I spent 45 minutes preparing for a 20-minute call last week.
Not preparing what to say. Preparing the information. Opening Gmail for the thread history. Switching to Drive for the shared document. Checking Calendar for the last time we met. Building the brief manually from three different apps before I could even start the actual work.
All of that work just to give Claude information it could have pulled itself, if I'd had connectors set up.
I set them up that week. I haven't gone back.
A connector is a one-click bridge between Claude and an app you already use. Gmail, Google Drive, Google Calendar, Slack, Notion, Gamma, and 200+ more. When a connector is on, Claude reads that tool directly. You stop copy-pasting. You stop switching tabs. You just ask.
How to connect your first app.
Four steps. Under two minutes.
Open Claude. Click the + inside the chat input bar.
Click Connectors → Add Connector.
Search for your app. Click it. Log in.
Open a new chat. Click + in the chat bar → Connectors → toggle your app on.
One setting worth changing right away: Go into each connector's settings and set it to "Always Allow." Otherwise Claude asks permission every single time it uses it. Gets old fast.
The 6 connectors worth setting up first.
1. Gmail.
Newsletter replies, collaboration requests, sponsor inquiries, student questions etc. they all comes through email. I used to open Gmail, find the thread, copy it, switch to Claude, paste it. Now I can just ask Claude.
The thing that actually changed my workflow: asking Claude to save replies as drafts directly in Gmail instead of just writing them in the chat window.
Read the last 5 emails in my inbox that need a reply.
Draft a response to each one in my tone.
Save each draft directly to Gmail. Don't send.
I'll review and send myself.
You open Gmail and the drafts are already there waiting.
2. Google Drive.
Every guide I've written, every past newsletter, every course doc lives in Drive. With the connector on, Claude can search and read any of it without me hunting down the file first.
I use this before writing anything substantial. Before drafting a new guide, I have Claude scan Drive for what I've already said on the topic. No repeating myself. No contradicting past work.
Search my Drive for anything I've written about [topic]. Read all of it.
Then tell me: what's my existing take, what have I covered, and what angle would be genuinely new for my audience?
3. Google Calendar.
Classes, office hours, recording sessions, content deadlines, Alfie's walks — everything is in the calendar. I used to spend real time just figuring out what the week actually looked like. Now this is my Sunday morning routine with Typeless:
Five minutes of voice prompting. By the time I sit down at my desk, the week is mapped.
Read my calendar for the entire week.
List every meeting I have no prep notes for.
For each one, tell me what I should prepare and how long it'll realistically take.
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