Overview

Office Assistant

An add-in for Microsoft Excel and Word that puts your organisation's AI assistant beside the open workbook or document. It reads and changes only the file that's open, only when someone asks, and shows each change before it's made.

On this page

What it is
At a glance
Who should read what

What it is

A pane beside the file. Staff open it from the Home tab, a right-click menu or a keyboard shortcut, and ask in plain language: explain these formulas, proofread this section, tidy this table.
Under your organisation's name. Each organisation sees it under its own name, such as "Your Organisation Office Assistant". These pages call it the Office Assistant.
Part of your organisation's chat platform. Staff sign in through the chat platform they already use, and each chat is saved to their history there.
Careful by default. Every change is shown first and waits for approval, every request's changes can be undone, and Word edits can be tracked changes.

The Office Assistant in Word on an empty chat: a heading naming the document, and skill cards such as Proofread, Review for issues and Executive summary. — Word, on a new chat

The pane asking permission to change "30" days to "45" days in clause 6.3, with Deny, Always allow and Allow once. — Each change waits for approval

Excel with two ranges added to the message box as chips, and a question about them. — Excel, with two ranges added to the chat

At a glance

Topic	Detail
Works in	Excel and Word on Windows, on a Mac and on the web. PowerPoint and Outlook where your organisation turns them on.
Can touch	The open file only (`ReadWriteDocument`). No other files, no mailbox, no web browsing.
Changes	Shown first and approved by the user, undone with one click, and tracked in Word when wanted.
Needs	Microsoft 365 Apps on a current update channel. Office bought outright (such as Office 2019) and the LTSC editions don't show it. Not on iPad or iPhone.
Sign-in	The user's work account, through your organisation's existing chat sign-in. No new app registration, consent or Microsoft Graph permission.
Data	Sent to your organisation's platform and saved in the user's chat history there. No third-party analytics.
Version	Add-in release 0.4.0, manifest version 2.1.0.0.

Who should read what

For Microsoft 365 administrators: requirements, uploading the add-in and assigning users, sign-in, where data goes, and removal.

For staff: opening it, the right-click menu, keyboard shortcuts, approving and undoing changes, tracked changes in Word, and what it can't do. Help in the pane opens the same guide.