Microsoft Introduces 'Vibe Working' with AI-Powered Agent Mode for Office Apps

With new agent mode for Excel and Word, Microsoft touts "vibe working

With a new set of Microsoft 365 features, knowledge workers will be able to generate complex Word documents or Excel spreadsheets using only text prompts to Microsoft's chat bot. Two distinct products were announced, each using different models and accessed from within different tools -- though the similar names Microsoft chose make it confusing to parse what's what. Driven by OpenAI's GPT-5 large language model, Agent Mode is built into Word and Excel, and it allows the creation of complex documents and spreadsheets from user prompts. It's called "agent" mode because it doesn't just work from the prompt in a single step; rather, it plans multi-step work and runs a validation loop in the hopes of ensuring quality. It's only available in the web versions of Word and Excel at present, but the plan is to bring it to native desktop applications later. There's also the similarly named Office Agent for Copilot. Based on Anthropic models, this feature is built into Microsoft's Copilot AI assistant chatbot, and it too can generate documents from prompts -- specifically, Word or PowerPoint files. Office Agent doesn't run through all the steps as Agent Mode, but Microsoft believes it offers a dramatic improvement over prior, OpenAI-driven document-generation capabilities in Copilot, which users complained were prone to all sorts of problems and shortcomings. It is available first in the Frontier Program for Microsoft 365 subscribers. Together, Microsoft says these features will let knowledge workers engage in a practice it's calling "vibe working," a play on the now-established term vibe coding. Vibe everything, apparently Vibe coding is the process of developing an application entirely via LLM chatbot prompts. You explain what you want in the chat interface and ask for it to generate code that does that. You then run that code, and if there are problems, explain the problem and tell it to fix it, iterating along the way until you have a usable application. For certain kinds of simple applications, you can generate something usable this way. However, it often falls apart completely as you scale to more complex applications, and in any case, it's almost definitely going to introduce problems that you are less likely to see than if you wrote the application yourself, leading to (among other things) deep technical debt. Again, that's probably fine if you're just making a simple website for your small local business or something like that. But there's consensus in the development community that it's a dangerous path to walk at enterprise scale. If you're "vibe working" or "vibe writing" in Microsoft Word, you're doing the same thing, but with a text document: you're telling it what you want the document to say, reading it, accepting the suggestion, and then asking for further changes until you're happy with it. Whether this makes any sense obviously depends on what kind of document you're writing. For some things, it should be just fine as long as someone is reading it as it goes. Others probably won't work for their intended purpose without a human touch. Same with PowerPoint presentations. Doing this with a spreadsheet could be riskier, though; the financial or legal consequences for bad math or data in spreadsheets of some types can be very high, and as with vibe coding, it might be hard to see the problems at surface level. That's exactly why Microsoft hasn't been as aggressive in adding AI features to Excel as it has with some other applications. And to be fair, it acknowledges an important gap here: a SpreadsheetBench sheet in today's announcement notes that Copilot in Excel Agent Mode managed a 57.2 percent score, while a human typically manages 71.3 percent. So as with vibe coding, you'd want to be highly selective about when and how you'd use this, and you'd want to make sure that an experienced human is auditing the output carefully. But the thinking is that just because it's not suitable for every kind of spreadsheet doesn't mean it doesn't make sense to have an easy-to-use option for lower-stakes work. Use with care It's possible these tools (and refined successors) will make life just a little bit easier for knowledge workers, but as always, those workers are going to need to understand some basic principles of how LLM-based tools work, and what their strengths and weaknesses are, to make intelligent decisions about when to try and save time by "vibe working" and when not to. All that said, a big reason why vibe coding is popular is because it allows inexperienced developers (or people who are not really developers at all) to bypass a knowledge gap; not everyone knows all the syntax and nuances of a programming language, much less which functions are available to call in a given library and so on. Something akin to that may also be true of professional-caliber writing, but the gap doesn't seem as big there, so some may feel that "vibe working" is an answer in search of a problem. OpenAI and some other major AI companies are said to be working on their own productivity tools built on their models, so we can also see this as Microsoft's attempt to stay ahead of the puck and make sure it doesn't find itself outscored by upstarts.

AI Can Now Help You Create Top-Grade Word Documents and Excel Spreadsheets

Alex Valdes from Bellevue, Washington has been pumping content into the Internet river for quite a while, including stints at MSNBC.com, MSN, Bing, MoneyTalksNews, Tipico and more. He admits to being somewhat fascinated by the Cambridge coffee webcam back in the Roaring '90s. I'm not a wizard with Word and Excel. Are you? Do we know what to do with all those many menus at the top? Now, thanks to AI, maybe we don't need to. Microsoft has added AI to those software programs of yesteryear with Agent Mode for both Word and Excel. Powered by Microsoft 365 Copilot, Agent Mode can help anyone -- even those with little experience -- create high-quality, professional-grade documents and spreadsheets. Microsoft will add Agent Mode to PowerPoint at a future date. Microsoft has also added Office Agent to Copilot chat to help create PowerPoint presentations and Word documents. Functionality for Excel will be added later. It's a new take on the vibe coding wave, whereby developers can create software with natural language prompts instead of writing lines of code by hand, said Sumit Chauhan, corporate vice president of Microsoft's Office product group. "Get started with a simple prompt and then work iteratively with Copilot -- steering it as it orchestrates multi-step tasks to deliver high-quality Office documents, spreadsheets, and presentations," Chauhan said in a statement. "It's the new pattern of work for human-agent collaboration." Say you want to create a household budget in Excel. Tell Agent Mode to create budget categories such as rent or mortgage, groceries, utilities, gas and entertainment. You can have Agent Mode create formulas to let you know if you're over and under budget, among other tasks. Agent Mode in Excel could also help you create a financial analysis for a business. In Word, Agent Mode can help you create or refine a limitless number of documents, such as revising and cleaning up your resume, composing a holiday letter, or writing a progress report or executive summary for a business. Microsoft says Agent Mode for Word "handles the heavy lifting: drafting content, suggesting refinements, and asking clarifying questions. " The consumer works with Agent Mode to keep refining and honing the document to the finished product. You can start creating a PowerPoint from Copilot chat, using a prompt such as "Create a 10-slide PowerPoint deck of the most popular tech products in the US." The Office Agent will then work with you to clarify intent, such as visual theme and target audience, refine the presentation, and determine how much research is needed. Agent Mode in Copilot for Excel and Word is now available in the Frontier program for Microsoft 365 Copilot licensed customers and Microsoft 365 Personal or Family subscribers. Agent Mode is available in Excel on the web and will be coming soon to the desktop. To try it, install the Excel Labs add-in and choose Agent Mode. Agent Mode works in Word on the web, with desktop coming soon. Get started here. Office Agent is available in the Frontier program for Microsoft 365 Personal or Family subscribers in the US. Office Agent works in Microsoft 365 Copilot on the web in English. Get started here.

