Tag: Excel

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Excel’s new “Agent Mode”

Agent Mode in Excel is a new “preview” feature Excel (online) for Microsoft Copilot Subscribers (Microsoft 365 Commercial, Personal, Family and Premium) that enables users to build and edit workbooks along side Copilot. 

When you’re updating budgets, creating financial models, or analysing data, Agent Mode uses Excel’s most powerful tools like tables, charts, PivotTables, and formulas to help you get the job done. As part of Microsoft’s Frontier program, Agent Mode gives you early access to cutting-edge AI capabilities.

What I love most is you don’t need Excel skills at all (other than knowing how to enable this feature) which you need to do before you can use it!

The new “Agent Mode” transforms Copilot from a one-shot assistant into a collaborative AI partner capable of orchestrating multi-step tasks across your office apps.

Microsoft.

Agent Mode updates your workbook using Excel’s built-in features, so your content stays editable and synced with the latest changes. It works with you and you can see it’s reasoning thinking and what it’s doing in real time!

Enabling the Agent Mode in Excel

Currently, to use Agent Mode in Excel, you need to be using Excel on the Web (and must have a paid Copilot License). To use the agent, you then need to head to “Add-ins”, search form, and then add the “Excel Labs” as shown below.

Adding the “preview” for Excel Labs in Excel on the Web.

The first time you do then, you will be presented with the following message. I’d suggest you have a read and accept. You can then open the agent to get started! You will see there are two options for use – Agent Mode and an Advanced Formula Environment.

Using Agent Mode in Excel

  1. Select the Excel Labs button
  2. In the Excel Labs task pane, choose Agent mode.
  3. Start working with the Agent to create your project.

    An example, Microsoft provide is to “Build a loan calculator that computes monthly payments based on user inputs for loan amount, annual interest rate, and term in years. Generate a schedule showing month, payment, principal, interest, and remaining balance. Present the results in a clear, formatted table“. You can see this in the prompt to the left (you can cut and paste this if you like!).

Watch Agent Mode in Excel in action.

I have built a video to showcase the example above which you can watch at your leisure. You’ll see how I work with it, tweak the calculator and add more functionality as I go… This to be mirrors how most people work. Build, check, reflect, enhance…

Excel Agent in action

How is Agent Mode Different to Copilot Chat in Excel?

Agent Mode is really designed to work for more complex, multi-step tasks such as reshaping data, merging sheets, or creating reports with multiple elements. For simpler, one-step tasks like adding a chart or PivotTable, talking about data, help with formulas etc can be quicker.

Because of the way Agent Mode works, it also takes a little longer to provide an initial response and refine it, particularly for more complex requests. But… It’s leaps ahead of what you can do in Copilot Chat alone..

Remember, for more conversational assistance or tasks that don’t make lots of modifications to your workbook, Copilot Chat is a much more suitable option.

Agent Mode in Excel: Availablility and Limitations

Availability: At time of writing (October 2025), Agent Mode in Excel is available on Excel for the web via the Excel Labs add-in in English. Support for other platforms, and additional languages will be included in the future.

It’s still AI.. You need to work with, but what I love is you can now build quite complex models, calculators or calculations with no code, no formatting experience, no charting skills…

It is still in preview, expect it to get perfected.

You can read more at the Official Microsoft site here: Agent Mode in Excel (Frontier)

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It’s Agent Mode the new way to do human-agent collaboration?

Microsoft Copilot development just doesn’t sleep… This time they have just announced “agent mode” which they claim could be game changer in the way we (humans) work with AI agents (Copilot). Called “Agent Mode” this latest update marks is not just about new features, but a significant shift in how we interact with Office apps through Copilot.

Agent Mode in Excel

What is Agent mode?

Agent Mode is Microsoft’s answer to the growing demand for intelligent, iterative workflows without needing to craft lengthy prompts. Agent Mode brings agentic reasoning into Excel and Word, (others will follow), allowing users to work along side Copilot through multi-step tasks ranging from data analysis to document creation – with a level of depth and refinement that feels like working alongside an expert.

“In the same way vibe coding has transformed software development, the latest reasoning models in Copilot unlock agentic productivity for Office artefacts.”

Sumit Chauhan |CVP |Microsoft Product Group

These are both application and context aware. As an example:

  • In Excel, Agent Mode “speaks spreadsheet” language. Whether you need to build financial models, loan calculators, resource calculators or budgets, Agent Mode in Excel means Copilot now understands the nuances of formulas, formatting, and validation. Rather than just generating outputs, it can evaluate your work, suggest fixes, and works with you until you get the result you need.
  • In Word, Agent Mode will be able to transform writing into a dialogue. Users can prompt, Copilot drafts, user can then asks clarifying questions, and Copilot will refines the content with native styling and formatting. Microsoft say this is vibe writing in action — fast, fluid, and focused.

Chat first creation…

Then, there is the new “Office Agent”, which will live inside Copilot chat. This is designed for when discussions start in a Copilot Chat, rather from within document or spreadsheet. In this context, the Office Agent will have the ability to create “proper” documents directly from your chat, using deep reasoning and live previews to guide the process and creation. These will be powered by Anthropic models and not OpenAI.

Microsoft have given (in their official article) some examples we can use.

In Excel

Financial Analysis Prompt: “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. Use standard financial formatting and best practices.”


Loan Calculator Prompt: “Build a loan calculator that computes monthly payments based on user inputs for loan amount, annual interest rate, and term in years. Generate a schedule showing month, payment, principal, interest, and remaining balance. Present the results in a clear, formatted table.”

Monthly Report Update Prompt: “Help me update this monthly report for September. Update the data table with the latest numbers from the /Sept Data Pull email. Summarise the key highlights including insights compared to last month’s /August monthly report.doc.”

