Hermes Agent Microsoft Office: Make Word, PowerPoint and Excel Files

Hermes Agent Microsoft Office support comes from one bundled skill, microsoft-office, that creates, reads and edits Word, PowerPoint and Excel files. It works offline and doesn’t need Office installed. Here’s what it handles, the commands it runs, what it can’t do, and how to get a report or deck out of your agent today.

What the Microsoft Office skill is

microsoft-office is a bundled skill, installed by default at productivity/microsoft-office. The skills catalog describes it as creating, reading and editing Word, PowerPoint and Excel files. It runs on Linux, macOS and Windows under the MIT licence.

1. What changed in v0.23.0

The v0.23.0 release notes say the separate Word, PowerPoint and Excel skills were merged into one microsoft-office skill. Old copies stay on disk until you remove them. The same release cut the built-in skills on a fresh install from 58 to 44 and added hermes curator lock, which stops the agent rewriting a skill you curated by hand.

2. What it can make

Each format has its own reference file inside the skill. Details are on the skill page.

3. The commands it runs

Creation is driven by a JSON spec, so the agent describes the document and a script builds it:

"$PY" scripts/docx_create.py spec.json out.docx
"$PY" scripts/pptx_create.py deck.json out.pptx
"$PY" scripts/xlsx_create.py spec.json report.xlsx

• Read: docx_read.py, pptx_read.py --outline, xlsx_read.py --sheets.
• Edit: docx_edit.py, pptx_edit.py, xlsx_edit.py.
• Templates: docx_template.py and pptx_from_template.py.
• Check: docx_validate.py, pptx_render.py for slide images, xlsx_recalc.py.

Every helper prints JSON and exits non-zero on failure, so the agent knows when something went wrong.

4. What you need installed

• Python 3.10+ with python-docx, python-pptx and openpyxl. When hermes is on your PATH, the skill builds a shared documents environment for you.
• The Hermes Docker image already ships the Office and PDF libraries.
• LibreOffice is optional. It handles PDF export, Excel recalculation and slide rendering. Without it there’s no PDF export, and the skill says so instead of faking it.

5. What it can’t do

• It doesn’t control the Office desktop apps or Microsoft 365 online. It edits files.
• It won’t open old .doc, .ppt or .xls files directly. Convert them first with soffice --headless --convert-to docx.
• It isn’t for OpenDocument files (.odt, .odp, .ods) or drag-and-drop layout work.
• Nothing calculates Word fields or Excel formulas on its own. Office fills them when you open the file, or xlsx_recalc.py does with LibreOffice.

6. Getting files out of the agent

On messaging platforms, the gateway spots file paths in the agent’s reply and uploads the files natively. The deliverable mode docs name the microsoft-office skill as the source of Word docs, spreadsheets and decks. Ask for a weekly sales report in Excel from Telegram, and the file lands in the chat.

The skill also checks its own work: it re-reads every output, validates Word files after edits and renders PowerPoint slides to look at them before handing them over.

My verdict

For a small business this is the useful bit of v0.23.0: proposals, client reports and decks your agent can build from a template without Office installed. Install LibreOffice if you want PDFs, keep your templates in {{token}} form, and let the agent fill them. Hermes Agent Microsoft Office turns routine paperwork into a one-line request.

About Julian Goldie

I’m Julian Goldie — founder of Goldie Agency and the AI Profit Boardroom. I test new AI agents almost every day for 432K+ YouTube subscribers and run Hermes, OpenClaw, OpenCode, Claude and Codex side by side in my own Agent OS. Claim your free strategy session or join the AI Profit Boardroom.

Want another angle? Read the AI Profit Boardroom guide to the Hermes Microsoft Office skill.

FAQ: hermes agent microsoft office

Does Hermes Agent work with Microsoft Office files?

Yes. The bundled microsoft-office skill creates, reads and edits Word, PowerPoint and Excel files.

Do I need Microsoft Office installed for Hermes to make Word or Excel files?

No. The skill uses python-docx, python-pptx and openpyxl offline. LibreOffice is only needed for PDF export, recalculation and slide rendering.

When did Word, PowerPoint and Excel become one Hermes skill?

In v0.23.0, released 5 November 2026. Old copies of the separate skills stay on disk until you remove them.

Can Hermes open old .doc or .xls files?

Not directly. Convert them first with soffice –headless –convert-to docx, pptx or xlsx.

How do I make a PowerPoint deck with Hermes Agent?

The skill writes a JSON spec and runs pptx_create.py to build the deck, then renders it with pptx_render.py to check the slides.

Can Hermes fill in Word templates?

Yes. docx_template.py fills {{token}} templates, and pptx_from_template.py does the same for decks.

Related reading

• Hermes Agent Curator
• Hermes Webapp
• Hermes Rewind

Last updated November 2026. This page is a living guide to hermes agent microsoft office — the facts here move fast and it is updated as they do.