Microsoft just added AI agents to Word, Excel, and PowerPoint - how to use them

Now accessible on the web, the agents will expand to the desktop. Microsoft 365 users looking for assistance in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint can now call on AI agents to help them with their work. On Monday, Microsoft announced that the new agentic AI skills are now available for both business and personal subscribers of Microsoft 365. Also: Copilot Chat arrives free for Microsoft 365 users - check if you have it The new capabilities offer a work-related twist on the concept of AI vibe coding. With this type of vibe, people with little or no programming skills can use AI to build and develop apps. In Microsoft's scenario, you can do the same with Microsoft 365. As one example, someone without any expertise in data analysis could ask AI for help creating advanced formulas or charts in their Excel spreadsheets. For the business crowd, you would need a Microsoft 365 Copilot business subscription, which typically costs $30 per user per month. But for individual use, a Microsoft 365 Family or Personal plan will do the trick. Here's how the different agents go about their work. Microsoft Excel can be a powerful tool. But unless you're skilled in data analysis, many of its features and tools can be confusing or intimidating. Trained in Excel and OpenAI's latest models, the Excel agent offers advanced analytical and modeling techniques. You can use this agent mode to not only generate content but to examine data, fix problems, and verify the results. As one example cited by Microsoft, you could submit the following prompt to Copilot in Excel: "Run a full analysis on this sales data set. I want to understand some important insights to help me make decisions about my business. Make it visual." Also: Microsoft's new Windows AI Labs lets you try experimental features first - how to opt-in In response, the agent decides which formulas to incorporate, creates the necessary sheets, and generates the data visualizations. The AI also summarizes the key insights and displays the validation steps to further help you refine the data. Agent Mode in Copilot for Excel is now available via the Frontier program for Microsoft 365 Copilot licensed users and Microsoft 365 Personal or Family subscribers. Agent Mode works in Excel on the web but is headed to the desktop soon. To take it for a spin, install the Excel Labs add-in and choose Agent Mode. In general, Word is a more welcoming application than Excel. Most people can certainly devise a basic document. But even here, many users may be unaware of the advanced formatting features and other tools that can flesh out a document. In this case, you just tell Copilot what you need. The AI will carry out your command by writing the content and suggesting refinements. It can even ask you questions as it ensures that your document contains all the correct and necessary information. The end result can take advantage of Word styles, formatting, and other features to make sure the document not only reads well but looks good. Also: Microsoft Copilot now offers Claude models - how to try them As one example, you might tell Copilot in Word to "help me update this monthly report for September. Update the data table with the latest numbers from the /'Sept Data Pull' email. Summarize the key highlights, including insights compared to last month's /'August monthly report.doc.'" Here, the slash marks refer to an email and another document, as Copilot can work with files beyond your current one. As another example, you could ask Copilot to format your document a certain way. At the prompt, you would ask: "Can you clean up this document? Title case for section headers, branding updates per the '/Latest brand guidelines' email, and italicize all external partner mentions. Feel free to ask if you need help identifying partners or guidelines." Agent Mode in Copilot for Word is now rolling out through the Frontier program for Microsoft 365 Copilot-licensed customers and for Microsoft 365 Personal or Family subscribers. Currently accessible only on the web, the agent will soon make its way to the desktop. To get started with this one, check out Microsoft's Agent mode in Word web page. The Office Agent in Copilot Chat serves as a chat partner to assist you with Word documents and PowerPoint presentations. PowerPoint is a popular tool for creating presentations. But as Microsoft admits, it hasn't taken advantage of AI as much as the other apps in the suite. Using the chat agent, you can create professional and organized PowerPoint slides and well-researched Word documents. As one example focusing on PowerPoint, you could give Copilot the following prompt: "I need to create a set of slides to share with my employees to encourage them to actively fund their retirement accounts. We've agreed to match a percentage of their contributions, but I'd like to increase the uptake of people participating in this program. Use a combination of numbers, visuals, and narrative/analogies to help." Also: The 10 apps I can't live or work without - on Windows, Mac, and mobile In another example, you might ask the AI to create a deck summarizing the top five trends in the athleisure clothing market." In this case, Copilot would analyze your prompt, conduct deep research to find the data, and then generate a fully formatted presentation with a live preview of the slides. Office Agent is now available through the Frontier program for Microsoft 365 Personal or Family subscribers in the US. Accessible in Microsoft 365 Copilot on the web, the agent currently supports English. To learn more, browse to the page on Getting started with Office Agent.

Microsoft launches 'vibe working' in Excel and Word

You've probably heard of vibe coding -- novices writing apps by creating a simple AI prompt -- but now Microsoft wants to introduce a similar thing for its Office apps. The software maker is launching a new Agent Mode in Excel and Word that can generate complex spreadsheets and documents with just a prompt. A new Office Agent in Copilot chat, powered by Anthropic models, is also launching today that can create PowerPoint presentations and Word documents from a "vibe working" chatbot. "Today we're bringing vibe working to Microsoft 365 Copilot with Agent Mode in Office apps and Office Agent in Copilot chat," says Sumit Chauhan, corporate vice president of Microsoft's Office Product Group. "In the same way vibe coding has transformed software development, the latest reasoning models in Copilot unlock agentic productivity for Office artifacts." Agent Model in Excel and Word is a more powerful version of the Copilot experience that Microsoft has added to its Office apps. It's designed to make the complex parts of Excel more accessible to users that aren't experts. "It's not just simple assistive short answers, but board-ready presentations or documents," Chauhan says. "It's work, quite frankly, that a first-year consultant would do, delivered in minutes." Agent Mode essentially takes a complex task and breaks it down with planning and reasoning that you can follow. It then uses OpenAI's GPT-5 model to break down each step of document creation into an agentic task and execute it. It's like watching an automated macro in real time, showing everything it's doing in the sidebar. Microsoft has taken a gradual approach to adding AI elements to Excel, particularly because the data it handles powers some of the most important parts of businesses worldwide. "[Agent Mode] lets you build sheets that are auditable, refreshable, and verifiable," Chauhan says. "We have spent a ton of time making sure that the validation loop on all of these sub-agents is pretty tight." Microsoft says its Agent Mode in Excel has an accuracy rate of 57.2 percent in SpreadsheetBench, a benchmark for evaluating an AI model's ability to edit real world spreadsheets. This result places Agent Mode above Shortcut.ai, ChatGPT agent with .xlsx support, and Claude Files Opus 4.1. It's still behind the human accuracy of 71.3 percent, though. Agent Mode in Word goes beyond the existing writing, rewrite, and summarization AI features in Word. "Agent Mode in Word turns document creation into vibe writing, an interactive, conversational experience," Chauhan says. It lets Copilot draft content, suggest refinements, and clarify what elements are needed during the process of document creation. You can do things like create a monthly report with data from previous months and have Copilot summarize the highlights for the month and the differences from a previous report. "Copilot makes suggestions to keep the process flowing, so writing feels more like a dialogue than a task," Chauhan says. Microsoft's new Office Agent will also be available outside of its Office apps via Copilot chat. Powered by Anthropic models, it can create full PowerPoint presentations or Word documents from a chat prompt. "PowerPoint is one of the most used tools for creating presentations, but over the last two years AI has often fallen short when creating slides," Chauhan says. "Office Agent changes that." Office Agent can create fully structured PowerPoint decks, all while doing web-based research and providing a live preview of slides. Microsoft is hoping that it will help Office continue to differentiate itself from the magnitude of AI tools that are also trying to create documents, spreadsheets, and slide decks. "Productivity is our DNA, we're Office," Chauhan says. "While others will try to replicate us, there is no substitute for the real thing." Office Agent also marks another entry point for Anthropic AI models in Microsoft 365 apps and services. Microsoft already embraced the OpenAI rival to improve researcher, GitHub Copilot, and Copilot Studio recently, and now Anthropic's AI models are able to produce Word and PowerPoint documents from Microsoft's own Copilot chat interface. "We are committed to OpenAI, but we are starting to explore with the model family to understand the strength that different models bring and understand how we build the best composition for our products," Chauhan says. "We are looking at the entire family of models, wherever cutting edge work happens." While OpenAI models continue to power Microsoft's AI work inside Office apps, it certainly feels like Anthropic's models are inching closer to being a key part of Office apps like Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. Microsoft is using Anthropic's API to bring these features to Copilot chat, which runs on cloud rival Amazon Web Services. That could be why we haven't seen Anthropic's AI models deeply woven into desktop Office apps yet. Agent Mode in Copilot for Excel and Word will both be available today in the Frontier program for Microsoft 365 Copilot customers or Microsoft 365 Personal / Family subscribers. Agent Model in Excel and Word is only available in the web versions at launch, with desktop support coming soon. Office Agent is also available today in the Frontier program for Microsoft 365 Copilot customers or Microsoft 365 Personal / Family subscribers in the US.

