Microsoft Adds Agent Mode and Office Agent to Office Applications

"Agent Mode enables users to create persistent agents that can operate in the background to manage ongoing tasks. Instead of responding only to immediate prompts, Copilot can now monitor, summarize, or take actions over time. For example, a user can instruct Copilot to track updates to a shared document, prepare a meeting recap, or notify a team when project milestones are reached."

"Office Agent serves as a unifying layer that links Copilot across Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams, and Outlook. Users can issue cross-application instructions such as asking Copilot to pull data from an Excel sheet, integrate it into a Word report, and create a PowerPoint summary, all without switching between apps. This system relies on a multi-agent orchestration framework that interprets user intent, fetches contextual information, and connects the right APIs across Microsoft 365."

Agent Mode creates persistent background agents that monitor, summarize, and take actions over time across Microsoft 365. Agents maintain context via Microsoft Graph, pulling from calendars, messages, and shared files to keep actions aligned with organizational data and permissions. Office Agent links Copilot across Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams, and Outlook to execute cross-application instructions without switching apps. A multi-agent orchestration framework interprets intent, fetches contextual information, and connects appropriate APIs to execute workflows. Fine-tuned orchestration models and memory layers support awareness of previous steps and enterprise-scale integration with Microsoft Entra for identity management.

Read at InfoQ