# 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.

## 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.](guide/img/word-front.png "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.](guide/img/word-permission.png "Each change waits for approval") ![Excel with two ranges added to the message box as chips, and a question about them.](guide/img/excel-add-to-chat.png "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](admin/).

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

Last updated 8 November 2026, describing add-in release 0.4.0 (manifest 2.1).