- Microsoft unveils many new AI agents at Ignite 2025
- Agent Mode also gets extensions across Word, Excel and PowerPoint
- Outlook users also get additional AI services and tools
Microsoft is launching a host of new AI agents for Word, Excel and PowerPoint powered by Copilot as the company looks to increase agent adoption among its workforce.
Announced at Microsoft Ignite 2025, the new agents will be able to create content for the specific program via prompts entered into Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat.
Microsoft says the process is as easy as writing a prompt, with the agent then asking follow-up questions to tailor the output to the user’s needs before transferring to the desired program.
Agents everywhere in Microsoft 365
So what can the new options? In Excel, the agent would be able to turn data into charts, summaries and insights using built-in formulas and logic, making project plans much more immersive and informative.
In Word, the agent can assemble and organize a range of complex information into clear, well-written documents, and in PowerPoint, it can build presentations with storytelling and visual structure – and keep your audience engaged and attentive.
Early access is available through the Frontier program for Microsoft 365 Copilot licensed customers and is coming soon to Frontier for Microsoft 365 Personal, Family and Premium subscribers.
Elsewhere, Microsoft also unveiled new Copilot updates for Outlook that help its email users resolve common issues around scheduling conflicts and email summaries.
The e-mail service will now allow users to schedule meetings directly from chat, where Copilot finds available times, books rooms, drafts agendas and sends invitations. Copilot will also be able to help resolve scheduling conflicts for 1:1s and in-person events, with users able to set preferences for which meetings are flexible, so Copilot can automatically reschedule when double-booked and notify users of changes.
Mobile Outlook users will be able to use their voice to ask Copilot to perform a variety of tasks, including summarizing unread emails, drafting replies, deleting, archiving, pinning and marking.
The company also unveiled its Agent Mode feature, which was recently introduced in Excel and Word to allow Copilot to create, edit and format content directly in the app, now enhanced with new features and extended to PowerPoint.
The latter will mean that Agent Mode can now update existing PowerPoint decks using your company’s branded template, and users can also create new slides, rewrite and format text, insert and style tables, add images and rearrange content.
In Excel, Agent Mode can now easily bring external data into workbooks with an integrated web search function, as well as being able to choose between Anthropic and OpenAI reasoning models – and in Word, Agent Mode can now use Work IQ to automatically select relevant sources such as files, emails and meetings, ensuring documents reflect the most recent and contextually accurate information.
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