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2h ago

Microsoft Launches Agent Mode for Excel and Word, Adds Office Agent to Copilot Chat

The rollout combines GPT‑5 for in‑app tasks with Anthropic models in Copilot chat, with early access starting on the web through Microsoft’s Frontier program.

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Overview

  • Agent Mode turns multi-step spreadsheet and document work into guided, visible actions that users can steer, with Microsoft emphasizing auditability and validation.
  • Microsoft reports 57.2% accuracy for Agent Mode in Excel on SpreadsheetBench versus a 71.3% human score, outperforming several rival agents cited in its comparison.
  • Office Agent in Copilot chat can generate structured PowerPoint decks and Word documents from prompts, performing web research and showing a live slide preview.
  • Availability begins today for Microsoft 365 Copilot customers and Personal/Family subscribers in the Frontier program, limited to the web at launch with desktop support coming soon.
  • Agent Mode uses OpenAI’s GPT‑5 while Office Agent runs on Anthropic models, reflecting Microsoft’s mixed‑model strategy that includes Anthropic’s API hosted on AWS.