Excel’s New Agent Mode is Really Good
Microsoft recently shipped something big in Excel: Agent Mode.
You can now describe what you want in plain English, and Excel not only understands your file but also edits it directly — inserting formulas, building logic, and keeping everything auditable.
I’ve been testing it this week, and it’s genuinely impressive. It understands context from your sheet, applies formulas correctly, and even creates helper tabs that make review and reconciliation easy.
Here are two demos that show what’s possible.
🧮 Demo 1: Headcount Allocation Journal Entry
For this use case, I asked Excel’s agent to take IT expenses and allocate them across departments based on headcount.
It automatically:
found my journal entry template tab
inserted debit and credit lines
made sure the journal entry totals matched the source data tabs
📊 Demo 2: Opex Month-over-Month Flux Analysis
Next, I gave it an operating expense detail for August and September 2025, and asked for a Month-over-Month Flux Analysis.
The agent:
calculated the $ and % change
added conditional formatting for large variances
added flux commentary (a bit verbose out of the box, but fixable with more precise prompting)
created a chart to show the biggest needle movers
How to Enable Agent Mode
From the launch blog post, Microsoft says:
Agent Mode in Copilot for Excel is available starting today in the Frontier program for Microsoft 365 Copilot licensed customers and Microsoft 365 Personal, Family, and Premium subscribers. Agent Mode works in Excel on the web and is coming soon to desktop. To try it, install the Excel Labs add-in and choose Agent Mode.
⚖️ Trust, but Verify
Agent Mode gives your prompt and file context to an LLM, which then plans and executes actions. That means it’s generating output like a smart preparer, not a final reviewer.
Here’s how to use it safely:
✅ Keep formulas visible. Always ask for formulas so results are auditable.
🔍 Review all outputs. Check totals, signs, and any logic that could affect accounting accuracy.
🧠 Treat it like a junior analyst. It’s fast and capable, but you still need to review the work before you sign off.
Try This Yourself
If you want to experiment:
Create a small table: Department | Budget | Actual | Variance.
Ask the agent: Calculate variance %, highlight anything above 10%, and summarize the top two drivers.
Check the results, click into formulas, and tweak your prompt.
Try follow-ups like: Add commentary for the top changes” or “sort by largest variance.
You’ll get a sense of how natural and flexible this workflow feels.
💡 What This Means for Finance Teams
I’m personally very excited to see AI in Excel go from being a Chatbot assistant (i.e. ask questions about my file) to an Agent that can understand context, think about what needs to be done, and then go do it. That’s a huge leap forward in terms of usefulness for every day use cases. This is the first time Excel feels truly collaborative with you. Instead of spending time building out the file, you describe what you want and Agent Mode builds the logic while you focus on analysis and review.
For accounting and finance teams, this bridges the gap between manual prep and automated insight. The key is to design your files with formulas and validations so every agent output stays traceable and audit-ready.
It’s early days, but I’m super excited for where this is going. Try it out and let me know what you think!