Microsoft Sets the Tone for 'Vibe Working' With New Agent Mode in Word, Excel

Jibin is a tech news writer based in Ahmedabad, India, who loves breaking down complex information for a broader audience. Don't miss out on our latest stories. Add PCMag as a preferred source on Google. Microsoft is making complex Word and Excel tasks easier to handle with a new Agent Mode in Microsoft 365 Copilot. With this addition, you don't necessarily need to be a Word or Excel wizard to generate high-quality documents or spreadsheets. You can start with a simple prompt in the sidebar, let Copilot respond, and then provide further prompts to make it deliver the results you desire. Microsoft's calling it "vibe working." "In the same way vibe coding has transformed software development, the latest reasoning models in Copilot unlock agentic productivity for Office artifacts," said Sumit Chauhan, corporate vice president of Microsoft's Office Product Group. "It's the new pattern of work for human-agent collaboration." Copilot's Agent Mode relies on the latest AI models from OpenAI. In Excel, you can use it to not just generate outputs but also to evaluate results and fix issues. After receiving a prompt, it walks you through each step of its response. Once done, it delivers the results on the main sheet and provides a summary of the work it's accomplished and key discoveries in the sidebar. "It's like you're handing off work to an Excel expert -- while you steer and guide," Chauhan said. Some of the sample prompts shared by Microsoft suggest Agent Mode can analyze sheets and create graphs and charts for very particular datapoints. "Run a full analysis on this sales data set. I want to understand some important insights to help me make decisions about my business. Make it visual," read one of the sample prompts, while two others focused on loan calculations and personal budgeting. You can check them out here. At first glance, Agent Mode's work in Word appeared more or less similar to what AI chatbots can already handle. You can attach a document with your prompt and ask Copilot to make the desired changes. It could be an analysis, feedback-based correction, or just editing the document for grammar and syntax. Microsoft is bringing a similar feature, called Office Agent, to regular Microsoft 365 Copilot chats as well. It's powered by Anthropic's models and available for PowerPoint presentations and Word documents at launch. Select the format below the text box, provide your prompt, and let Office Agent get to work. It will begin with clarifying questions about your prompt, such as focus areas, language tonality, and style templates. Then it goes through the web to collect information and images before delivering the final output. Agent Mode in Copilot for Excel and Word is rolling out today on the Frontier program for Microsoft 365 Copilot licensed customers and Microsoft 365 Personal or Family subscribers. It is currently available on the web and will be coming to desktop apps soon. To try Agent Mode in Excel, you need to get the Excel Labs add-in and choose Agent Mode. In Word, you can just open Copilot and select Agent Mode from the menu below the prompt box. The feature will soon be extended to PowerPoint as well. Office Agent for Microsoft 365 Copilot, on the other hand, is currently available in the Frontier program for Personal or Family subscribers on the web.

Microsoft touts 'Vibe Working' in Office apps

Microsoft is jumping on the vibe coding bandwagon with "vibe working," its name for adding AI agents to the online Office suite to help you complete your work. On Monday, Redmond said that it's adding an OpenAI-powered Agent Mode for Word and Excel that will create documents based on existing material and extract data from spreadsheets for reports and financial analysis, all with a few sentences of prompts. For Word users, Microsoft is promising "vibe writing," drawing on existing documents to assemble reports and proposals, checking drafts for clarity and style, and suggesting refinements along the way. Youtube Video The Excel agent is designed to take existing spreadsheets and analyze the data, build reports, and visualize data. Redmond says it and OpenAI can "speak Excel" and produce somewhat accurate results. According to Redmond's own blog post, Microsoft's Agent Mode for Excel scored a 57.2 percent accuracy rate using the established SpreadsheetBench benchmark, but that's significantly lower than the 71.3 percent humans manage on average in the same tests. While Microsoft says Agent Mode outperforms other AI engines, that's still a significant shortfall, and one that threatens the possibility of yet more workslop filling our inboxes. "We don't optimize for benchmarks, we optimize for real user jobs in Excel. That means solving messy, ambiguous, and complex tasks that reflect how people actually work," said Trevor O'Brien, VP of product at Microsoft, defending the results. "And while SpreadsheetBench is a strong signal, it doesn't capture everything that makes Excel powerful -- like dynamic arrays, PivotTables, charts, and formatting -- or the customer need for refreshable, auditable, and verifiable solutions." Microsoft also debuted a new Office Agent in Copilot, but it uses Anthropic rather than the OpenAI engine. Employing a chat-based format, users can generate Word documents and PowerPoint presentations based on publicly available information from the web. Qi Zhang, Microsoft's corporate VP of AI in Asia, claimed that the generated slide decks would be "tasteful," thanks to the code's use of a "taste-driven development (TDD) paradigm." He said that, on the General AI Assistants (GAIA) benchmark, the Office agent outpaced competitors Genspark, Manus, and OpenAI's own Deep research tool. This is the second time in a week that Microsoft has shown its fondness for Anthropic. Last Wednesday, Microsoft added Claude Opus 4.1 and Sonnet 4 as model options in Copilot Studio and the Researcher agent, and Redmond teased that more was to come. This increasingly close relationship is another sign that Microsoft is moving away from OpenAI - a company that it has sunk over $10 billion into. And while Microsoft has its own AI development program, it's showing an increasing willingness to try other options, even adding Grok to Azure for coding purposes. Microsoft is making Agent Mode in Excel and Word available on Monday on the web for Frontier program Copilot 365 customers, and plans to add it to desktop apps in the future. Redmond currently offers Office Agent in Copilot only to US customers with Microsoft 365 Personal or Family subscriptions, for the time being. ®

Microsoft is trying to make 'vibe working' a thing

Microsoft is taking inspiration from the AI-driven workflows of "vibe coding" and has now set out to make "vibe working" a thing (yes, those are the words the company chose.) Does AI in the workplace ? Does it ? There are many seemingly critical question unanswered. But in the meantime, sure: vibe working it is. Using Office Agent within Office apps or Copilot chat, users can begin a document with a single prompt and then work iteratively alongside Copilot to develop a finished product. Microsoft says this is the "new pattern of work for human-agent collaboration." The Agent Mode tool supports Excel and Word workflows, and Microsoft says PowerPoint support is coming soon; Office Agent works with PowerPoint and Word, with Excel coming soon. The company waxes poetic about the "full power of Excel" being available only to expert users and promises that an Agent Mode that can "speak Excel" will change all that. In data shared as part of the announcement, Microsoft said that Copilot Agent Mode in Excel achieved 57.2 percent accuracy on the benchmark. This is compared to a 71.3 percent human score, though it's not clear if that's for average users, Excel power users or how many human users that score is derived from. Still -- not great numbers! Agent Mode also works in Word to summarize, edit and of course help to create entire drafts (though its unclear what those relative accuracy rates are.) Both the Excel and Word Agent Modes are powered by OpenAI's latest models. Office Agent in Copilot chat is powered by Anthropic models and can create PowerPoint presentations and Word documents in what Microsoft calls a "chat-first experience." Agent Mode for Excel and Word, as well as Office Agent, are available today through the . Agent Mode is currently limited to the web-based versions of Word and Excel and is coming to desktop soon.

