Microsoft has added Agent Mode in Word and Excel, alongside Office Agent in Copilot chat, to change how millions of people create and work with Office files, making advanced document and data tasks easier to handle with simple prompts.
Unlike earlier Copilot functions that mainly assisted with edits or summaries, Agent Mode takes on multi-step processes, which include generating, testing, and refining outputs until they reach professional quality.
In Excel, this means the system no longer just suggests formulas, but runs complete analyses, builds visualisations, and even fixes errors without manual intervention. Microsoft claims this is comparable to handing over work to a trained analyst while you remain in control.
Sumit Chauhan, corporate vice president of Microsoft’s Office Product Group, said: “Today we’re bringing vibe working to Microsoft 365 Copilot with Agent Mode in Office apps and Office Agent in Copilot chat. In the same way, vibe coding has transformed software development, the latest reasoning models in Copilot unlock agentic productivity for Office artifacts.”
The new experience extends beyond Excel. In Word, Agent Mode is designed to turn writing into a conversation. A user can ask Copilot to draft a monthly report, highlight insights, or reformat documents according to corporate style guidelines. Instead of just delivering a block of text, the tool asks clarifying questions and proposes refinements, creating what Microsoft calls “vibe writing.”
Office Agent, meanwhile, takes the same approach to PowerPoint and Word but directly from Copilot chat. A simple instruction, such as preparing a deck on consumer trends, prompts the system to clarify the brief, gather external data, draft slides, and show previews before handing over the final presentation.
Chauhan noted: “It’s not just simple assistive short answers, but board-ready presentations or documents. It’s work, quite frankly, that a first-year consultant would do, delivered in minutes.”
In internal testing using the SpreadsheetBench benchmark, Agent Mode in Excel scored an accuracy rate of 57.2%, higher than competitor tools like Shortcut.ai and Claude Files, though still below human-level accuracy of 71.3%.
Microsoft stresses that every output is auditable and refreshable, an essential safeguard given Excel’s role in critical business operations.
While OpenAI’s models continue to power Agent Mode in Excel and Word, Anthropic’s models are now responsible for Office Agent in Copilot chat. This dual approach, Microsoft argues, allows it to combine strengths from different model families depending on the task. “We are committed to OpenAI, but we are starting to explore with the model family to understand the strength that different models bring,” Chauhan said.
The features are being released gradually. Agent Mode is now available in the web versions of Word and Excel for Microsoft 365 Copilot subscribers, with desktop support expected soon. Office Agent is live in the United States for personal and family subscribers through the Frontier programme, starting with English-language support.
Productivity tools are no longer limited to editing files, they’re becoming full partners in the work process. Chauhan highlighted, “Productivity is our DNA, we’re Office. While others will try to replicate us, there is no substitute for the real thing.”
