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Use Myra document AI in Word, Excel and Outlook

What it does

Myra document AI is an add-in for Word, Excel and Outlook. It adds a task pane next to your document, sheet or message, so you can use the assistant without leaving the Office app. Microsoft single sign-on authenticates every call.

  • In Word you can rewrite or polish text, fix grammar, summarise, draft or continue text, translate (to English, German or French) and ask a question about the open document.
  • In Excel you can summarise the selected cells, summarise them as a report, clean or transform data, build a table, write a formula and ask a question about the sheet.
  • In Outlook you can summarise the open message and draft or rewrite a reply.

The pane offers tone (Neutral, Formal or Casual), length (Shorter, Longer, and "As is" in Excel or "Same" in Word and Outlook) and format (Prose or Bullet points). It shows only the controls the chosen action can use: Summarise offers length only, Translate, the Excel formula action and the Excel report offer none, and in Outlook tone and format apply to replies only. A model picker appears only when more than one model is available to you. The add-in uses your Office display language.

The add-ins work in Office on the web and in the desktop apps for Windows and Mac. Office 2016 and Office 2019 are not supported.

How to ask

First you need the add-in. You do not install it from a download page on your own. Your organisation makes it available, in one of two ways.

Your administrator deploys it, either through the Microsoft 365 admin center ("Integrated apps") or through a SharePoint App Catalog. The add-in then appears on the ribbon of Word, Excel or Outlook. After the first rollout it can take up to 24 hours to show up. If your administrator used the SharePoint App Catalog and you do not see it on the ribbon of Word or Excel, open Insert, then Add-ins, then My Add-ins, then the Admin Managed tab, and choose Myra document AI. The App Catalog covers Word and Excel only, so Outlook is deployed through the Microsoft 365 admin center.

If your administrator has not deployed it yet, you can add it for your own account only, as a trial, by sideloading the manifest file you get from your administrator. In Word or Excel on the web, open Insert, then Add-ins, then Upload My Add-in, choose Browse, select the file and choose Upload. In Outlook on the web, open Settings, then Add-ins, then My add-ins, then Custom add-ins, choose Add a custom add-in and then Add from file.

When it is installed, open the add-in from the ribbon. The ribbon button is "Myra" in the group "Myra document AI", and the title of the pane is "Myra document AI".

To use it:

  1. Select the text, the cells or the message you want to work on. Select some text first in Word. In Excel, actions that change the sheet need selected cells; Summarise, the report and Ask use the whole sheet if nothing is selected. Summarise in Word can also run on the whole document. In Word and Excel, Ask needs a typed question; in Word it uses the whole document. In Outlook, open a message first.
  2. Choose an action, set tone, length and format if you want, and press the action's button. In Excel the button is "Run"; in Word and Outlook the action button itself starts the action.
  3. Read the result. In Excel, actions that change the sheet show a preview first; Summarise, the report and Ask show only a result. In Word, Summarise shows its result first; the other edit actions insert directly (see below). Outlook shows the draft before it goes into your reply.
  4. Apply the result with the button for it: "Insert into document" in Word (Summarise), "Insert into reply" in Outlook, and "Apply to sheet" or "Insert formula into the active cell" in Excel.

Excel changes the sheet only when you choose Apply or Insert, and Outlook never sends anything; you send the reply yourself. Word is different: Rewrite, Fix grammar, Translate and Draft insert their result into the document directly, as tracked changes when your Word version supports it (otherwise as plain text). Only Summarise waits for you to choose Insert. The Ask action in Word only shows an answer and inserts nothing.

Tips

  • Select only the cells you need in Excel. A large selection can be cut off.
  • In Word, edits are inserted as tracked changes when your Word version supports it, so you can accept or reject them.
  • In Excel, check a formula in the preview before you insert it. A formula that uses a network or command function is blocked.
  • Use the Ask action to question a document or a sheet without changing it.

Limits

  • Your workspace must be enabled for document AI, and a tenant administrator must give one-time consent before first use. You cannot do either yourself.
  • The add-ins are for Word, Excel and Outlook only. Office 2016 and 2019 are not supported.
  • Your own upload of the manifest file is a personal trial. It works for your account only and does not replace the deployment by your administrator.
  • In Excel, a selection can be too large to process in one action. The add-in then tells you, or tells you that only the first part was sent to the model.
  • An add-in served from a SharePoint App Catalog covers Word and Excel only, not Outlook.
  • Nothing is sent from Outlook automatically. You send the reply yourself.

When something goes wrong

  • You do not see the add-in on the ribbon. Wait up to 24 hours after the first rollout. If your administrator used the SharePoint App Catalog, also check the Admin Managed tab described above. If it is still missing, ask your administrator.
  • The message says document AI is not enabled for your workspace. Contact your administrator. The workspace is not yet enabled for it.
  • Sign-in does not work in the desktop app. Try Excel, Word or Outlook on the web.
  • "Select some cells first." or "Select some text first." Select what you want to work on, then run the action again.
  • "Type a question first." In Word and Excel, Ask needs a question in the question box. Type it and run the action again.
  • "Open a message first." Open a message in Outlook, then start the action.
  • "Too many requests right now" or "The service is busy right now". Wait a moment and try again.