Microsoft brings "vibe working" to Office with new AI Agent Mode

Serving tech enthusiasts for over 25 years. TechSpot means tech analysis and advice you can trust. The takeaway: Microsoft's dual strategy entails integrating multiple advanced AI models while expanding automation within Office. Redmond's efforts position Office as a central hub in the increasingly crowded field of productivity AI, seeking to maintain its differentiation as competitors flood the market with similar offerings. Microsoft has introduced a significant expansion of artificial intelligence-driven features within its Office suite, enabling users to generate highly complex spreadsheets, documents, and presentations using conversational prompts. The new capabilities, called Agent Mode and Office Agent, extend across Excel, Word, and PowerPoint, signaling a shift toward vibe working - an approach that echoes the surge of interest in AI-powered development tools, often referred to as vibe coding. These new features are designed to streamline the use of Excel and Word for both experts and non-experts. Microsoft says Agent Mode brings advanced automation to tasks that previously required substantial expertise or manual effort. According to Sumit Chauhan, corporate vice president of Microsoft's Office Product Group, the goal is to unlock "agentic productivity" within Office applications, transforming the way users generate and refine content. Agent Mode delivers more than basic AI assistance, handling multifaceted assignments such as generating board-ready documents or developing structured reports in minutes. Harnessing OpenAI's GPT-5 model, Agent Mode breaks down complex document tasks into individual steps, solving them sequentially - much like a macro, but with transparent reasoning displayed to the user throughout the process. This breakdown is visible in a sidebar, providing a live, step-by-step overview of the agent's progress. Excel's Agent Mode produces spreadsheets with features that are auditable, refreshable, and verifiable. According to company data, Agent Mode achieved a 57.2 percent accuracy rate on the SpreadsheetBench benchmark, a result surpassing Shortcut.ai, ChatGPT with .xlsx support, and Claude Files Opus 4.1, though it still trails the 71.3 percent accuracy typically achieved by human experts. In Word, Agent Mode goes beyond simple writing and editing tools by delivering interactive, conversation-driven workflows. Users can request everything from monthly summaries that compare previous reports to refined drafts with suggested improvements - all as part of an active dialogue with Copilot. Beyond the individual Office apps, Microsoft's new Office Agent extends these generative AI capabilities into Copilot's chat interface. Powered by models from Anthropic - a leading AI lab and competitor to OpenAI - Office Agent can create fully structured Word documents or PowerPoint presentations from a user's prompt. When generating slides, the system can perform web-based research in real-time and provide a live preview, addressing longstanding limitations of previous AI-generated presentations. While OpenAI's models remain central to Office's built-in AI features, the inclusion of Anthropic models reflects Microsoft's intent to leverage a diverse range of technologies to enhance its productivity suite. These new features are available starting today through the Frontier program to Microsoft 365 Copilot customers and Microsoft 365 Personal and Family subscribers in the United States. The initial rollout is limited to the web versions of Excel and Word, although desktop support is expected to follow.

What is 'vibe working'? Microsoft brings agent-powered AI to Excel, Word, and PowerPoint

You might have heard of "vibe coding." Microsoft hopes "vibe working" will catch on next. Much as non-developers can describe what types of programs to build, and let AI do the coding, Microsoft is bringing the concept to documents, spreadsheets and presentations with new features for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. The company describes "vibe working" as collaboration between people and AI agents inside its productivity apps. Instead of giving a one-time response, the updated Copilot AI tools generate, test, and refine content while users steer the direction, more like a dialogue. Here's what the company announced Monday morning: * Agent Mode in Word and Excel: Adds the ability for Copilot to perform multi-step tasks within the apps, such as updating reports in Word or analyzing data and creating charts in Excel. Microsoft says PowerPoint support is coming in the future. * Office Agent in Copilot chat: A chat-based tool to produce PowerPoint decks or Word documents, starting from a simple prompt and refining the results through follow-ups. Microsoft says Office Agent in Copilot runs on AI models from Anthropic, maker of the Claude AI chatbot. That's part of a broader move by Microsoft to expand beyond models from OpenAI. The company is racing to add AI features against Google, which is steadily adding generative AI to its Workspace apps, along with Apple, OpenAI, Anthropic, Canva, Notion, and many others developing agent-style AI systems for business, productivity, and design applications. Microsoft 365 Commercial products and cloud services, which include the Office apps and Copilot for businesses, generated $87.8 billion in revenue in the 2025 fiscal year, ending in June, up 14% and second only to the company's server products and cloud services business. The new features are rolling out in preview. Agent Mode is in Word and Excel on the web Microsoft 365 Copilot and Microsoft 365 Personal or Family users, through Microsoft's Frontier program. Desktop versions and PowerPoint support will be released later. Office Agent is initially limited to Personal and Family users in the U.S., also through the Frontier program.

Copilot's new 'Agent Mode' is your personal AI wizard for Office

Two new AI features in Copilot will do all the work for you, revising documents in Word and crafting spreadsheets in Excel. Microsoft just announced that it's launching two new AI features in Microsoft 365 Copilot for Office apps, known as Agent Mode and Office Agent. Presented as tools for "vibe working," the idea is to allow more independence for AI to do what it needs to do to handle complex tasks without you fulling giving up control over the process. For example, Agent Mode in Excel allows Copilot to manage the spreadsheet at an expert level. It builds advanced models, checks the results, and adjusts until everything is right. In this way, Microsoft says anyone can create financial reports, loan calculators, or household budgets without being an Excel wizard. Similarly, in Word, Copilot's agentic AI capabilities turn document creation and management into something more dialogue-based. For example, you can ask Copilot to update a report, clean up the style according to company guidelines, or summarize customer feedback. Copilot suggests changes and asks questions to fine-tune the text. In addition, Office Agent is being launched in Copilot chat, enabling the creation of complete PowerPoint presentations and Word documents directly from chat. Both features -- Agent Mode and Office Agent -- are available now to Microsoft 365 Copilot licensed customers and Microsoft 365 Personal and Family subscribers through the Frontier program, which allows users to test Copilot features that are not yet finalized.

