Your next proposal starts from your best ones

A sales agent that finds the last similar proposals in SharePoint and the client's email thread in Outlook through Claude's Microsoft 365 connector, and drafts the new proposal for the account manager to finish

The problem

In an agency or systems integrator the best proposals live in SharePoint folders nobody can find, so each new one starts from a blank page or from whatever the account manager wrote last. Pricing tables, scope wording and case references get retyped, and the proposal goes out two days later than the client was promised.

How the agent works

1. It starts

   A Microsoft Entra Global Administrator grants tenant consent once and, on Team and Enterprise plans, a Claude Owner adds the Microsoft 365 connector under Organization settings.

2. The agent works

   When a request for proposal arrives, the account manager asks Claude to find the three most similar past proposals in SharePoint (by industry, service and deal size), read the client's email thread in Outlook, and draft a new proposal that reuses the proven scope wording, the pricing structure and two relevant case references, with every assumption listed at the end. Claude mirrors the user's own SharePoint and Outlook permissions, so it only sees what the account manager can already open. With write actions enabled by the admin, Claude saves the draft as a new file in the deal's SharePoint folder and prepares the cover email as a draft; it cannot attach files, so the manager links the document. The account manager checks prices against the current rate card, edits and sends.

3. The result

   Nothing reaches the client without that step.

Worked example

Claude's Microsoft 365 connector documentation lists the exact capabilities: search and analyse documents across SharePoint sites and OneDrive, search Outlook email threads, and, when administrators turn on write actions, create and update files in SharePoint and manage mail drafts. Its sample prompts include finding a planning document in SharePoint and drafting a reply to the latest email about a vendor contract. The help centre article adds the guard rails: permissions are read only by default, Claude reads Word, Excel, PowerPoint and PDF files but not OneNote, attachments are rejected in write tools, and SharePoint search spans the whole tenant because site specific restriction is not supported. Neither page publishes a win rate or hours saved, so measure your own time from request to sent proposal.

Sources

• https://claude.com/docs/connectors/microsoft/365
• https://support.claude.com/en/articles/12542951-enabling-and-using-the-microsoft-365-connector