Copilot Agent Mode is now the default for Microsoft 365 Copilot and Premium subscribers.
Microsoft is introducing a new Agent Mode for Office apps such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint this week. Previously referred to by Microsoft as “vibe working,” Agent Mode is an enhanced version of Copilot in Office that Microsoft aims to market to businesses.
“When Copilot was first released, foundation models lacked the power to allow Copilot to control the applications,” states Sumit Chauhan, corporate vice president of Microsoft’s Office Product Group. “This made Copilot a passive partner in documents: it could answer questions but failed to act directly on the canvas.”
The new Agent Mode is crafted to better respond to commands and edits in documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. “Over the past year, models have significantly improved in instruction following, reasoning, and overall quality, enabling them to handle multi-step edits reliably while maintaining your intent,” says Chauhan.
Users can observe the Copilot AI agent’s operations in real time, with a sidebar displaying every action Copilot performs on a document. In Excel, it can directly modify a workbook by adding formulas or tables. PowerPoint’s Agent Mode can refresh existing decks with new information while retaining the business’s template styling.
Microsoft is deploying these new Copilot features as the default experience for Microsoft 365 Copilot and Premium subscribers, with availability extended to Microsoft 365 Personal and Family plan users.