Get ready to 'vibe work' in Microsoft Office with new AI agents -- here's how

Microsoft is rolling out a new set of features for Excel, Word and Copilot that enable subscribers to tell an AI-powered assistant to generate documents instead of doing the work themselves. This is significant because it's a big step forward in Microsoft's ongoing mission to inject AI into seemingly every aspect of its business. The company helped kickstart the tech industry's current AI craze by launching Bing with Copilot early in 2023, and later that year, Microsoft put a Copilot AI agent right on your Windows 11 desktop that you can chat with any time to do things like change system settings. This latest update adds a new Office Agent you can chat with inside Copilot to generate PowerPoint decks and Word documents using data pulled from the Internet. There's also a new Agent Mode for the web versions of Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Word going live this week for subscribers of the Microsoft 365 Frontier Program. If you're not familiar, the Frontier Program is a bit like the Windows Insider Program in that it allows Microsoft 365 subscribers to opt into early access to AI features before they're made widely available. This week, Frontier members are getting a glimpse of what Microsoft pitches as the next step forward in human-AI collaboration after vibe coding: vibe working. "Today, we're bringing vibe working to Microsoft 365 Copilot with Agent Mode in Office apps and Office Agent in Copilot chat," is how Microsoft Office VP Sumit Chauhan opens a Microsoft 365 blog post announcing the new features, which basically give Microsoft 365 subscribers access to a chatbot that can do basic tasks in the web versions of Excel and Word, with a PowerPoint version soon to come. As a writer, this seems more exciting as an Excel upgrade, since I've always had a hard time making heads or tails of the many functions and formulae that make great spreadsheets. Microsoft claims the new Agent Mode in Excel can effectively act on prompts like "create a financial monthly close report for a bike shop business, including a breakdown of product lines across VTB, VTF, sequential, and year-over-year growth", and if it can do so reliably without making mistakes, I may never need to learn how to budget. The new Agent Mode in Word works in a similar fashion, giving you a Copilot chatbot in the web version of Word, you can ask to do things like update tables in a document or fix formatting issues. And while Microsoft has yet to debut the promised PowerPoint Agent Mode, the new Office Agent you can talk to in Copilot chat is capable of generating PowerPoint presentations based on your requests. All of these new features are rolling out now to Microsoft 365 subscribers in the Frontier program, and if you're one of them, you should be able to access them via Copilot and Word. However, in order to access the new Agent Mode in Excel, you need to jump through the additional hoop of downloading the Excel Labs add-on from Microsoft. Is this the next generation of spellcheck, or an existential threat to accountants and writers everywhere? It's hard to know until these AI assistants make their way out of the Frontier program and into the real world, but I have a hunch humans aren't outdated just yet. The promise that anyone can code anything by telling a chatbot to do it (aka "vibe coding") hasn't revolutionized the software market just yet, but we'll have to wait and see how willing businesses and families are to trust Microsoft's AI agents with their data.

Microsoft Word, Excel get a major ChatGPT boost with new Agent Mode - welcome to the world of "vibe working"

Inspired by vibe coding (where AI generates the code and developers finetune it), Microsoft has lifted the wraps of what it is calling "vibe working" for Office apps. The tech giant has brought a brand-new Agent Mode to Excel and Word to help office workers boost and speed up output, as well as a dedicated Office Agent for Copilot Chat, which will come later to PowerPoint, Word and Excel. With the new agents, users can turn prompts into "high-quality... documents, spreadsheets and presentations." Starting with Excel, Microsoft is adding GPT-5 reasoning models to break down complex spreadsheet tasks step-by-step. The company acknowledged that the software's most powerful features are only available to expert users, but with Agent Mode, users can generate outputs, evaluate results and fix issues. In the example given on the company's blog post, we see Agent Mode deciding formulas, producing new sheets and creating data visualizations from a simple prompt. Agent Mode for Word drafts and refines work, clarifying details and applying polished formatting to create the ultimate finished piece from user prompts, making it the highlight of vibe working. It's not just beneficial for working, though, because it also acts as a writer's subeditor: "Can you clean up this document? Title case for section headers, branding updates per the '/Latest brand guidelines' email, and italicize all external partner mentions," the example prompt reads. The second part of Microsoft's announcement, Office Agent in Copilot chat, takes a newer approach to AI tools. Instead of using GPT models, as it has done previously, Microsoft is starting to use alternative models. This feature works with Anthropic's Claude models. Office Agent will complete the whole process, right from conducting deep research to producing usable content. Agent Mode for Word and Excel on the web are rolling out via the Frontier program now, with desktop support coming "soon." Office Agent is also rolling out, but only in the US and for web apps.

Microsoft debuts "vibe working" in Office

Why it matters: Generative AI can now do the heavy lifting of finding data and building documents, which Microsoft is calling "vibe working." State of play: Microsoft is offering two ways into the new capabilities. * "Agent Mode" in Excel and Word, with PowerPoint coming soon, lets people get AI help inside the app. * A separate "Office Agent" in Copilot creates PowerPoint presentations and Word documents, with Excel support coming soon. * The new features are available first on the web-based versions of Office, with plans to add them to desktop apps. The big picture: Microsoft wants to focus its AI features on productivity, its core business. * Other AI chatbots are offering the ability to create or edit various types of documents from within the app. * Earlier this month, Anthropic added the ability to use Claude to create and edit Office files and PDFs. * With the new releases, Microsoft is making the case that a more native understanding of Office apps and their capabilities provides a better experience. * "Productivity is in our DNA," Microsoft corporate VP Sumit Chauhan told Axios. "Others can try and replicate it, but there's no substitute for the real thing." Between the lines: Chatbots can draft a wide range of tasks, from generating an image to creating a chart or table, but they often struggle with editing. * For image generation, chatbots typically re-generate new images from feedback -- often introducing new flaws even as they fix old ones. The intrigue: Microsoft is using Anthropic to create and edit PowerPoint and Word documents via Copilot's Office Agent, while OpenAI's models are behind Agent Mode in Excel and Word. How it works: In demos, Chauhan showed Excel generating documents like a cash flow analysis, designed to give workers new analytical capabilities.

Microsoft makes it even easier to cheat at your job with AI agents in Office

If you think vibe-coding was an overhyped fad that could turn ideas into software, wait until you hear what Microsoft has cooked up for the rest of us mortals working with Office tools. Say hello to "vibe working," a set of new AI-driven experiences that hope to take the drudgery out of studying documents and turning them into meaningful material. What's the big take? Remember Deep Research, which takes a brief input, performs comprehensive research, and then creates a detailed report? Or the Researcher agent for Microsoft 365 Copilot that does the same with your own local files? Well, a similar convenience is coming to Office apps, starting with Word and Excel. And soon, in PowerPoint, as well. Microsoft is officially referring to it as Agent Mode in Office apps. Think of it as an expert in Excel or Docs, but one that works for you with simple, natural language commands. For example, you can feed a line like: Recommended Videos "Run a full analysis on this sales data set. I want to understand some important insights to help me make decisions about my business. Make it visual." Once you do that, the underlying Copilot AI will create the formulas, generate graphs, and create full-fledged Excel sheets. Likewise, in Word, the AI agent will sift through boring numbers and turn them into well-formatted documents featuring all the modifications you want. There's more for Copilot users A few days ago, Anthropic announced that its Claude chatbot can now create as well as edit Excel spreadsheets (.xlsx), PowerPoint presentations (.pptx), Word documents (.docx), or PDF documents using natural language prompts. Users don't even have to open these documents to make modifications, as Claude can handle it all in the background. Well, a few days later, Microsoft announced that Claude will soon coexist with OpenAI's GPT model in the Office suite. And today, the software giant is introducing Office Agent in Copilot. The core premise stays familiar. "Office Agent creates tasteful, well-structured PowerPoint decks and well-researched Word documents," says Microsoft. Agent Mode in Copilot for Excel and Docs will be available starting today for Microsoft 365 Copilot customers and Microsoft 365 Personal or Family subscribers on the web, and will soon be available in the desktop apps, too. The Claude-powered Office Agent is also available for subscribers in the US starting today.

