Microsoft launches Powerful Work in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint

Microsoft is rolling out the new Proxy Mode within Office apps like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint this week. previously Described by Microsoft As a “business atmosphere,” agent mode is a more robust version of the Copilot experience in Office that Microsoft is trying to sell to businesses.

“When we first shipped Copilot, the basic models were not robust enough to use Copilot to control applications,” Sumit Chauhan admitsVice President of the Microsoft Office Product Group. “This meant that Copilot was a passive document partner: it could answer questions but missed the mark when asked to take action directly on the board.”

The new agent mode is designed to better track commands and modifications in documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. “Over the past year, models have made huge leaps in instruction following, heuristics, and overall quality, and are now even better at handling multi-step edits reliably without missing your target,” says Chauhan.

You’ll be able to watch the Copilot AI agent work in real time, thanks to a sidebar that displays every step Copilot takes in the document. In Excel, you can make changes directly in the workbook, and add formulas or tables. Proxy mode in PowerPoint can also update existing decks with new information and maintain the template style that companies use.

Microsoft is offering these new Copilot features as the default experience for Microsoft 365 Copilot and Microsoft 365 Premium subscribers, and are also available with Microsoft 365 Personal and Family plans.