In Word


Project Update Prompt: “Update the executive summary for clarity, bold all key findings, and insert a bulleted list of next steps based on the /Project update meeting. Make sure to add a conclusion“.


Document Style Prompt: “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.”

In Powerpoint (coming later)

Interestingly, Microsoft say that Copilot can now (finally) create good presentations in PowerPoint!

“PowerPoint is one of the most used tools for creating presentations, but over the last two years, AI (Copilot) has often fallen short when creating slides. Office Agent changes that. Office Agent creates tasteful, well-structured PowerPoint decks and well-researched Word documents. ”

Microsoft say that now… When you work with Copilot to create presentations you will get a totally transformed experience. It will

  • Clarify your intent
  • Conduct deep research
  • Produce high-quality content.

How to use “Agent Mode”

First thing first….. Not everyone can yet and it’s not available day one… OK now read on…

Currently, Agent Mode is available for organisations (and users) enrolled in the Frontier program for Microsoft 365 Copilot who have a Microsoft 365 Copilot license or that have Microsoft 365 Personal or Family with a Copilot Pro license.

Agent Mode works in Excel on the web but will be coming soon to desktop. Word is also coming soon.

For Excel, you will also need to install the Excel Labs add-in and choose “Agent Mode”.

Oddly, from what I have read, the Office Agent is only available for Copilot Pro subscribers on Microsoft 365 Personal or Family or Premium and not (yet) Microsoft 365 Commercial. It’s also limited to USA currently! 🙁

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Unlock Insights with Excel’s COPILOT() Function

Microsoft has introduced the =COPILOT() function in Excel, embedding AI directly into spreadsheet cells. This formula turns natural-language prompts into structured outputs—no VBA, no complex formulas—so anyone can perform advanced analysis with a simple cell entry.

This essentially turns your prompts into Excel formulas direct from your excel cell!

Copilot() function in excel

This is in currently in public preview.

What It Is and How It Works

The COPILOT() function behaves like any native Excel formula. You type =COPILOT("and your prompt", [range]) in a cell, and Excel sends the request to the Copilot service (powered by Bing and ChatGPT). The AI returns a grid-friendly result that recalculates automatically whenever your source data changes. You can even nest COPILOT() inside functions like IF or LAMBDA for more sophisticated logic.

Core Capabilities

  • Summarise, group, or categorise data using plain-English prompts
  • Perform sentiment analysis on text feedback
  • Extract and organise information from unstructured text (names, emails, URLs)
  • Generate dynamic lists, schedules, or qualitative ratings
  • Augment tables with symbols or simple markers for clearer storytelling

Key Use Cases

  • Automating data cleanup: standardise formats, remove duplicates, split columns.
  • Customer insights: turn free-text reviews into sentiment scores and themes.
  • Sort data and represent in different formats without having to learn how to create pivot tables.
  • Transforming data using formulas without having to write a formula.. Just natural language.

Prerequisites & Access

To use COPILOT() in Excel, you must meet the following requirements:

  • Microsoft 365 commercial Copilot license (not included in Personal/Family plans)
  • Microsoft Entra ID account and primary mailbox on Exchange Online.
  • Excel Beta Channel build 19212.20000 or later / macOS build 25081334 or later
  • Up to 100 function calls per 10 minutes (300 per hour); use array inputs to conserve quote.
  • Data stored in the active workbook (external sources not yet supported

How to access:

  1. In Excel, go to File > Account > Office Insider and switch to the Beta Channel (Windows).
  2. On Mac, open Help > Check for Updates in Microsoft AutoUpdate and choose the Beta release.
  3. Sign in with your work/school account that has a Copilot license; use File > Account > Update License if needed
  4. Restart Excel—=COPILOT() will now be available in any cell, or via the Home > Copilot pane.

Requirements and Limitations

  • Not optimised for heavy numeric or matrix computations
  • Outputs are dynamic—save critical results as values to prevent unintended changes
  • Only works with in-workbook data; live web or external data access is pending

Why It Matters

Excel remains the lingua franca of business data. By transforming the grid into an interactive AI canvas, COPILOT() tears down formula-syntax barriers, accelerates decision-making, and empowers every user—from analysts to frontline managers—to become data storytellers. Enablement leaders can shift focus from formula training to writing effective AI prompts and compelling narratives.

In short, it’s powerful for people that are not excel formula wizards!

Start experimenting with prompts like:

  • “Summarise quarterly revenue by account manager”
  • “Rate these project tasks by impact and effort”
  • “Extract email addresses from customer comments”
  • “Normalise the addresses and add UK postcodes”

Let me know what you think? Useful? 👍👎

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Copilot in Excel is getting huge  upgrades as it comes out of preview in June.

Microsoft will be taking Copilot in Excel out of preview next month and are adding a bunch of new and needed features.

The Microsoft 365 Roadmap calls out a key feature (ID: 394275) which will allow users to receive more conversational answers to various Excel-related questions and prompts. This aims to provide less expert Excel users with step by step help on formulas, ability to do more things using natural language and also finally the ability to work on data sets that aren’t confined to being encapsulated in an excel table.

The aim: to emoower everyone to use Excel better whether beginners to more advanced users.

Copilot can assist users in completing tasks by providing helpful steps, including formulas to copy and use. It can also explain formula errors and offer corrected formulas along with additional guidance.

Here’s a breakdown of what can be done with this newer functionality coming to Copilot in Excel:

  • Understand your questions and requests in a more natural way, making it easier to get the help you need and how to perform what you need in excel
  • Be able to answer a broader range of Excel-related questions, not just specific tasks and will also be able to provide clear instructions, including relevant formulas.
  • Help with formula errors by explaining the issue and suggesting corrected formulas with additional guidance.

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