Microsoft wants everyone to start 'vibe working' with AI agents in Excel and Word - SiliconANGLE

Microsoft wants everyone to start 'vibe working' with AI agents in Excel and Word Microsoft Corp. envisions a future where everyone starts "vibe working" with the launch of its new Agent Mode in Office Apps and Agent Mode in Copilot Chat offering new ways to automate business and personal work. The company said the new against will "do work on your behalf", by automatically spinning up "high-quality Office documents, spreadsheets and presentations" upon the user's command. For instance, Agent Mode in Microsoft 365 Copilot makes it simple for users to collaborate with an artificial intelligence assistant on multistep tasks in documents such as Excel and Word, the company said. The update will enable unskilled workers to access more complex functionality in its productivity tools and improve the quality of the content they create, the company claims. In a blog post today, Microsoft's Sumit Chauhan, who is Corporate Vice President of Microsoft's Office Product Group, said the agents bring a "vibe coding"-like experience to the Office ecosystem. Users now have the ability to "steer" Microsoft's Copilot tool from within those apps as it orchestrates complex tasks within them. "It's the new pattern of work for human-agent collaboration", Chauhan promised. Agent Mode in Excel is said to make advanced modeling tools "approachable for most everyone", Chauhan said. It provides almost every user with the ability to "evaluate results, fix issues and repeat the processes until the outcome is verified", simply by telling it what to do in natural language. "It's like you're handing off work to an Excel expert, which you steer and guide," he explained. Chauhan offered up a number of examples of what Agent Mode in Excel can do. For instance, a user can direct the agent to analyze sales data and transform it into rich, visual insights. Upon this request, Agent Mode will select the best formulas to use to create those data visualizations and then get to work implementing them. Once done, it will share a summary of the results and the steps taken to validate its work. Agent Mode can also create a loan calculator that will figure out monthly payments based on user inputs, such as the loan amount, interest rate and loan term. It will then generate a payment schedule in a neatly formatted table. Alternatively, it can generate a monthly financial analysis of a small business's spending, complete with a breakdown by different product lines. Of course, much of this could already be done with the Microsoft 365 Copilot, but Agent Mode in Excel is said to be more accessible. It's also more accurate, Microsoft claims. In internal tests, Agent Mode achieved a score of 57.2% in Spreadsheet Bench accuracy, which compares with just 20% for the original Copilot in Excel. That makes it superior to various other AI tools, including ChatGPT Agent, Shortcut.ai, Claude Files Opus 4.1 and OpenAI o3. However, it's notable that humans still achieve the highest score on that benchmark, at 71.3%. Nonetheless, Microsoft believes that Agent Mode in Excel is more than accurate enough for most office tasks, and users can always check its accuracy by validating its results, the company said. As for Agent Mode in Word, this is designed to make more advanced features available to users. It's true that most office employees are probably comfortable in Word and can already create a basic document - but they may not be familiar with many of its more advanced formatting tools for fleshing out documents and making them look more professional. According to Chauhan, it's designed to complete tasks such as drafting content and suggesting changes to existing documents, while asking users for their input during the process. The idea is that writing becomes "more of a dialogue than a task", he explained, resulting in "faster iteration, better ideas and a more engaging writing experience." The end result can take advantage of Word styles, formatting, and other features to make sure the document not only reads well but looks good. Microsoft said Agent Mode in Excel and Word is being made available today for business customers with Microsoft 365 Copilot licenses, via the Frontier early access program. There's also an Agent Mode for PowerPoint coming soon. Meanwhile, individual consumers with Microsoft 365 Personal and Family subscriptions can also access the new tools. Also announced today was a new Office Agent in Copilot, which makes it possible for users to create Word and PowerPoint documents from directly within the Copilot Chat user interface. Excel integration will be added soon too, the company said. With this, all the user has to do is set Office Agent in Copilot a task, and it will follow up by clarifying the user's intent, then engaging in web-based research to create whatever document is required. As it does this, it will reveal its "chain of thought" processing, so users can check how it's going about each task. Once it's finished, the Office Agent in Copilot will present a preview of its new document. At this juncture, the user can then go through it and request any amendments they feel are necessary. Office Agent in Copilot is launching today via the Frontier program for Microsoft 365 Personal and Family subscribers only, so business users will have to wait a little longer, though "commercial support" is promised at a later date. Microsoft has been striving to improve the capabilities of Microsoft 365 Copilot and help automate more business and personal work. Earlier this month, it unveiled new role-based AI assistants in Copilot for finance, sales and services teams that operate in Microsoft Teams, SharePoint and Viva Engage.

Microsoft Brings 'Vibe Working' to 365 Copilot With Agent Mode and Office Agent | AIM

Office Agent in Copilot chat, powered by Anthropic models, brings presentation and document creation into a chat-first interface. Microsoft has launched Agent Mode in Excel and Word and Office Agent in Copilot chat, introducing what the company calls "vibe working" to Microsoft 365 Copilot. The features are designed to help users create spreadsheets, documents, and presentations through iterative, prompt-based collaboration with AI. The rollout begins with limited availability. Agent Mode in Excel and Word is now available starting today for Microsoft 365 Copilot-licensed customers, as well as Microsoft 365 Personal or Family subscribers in the Frontier program. Office Agent in Copilot chat is currently offered to Microsoft 365 Personal or Family subscribers in the United States, where it works in English on the web. "Agent Mode delivers AI that can 'speak Excel' natively," said Sumit Chauhan, corporate vice president of Microsoft's Office Product Group, in a blog post. She added that it combines the depth of Excel's data structures with OpenAI's latest reasoning models, aiming to make advanced modeling accessible to a wider range of users beyond experts. In Excel, Agent Mode enables the AI to generate outputs, validate results, and repeat tasks until outcomes are verified. Microsoft says it democratises access to expert-level modelling, with tasks such as financial analysis, loan calculations, and household budgeting. According to Microsoft's evaluation of the SpreadsheetBench benchmark, Copilot in Excel Agent Mode achieved 57.2% accuracy. In Word, Agent Mode turns document creation into what Microsoft calls "vibe writing." Users can issue prompts such as updating reports, cleaning up formatting, or drafting project summaries, while Copilot refines drafts, suggests edits, and asks clarifying questions. Office Agent in Copilot chat, powered by Anthropic models, brings presentation and document creation into a chat-first interface. The tool can clarify user intent, conduct research, and generate presentations or documents. Microsoft says Office Agent addresses earlier gaps in AI slide creation. For example, prompts can include creating a market trends deck, planning a restaurant pop-up kitchen, or preparing retirement savings plan slides. "Office Agent creates tasteful, well-structured PowerPoint decks and ready-to-use Word documents," Microsoft noted.

Microsoft's Office Agent Mode Brings Claude AI to Word, Excel, and PowerPoint - Phandroid

Microsoft just made Office apps smarter with Office Agent Mode. This new AI feature is powered by Anthropic's Claude models. The update introduces Agent Mode in Excel and Word. There's also a separate Office Agent in Copilot. It can create PowerPoint presentations and Word documents through simple conversations. Microsoft calls this "vibe working." You describe what you need and the AI handles multiple steps to deliver polished results. Think of it as having an assistant that actually understands Office apps. Agent Mode works directly inside Excel and Word on the web. You can handle complex tasks without jumping between windows. In Excel, ask it to run full analysis on sales data. It decides which formulas to use, creates new sheets, and builds visualizations. In Word, Agent Mode turns document creation into an interactive conversation. Copilot drafts content, suggests refinements, and asks clarifying questions. The separate Office Agent lives in Copilot chat. It focuses on creating documents from scratch. Give it a prompt like "Create a deck summarizing athleisure market trends." It clarifies your intent, conducts web research, and generates a polished PowerPoint. Microsoft previously struggled with AI-generated presentations, but the new features seem to fix that. Agent Mode in Excel and Word uses OpenAI models. Office Agent runs on Anthropic's Claude for PowerPoint and Word documents. This split shows Microsoft hedging its bets across AI providers. The company has been expanding beyond OpenAI lately. It's been adding Copilot features across different products. Agent Mode is rolling out in preview through Microsoft's Frontier program. It's available for Microsoft 365 Copilot users and Personal or Family subscribers. Desktop versions and full PowerPoint support will arrive later.

