In short. An Owner or Primary Owner enables Claude web search for the workspace in Organization settings > Capabilities.
Definition: On a Team or Enterprise plan, an Owner or Primary Owner enables Claude web search for the entire workspace in Organization settings > Capabilities. After that workspace setting is enabled, any organization member can turn web search on while starting a chat. Claude's web search help documents this sequence.
Key facts
- The web search help page assigns workspace-level enablement to an Owner or Primary Owner for Team or Enterprise accounts. Claude's web search help names the setting as Organization settings > Capabilities.
- The setting applies to the entire workspace. After it is enabled, any organization member can select Web search from the plus button in the lower left of the chat window.
- In the new Claude experience, the help page says there is no web search toggle and Claude searches the web when it helps.
- Anthropic's Enterprise permissions guide says built-in features such as web search are governed on the Capabilities tab, while connectors are governed on the Connectors tab. The role-based permissions guide also says organization-level feature enablement requires the Owner role.
- The member-management documentation says there can be only one Primary Owner per organization. Its ownership instructions use Organization settings > Members for a Primary Owner transfer.
Who controls the workspace setting?
For the specific web search control, Claude's help page says that an Owner or Primary Owner must enable it for the entire workspace. The control is located here:
Organization settings > Capabilities
The separate Enterprise permissions guide describes a related role boundary. It says that a custom role with Identity & Access set to Manage can support some administration, while enabling features at the organization level requires the Owner role. The two documents therefore use different wording for this boundary: the web search page names Owner or Primary Owner, and the Enterprise guide names Owner role.
What can members do after enablement?
Workspace enablement makes the feature available for use by organization members. Claude's web search help says a member can start a chat, click the “+” button in the lower left of the chat window, and select “Web search.” The member can click Web search again to disable it for a chat.
The new Claude experience changes the visible control. The same help page says there is no web search toggle in that experience and that Claude searches the web when it helps. The workspace permission and the chat interface are therefore separate parts of the documented flow.
How can you check the relevant role?
Use Organization settings > Members to inspect the organization’s member roles. Anthropic's member-management documentation describes changing the Primary Owner through the Role dropdown next to a member, then confirming the transfer with the new Primary Owner's email address. It also states that only one Primary Owner can exist per organization.
For Enterprise organizations using role-based permissions, the permissions guide says that Owners and Primary Owners always have full access to all features. It also says that built-in features are governed on the Capabilities tab. If the web search control is unavailable, check the account role and the organization-level Capabilities setting before investigating the member's chat controls.
Related terms
- Claude web search
- Can Claude web search be limited to specific domains?
- How does Claude web fetch differ from web search?
FAQ
Can an ordinary workspace member enable web search for everyone?
No. The workspace-level switch belongs to an Owner or Primary Owner. A member gets the documented per-chat Web search option after the workspace setting is enabled.
Can an Owner or Primary Owner be limited by a custom role?
Anthropic's Enterprise permissions guide says Owners and Primary Owners always have full access to all features. Its custom-role controls apply to members assigned to custom roles.
Does the new Claude experience show a Web search switch?
Claude's help page says there is no web search toggle in the new Claude experience. It says Claude searches the web when it helps.
Sources
- Claude Help Center, "Enable and use web search", 7 October 2026
- Claude Help Center, "Set up role-based permissions on Enterprise plans", 14 October 2026
- Claude Help Center, "Manage members on Team and Enterprise plans", 13 October 2026
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