A file must also be open to the connected user's Google account.

OpenAI states the limit: these controls apply to whole shared drives and don't provide folder, individual-file, user, group or Google Drive label exclusions. Changing them also doesn't erase content already retrieved into conversations or saved memories.

If you're building on OpenAI models rather than ChatGPT, see storage for OpenAI.

Not with the built-in drive connectors. The narrowest documented scopes:

Box's guidance for agents is to choose the Box user or service account deliberately and collaborate it onto only the folders the agent should access. Because the agent acts as the Box user who signs in, this means connecting with a separate Box identity.

Dropbox says apps request their own level of access: Select Access for a specific file, App Folder for one folder, or Full Dropbox for all folders and files. You can see which level a connected app has under Settings, Apps.

Each storage provider lets its admins decide which outside apps may connect. These controls work on the app, not on a set of folders, with one exception in Box.

• Google Workspace. In the Admin console under Security, Access and data control, API controls, admins mark each app as Trusted, Limited, Specific Google data or Blocked. Setting Drive to Restricted limits Drive data to apps marked Trusted or Specific Google data, and admins can also restrict high-risk Drive scopes, such as deleting files.
• Microsoft Entra ID. Admins set whether users can consent to apps themselves. An app set to require user assignment needs administrator consent, and only the users and groups assigned to it get access.
• Dropbox. Team admins can block all registered apps or specific ones from the Integrations tab of the admin console. Blocking an app doesn't disconnect members who already connected it.
• Box. Admins turn each MCP integration on or off under Integrations in the Admin Console and can give a single AI platform its own set of allowed Box MCP tools. Box Shield adds a classification-based Read restriction that blocks integrations from previewing, viewing, searching or reading the text of restricted files. It is off by default.

Box Shield's rule is the one content control here, and it works by classification label, not by folder.

A scoped workspace limits Claude or ChatGPT by giving it a copy of only the folders it may read. With Fastio, the drive stays where it is, and each scope becomes its own workspace.

1. Create a workspace for the assistant, or one per scope, such as one per team or client. Access in Fastio is set per organization, workspace and share, with no folder- or file-level permissions inside a workspace, so the workspace is the boundary.
2. Connect the drive with Cloud Sync. A member connects their own Google Drive, Dropbox, Box or OneDrive for work or school account, picks a folder in the drive, and chooses where it lands in the workspace. Each synced folder uses one Cloud Sync source, and plans include different numbers of sources (see pricing).
3. Keep folders read-only unless you need two-way. Each folder syncs read-only unless set to two-way. A read-only folder never writes back to the drive; on a two-way folder, changes made in Fastio go back. Syncs run on a schedule and on demand, and new and changed files come across at each sync.
4. Turn on Deep Indexing for the workspace if the assistant should search inside files rather than by file name.
5. Connect the assistant.
   • Claude: open Customize, then Connectors, and add a custom connector at https://mcp.fast.io/mcp/tools. On Team and Enterprise plans, an owner adds it for the organization first.
   • ChatGPT: find Fastio under Plugins in the ChatGPT sidebar, select Install plugin, then Connect. If Fastio isn't listed or your workspace doesn't allow directory plugins, add it as a custom MCP server at https://mcp.fast.io/mcp/operations; depending on your ChatGPT version, this can require Developer mode. OpenAI offers custom MCP servers on the web to Business, Enterprise and Edu workspaces (in Business, only admins and owners add them) and to Pro users with read and fetch permissions.
   • Claude Code and other coding agents: use https://mcp.fast.io/mcp/code, for example claude mcp add --transport http fast-io https://mcp.fast.io/mcp/code, then run /mcp to sign in.
6. Sign in with Read Only. Each person signs in with OAuth in the browser, chooses Read Only, and selects only the workspaces this connection may reach. With Read Only, tools that change data are not offered. Read & Write is also available if the assistant should save files.
7. Give headless agents a scoped API key. Code with no person present sends Authorization: Bearer your-api-key, and the key can be scoped to specific organizations, workspaces or shares.

With Read Only access, the assistant can browse the synced folders and read a file's text, search the workspace by keyword or by meaning with short excerpts, and quote the passage an answer rests on. Steps for every client are on mcp.fast.io/docs.

How the sync account works

Connections are per person. Fastio syncs with that person's account, so it sees only what that account can open, and it changes no permissions in the drive. When that member leaves, their folders stop syncing and the files already synced stay in the workspace. Another member can connect their own account and set the folders up again.

Close the other route

A scoped workspace limits the assistant only if it's the only route. If the same people keep Claude's or ChatGPT's own drive connector, the assistant can still reach their whole account, so turn that connector off or limit it by role with the admin controls above.

To revoke a Fastio connection, remove the connector in the AI client, then in Fastio open Settings, Devices & Agents, Connected Devices and select Revoke.

Give Claude or ChatGPT Only the Folders It Should Read

Sync chosen Google Drive, Dropbox, Box or OneDrive for work or school folders into a scoped Fastio workspace and connect your assistant read-only over MCP. Monthly plans include a 14-day trial, and a card is required.

Start a 14-Day Trial

Fastio governs access by organization, workspace and share. Workspace membership decides who can open the synced copy, and a share gives an outside party a subset of files without workspace membership.

Fastio's activity log records changes: uploads, edits, moves, deletions, and permission and membership changes. It doesn't record views, opens or downloads, so don't plan on it as a record of what the assistant read.

The Enterprise plan adds administrative policies, legal holds, security alerts and a SIEM audit stream. Among those policies, an Enterprise organization can deny requests made through the Fastio MCP server, set separately for admins and members, with per-person overrides.

AI work uses credits. Each plan includes a monthly credit allowance, and usage beyond it is metered. Monthly plans include a 14-day trial, and a card is required. See pricing for plans and the number of Cloud Sync sources each includes.

1. List the scopes. For each use case, write down who uses the assistant and which drive folders it may read.
2. Create one workspace per scope and add only the people in that scope.
3. Connect Cloud Sync from a member account that can open those folders, pick the folders, and leave them read-only unless Fastio should write back.
4. Turn on Deep Indexing if the assistant should search inside files.
5. Connect Claude, ChatGPT or a coding agent with its Fastio address, choose Read Only, and select only that scope's workspaces. Give headless agents a scoped API key.
6. Turn off or restrict the native drive connector for these people, using Claude's organization connector settings or ChatGPT's app and role controls.
7. Test with a real account. Ask for a document inside the scope and one outside it, and confirm the assistant finds only the first.
8. Review when a team or client changes, and revoke connections under Settings, Devices & Agents, Connected Devices when someone leaves.