Forget vibe coding; "vibe working" is Microsoft's next big plan

I thought I'd heard it all when "vibe coding" became the best way to program an app from the ground up. Why learn to code when you use AI to do the real work? But Microsoft is going one further with the rollout of "vibe working" -- and this time, there might not be any coming back from it. Microsoft wants you to embrace "vibe working" Agent Mode is the fastest way to get through the workday It's not just me calling it "vibe working." Microsoft's official blog is welcoming a new dawn of AI-powered working through its Office apps, with Agent Mode rolling out across Microsoft 365 Copilot apps now. In the same way vibe coding has transformed software development, the latest reasoning models in Copilot unlock agentic productivity for Office artifacts. Get started with a simple prompt and then work iteratively with Copilot -- steering it as it orchestrates multi-step tasks to deliver high-quality Office documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. Reading between the lines? Vibe working can help you skip to the end of work faster than ever before, pulling data from your recognized sources to help build out an Excel report or create a full PowerPoint presentation in a few short prompts. Microsoft gives a few different examples, such as creating financial monthly close reports or building a business-specific loan calculator. But there are some caveats to unleashing it on your precious Excel spreadsheets without oversight. SpreadsheetBench, a benchmarking tool that specifically evaluates how well an AI model can work with a spreadsheet, gave Agent Mode in Excel an accuracy rate of 57.2 percent, while humans are rated at 71.3 percent -- ChatGPT scored 46.6 percent, for reference. Similarly, Agent Mode in Word can be used to create monthly reports and executive summaries with simple prompts, or even to "clean up" a document before publication using a specific set of guidelines. Microsoft claims that the "deeper interaction means faster iteration, better ideas, and a more engaging writing experience." Productivity boost or yet more AI slop It's a race to the bottom, but there is still a long way to go The big question is around how folks will actually use Microsoft's vibe working tools. The uptick in vibe coding has been great for people who have an idea about what they want to build, but not necessarily the knowledge of how to build it. However, I've already seen some interesting examples of how it might be used negatively, as well as the issues with allowing an AI agent to pull data into a report. Well-known cybersecurity researcher Kevin Beaumont received access to the new Agent Mode and promptly used it to create a series of fake spreadsheets and PowerPoint presentations. Agent Mode did the job -- but made up all of the information in each of the presentations. So, while Agent Mode may well work when you provide it with information, there is a good chance you'll still have to double-check everything it creates anyway. Where does it stop, and where do we go? Will we be reviewing vibe spreadsheets and vibe presentations with a vibe-coded app? And with that 57.2 percent success rate, it's sure to be a good time for everyone involved. Agent Mode in Excel and Word is rolling out immediately to Microsoft 365 Copilot-licensed customers and Microsoft 365 Personal or Family subscribers currently signed up for the Frontier Program. Office Agent is rolling out similarly, but in the US only.

Microsoft introduces Agent Mode, Office Agent in Microsoft 365 Copilot - The Economic Times

In Excel, the feature can handle complex data modeling by generating, checking, and refining spreadsheets automatically, removing the need for advanced user expertise. In Word, it allows users to create and edit documents interactively, with Copilot drafting content, asking clarifying questions, and formatting the output.Microsoft has introduced Agent Mode and Office Agent in 365 Copilot, transforming the usability of Excel, Word and PowerPoint. Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella confirmed the development on the microblogging site X. Vibe coding has already created waves in the software ecosystem. Microsoft is describing its new Office AI features as "vibe working". The idea is that workers can tell their tools what they need and let AI do the work of building the document. In Excel, the feature can handle complex data modeling by generating, checking, and refining spreadsheets automatically, removing the need for advanced user expertise. In Word, it allows users to create and edit documents interactively, with Copilot drafting content, asking clarifying questions, and formatting the output. Office Agent, integrated into Copilot's chat, enables users to create PowerPoint presentations and Word documents directly from prompts. Microsoft said the tool is designed to produce structured presentations and ready-to-use documents, addressing long-standing challenges with AI-generated slides.

Stop Struggling with Spreadsheets : Microsoft's AI Agent Mode is Here

What if creating a professional-grade financial model or a dynamic dashboard in Excel was as simple as typing a sentence? With Microsoft's new AI Agent Mode, that vision is now a reality. Imagine describing your income, expenses, and savings goals in plain language, and watching Excel instantly generate a detailed personal finance dashboard, complete with charts, tables, and real-time updates. This isn't just an upgrade; it's a paradigm shift in how we interact with data. By combining the power of AI with Excel's robust features, Microsoft is redefining the boundaries of productivity and automation, making even the most complex tasks accessible to users of all skill levels. In this guide of Excel's AI Agent Mode, Kenji uncovers how this new Excel tool is poised to transform data management. From automated financial models to seamless data consolidation, the possibilities are vast, and surprisingly intuitive. Whether you're a financial analyst seeking to streamline workflows or a casual user looking to simplify your budgeting, this feature offers something for everyone. But it's not without its challenges, and understanding its limitations is key to unlocking its full potential. So, how far can this innovation take you, and what might it mean for the future of work? The AI Agent Mode introduces a new level of automation and intelligence to Excel, allowing you to focus on decision-making rather than manual data manipulation. Its standout features include: For instance, if you need a personal finance dashboard, you can describe your income, expenses, and savings goals. The AI Agent Mode will generate a detailed summary complete with charts and tables, significantly reducing the time and effort required for such tasks. The AI Agent Mode is particularly beneficial for professionals and individuals who work with large datasets or require intricate financial models. Its practical applications span various scenarios, including: These examples highlight the tool's versatility, making it an invaluable resource for financial analysts, business professionals, and even casual Excel users looking to streamline their workflows. Find more information on AI Agent Mode by browsing our extensive range of articles, guides and tutorials. The AI Agent Mode extends its capabilities beyond Excel, offering seamless integration with other Microsoft Office applications like PowerPoint and Word. This cross-platform functionality allows you to: For example, after generating a financial summary in Excel, you can use the AI Agent Mode to produce a corresponding PowerPoint presentation or a detailed Word report. This integration saves time while maintaining uniformity across your work, making it easier to present and share insights. While the AI Agent Mode offers significant advantages, it is not without limitations. Users should be aware of the following challenges: These challenges underscore the importance of providing clear and concise instructions to maximize the tool's potential. As the feature evolves, addressing these limitations will be crucial to enhancing its usability and effectiveness. Microsoft has ambitious plans to fully integrate the AI Agent Mode into Excel's Copilot feature, making it more accessible to a broader audience. Future updates are expected to address current limitations, such as improving the tool's ability to interpret vague prompts and expanding its customization options. Additionally, enhancements may include better handling of large datasets, more robust integration with other Office tools, and the introduction of a preview feature for greater control over outputs. These planned developments could transform the AI Agent Mode into an indispensable tool for data management and analysis, further streamlining workflows and unlocking new possibilities for users across various industries.

Microsoft makes it easier to work with Excel and Docs thanks to new AI-powered mode, how it works

We are barely three months away from 2026 and in today's scenario AI tools are being used more than ever by working professionals. For most people, their day begins with ChatGPT. Be it for planning busy working days, analysing reports, carrying out some mundane tasks, and whatnot. Day by day, new AI features are being unveiled by companies and Microsoft has been leading the race for a while. The Satya Nadella-led company has recently unveiled a new AI-powered mode that will make it easier to work with Google Docs and Excel. Read on to know more. Microsoft is deepening its push into AI-driven productivity with the rollout of Agent Mode for Microsoft 365 Copilot, a new feature designed to make Office apps more autonomous and collaborative. Announced this week, the feature brings what the company calls "agentic productivity" to Word and Excel, with PowerPoint integration set to follow soon. Alongside this, Microsoft has also introduced an Office Agent that can generate full presentations and reports directly within Copilot chat. Excel has long been considered one of Microsoft's most powerful but also most complex products. For years, only advanced users were able to fully exploit its modelling potential. With Agent Mode, Microsoft says the application can now "speak Excel" natively. That means users can issue a simple prompt such as "Run a full analysis on this sales data set" and Copilot will not only select the right formulas but also create visualisations, validate the results, and refine them until the outcome is accurate. Benchmarks published by Microsoft show that Excel's Agent Mode achieved 57.2 percent accuracy across a wide range of spreadsheet tasks, a notable leap compared with previous AI-assisted efforts. To demonstrate its practical utility, the company highlighted prompts like generating a household budget tracker, creating a loan calculator with repayment schedules, or producing monthly close reports for a small business. Word is also getting the same treatment. Agent Mode in Word is designed to make document creation conversational, allowing users to direct Copilot to draft, restructure, or format content with simple instructions. Whether it's updating a project report with the latest figures, summarising customer feedback, or reformatting an entire document to match brand guidelines, the tool is meant to turn writing into a back-and-forth process between human intent and AI execution. While Agent Mode focuses on enhancing apps, Microsoft is also trying to reimagine how work begins in the first place. Increasingly, projects start in chat conversations, and that is where the new Office Agent comes in. Integrated into Copilot chat, Office Agent can produce polished PowerPoint decks or Word documents from just a few lines of instruction. For example, a business user might request an eight-slide deck outlining trends in the athleisure market. Office Agent will clarify details such as target audience, tone, and length before conducting web-based research to gather data. It then generates slides or documents, complete with structured formatting, visuals, and supporting narrative. Users can review previews, iterate on design, and then export seamlessly into Office apps for finishing touches. Unlike earlier attempts at AI slide generation, which often produced generic or visually unappealing results, Microsoft claims Office Agent has been trained to deliver "tasteful, well-structured" content that can be fine-tuned in collaboration with the user. Agent Mode for Excel is available immediately for Microsoft 365 Copilot licensed users as well as Microsoft 365 Personal, Family, and Premium subscribers through the Excel Labs add-in. Word integration is rolling out in stages, starting with the web version, while desktop support is expected to follow. Office Agent is launching first in the United States for Microsoft 365 Personal, Family, and Premium subscribers, with expansion to other regions to come later.

Vibe working explained: Microsoft's AI agent for Excel, Word, and PowerPoint

Microsoft is once again pushing the boundaries of productivity software with the launch of Vibe Working, a new approach that integrates advanced AI agents directly into Microsoft 365 applications. By introducing Agent Mode and Office Agent, Microsoft is aiming to transform the way people interact with Excel, Word, and PowerPoint, making AI a seamless and iterative partner in everyday work. At its core, Vibe Working is designed to make AI assistance more intelligent, interactive, and collaborative. Unlike traditional tools that require manual input or follow rigid workflows, Vibe Working allows users to engage in multi-step processes with Copilot, Microsoft's AI assistant. This means you can guide the AI through complex tasks, refine outputs on the fly, and achieve high-quality results without spending hours on repetitive work. Read more: Sora 2 vs Veo 3: How OpenAI and Google's AI video tools compare One of the central components of Vibe Working is Agent Mode, which brings a more interactive AI experience to Microsoft Office applications. In practical terms, Agent Mode allows users to steer Copilot through intricate tasks that would normally require advanced technical skills or significant time investment. For example, in Excel, Agent Mode can help analyze large datasets, generate dynamic summaries, and identify trends or insights that might not be immediately obvious. Users can issue a prompt, review the results, and then refine the AI's analysis iteratively. In Word, Agent Mode can draft documents, suggest edits, or reformat content based on user feedback. The same approach extends to PowerPoint, where Copilot can propose slide layouts, content summaries, and design suggestions tailored to a specific audience. What makes Agent Mode particularly powerful is its iterative nature. Users don't have to settle for the first output. They can refine, adjust, and redirect the AI multiple times, creating a workflow that feels much more like collaborating with a human assistant than simply running a program. Complementing Agent Mode is Office Agent, which operates primarily within the Copilot chat interface. Office Agent focuses on content generation, allowing users to produce polished documents, presentations, or reports directly from a few simple prompts. Also read: Nothing unveils Essential AI platform that lets you create personalised apps: Check details For instance, a user could type a request for a fully formatted PowerPoint deck for an upcoming client presentation. Office Agent can generate a ready-to-use deck with suggested visuals, bullet points, and speaker notes. In Word, it can create comprehensive reports based on spreadsheet data or summarize long documents into concise summaries. Currently, Office Agent supports Word and PowerPoint, with Excel support expected in upcoming updates. This streamlined approach significantly reduces the time spent on formatting, editing, or manually transferring data between apps. It empowers users to focus on strategy, creativity, and decision-making rather than administrative tasks. Vibe Working is not just about automation - it's about enhancing human productivity through intelligent assistance. By integrating AI more deeply into core Office applications, Microsoft is lowering the barrier to advanced features that previously required specialized knowledge. For businesses, this means teams can work more efficiently, deliver consistent outputs, and accelerate project timelines. Complex data analysis, document drafting, and presentation design no longer require extensive training, as AI can guide users every step of the way. For individual users, the benefits are equally compelling: less repetitive work, faster content creation, and more time for creative or strategic thinking. Moreover, Vibe Working fosters a collaborative AI experience. Its iterative design encourages feedback and refinement, which can lead to more accurate and tailored outputs. This marks a shift from one-size-fits-all AI tools toward customizable assistants that adapt to the way each user works. Microsoft is rolling out Agent Mode and Office Agent through the Microsoft 365 Copilot Frontier program, initially available for web applications. Desktop versions are expected to follow soon, making these AI-driven features accessible to a broad audience. The rollout strategy indicates Microsoft's commitment to ensuring that Vibe Working becomes an integral part of both personal and professional workflows. Looking ahead, Vibe Working represents a vision of AI as a collaborative partner rather than a passive tool. By combining intelligent assistance, iterative refinement, and seamless integration across Excel, Word, and PowerPoint, Microsoft is setting a new standard for productivity software. Users can now leverage AI not just to complete tasks faster, but to improve the quality, creativity, and impact of their work. With Vibe Working, Microsoft is redefining productivity for the AI era, demonstrating how intelligent agents can become trusted partners in the workplace, empowering users to achieve more with less effort.