Octo × Office · research of Oct 31, 2026
A hundred contracts from the same template, thirty reports by branch, one presentation per client, the weekly schedule status, the shared mailboxes with no owner. Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Project, Outlook, Access, Visio and the Microsoft 365 around them, automated through Open XML files, Microsoft Graph, PowerShell and Office Scripts. Octo reads, writes the script, generates into an output folder and shows the result by content. Sending, signing and permissions stay with people.
One task from request to approval, at a fictional company. The arms measure, plan and execute; the person in charge checks and approves. Each tab is one front of the field and links to its page.
Front pageWord →Project →365 Automation →
Office 2016 and 2019 in October 2025, Office LTSC 2021 and Project Online in 2026. Microsoft's recommendation is Microsoft 365 Apps, by subscription and continuously updated, or, if that isn't possible, Office LTSC 2024, perpetual, through volume licensing.
Oct 14, 2025
End of support for Office 2016 and Office 2019, together with Project 2016 and 2019 and Visio 2016 and 2019, according to Microsoft's end-of-support table. Without security updates, Office "might be vulnerable to security threats".
With what each program offers, how it is automated by file, script or API, where Octo can help and the source of each point.
Batch documents from templates with fields and content controls, mail merge, review and comparison, PDF/A, accessibility and metadata. Octo can generate the contracts from a spreadsheet and check the text of each one before anyone signs.
Open the page →openpyxl and Open XML, formulas, pivot tables, Power Query, Graph Excel API, Office Scripts, spreadsheet audits and batch reports. Octo can redo every calculation of a critical spreadsheet and point out the cell that differs.
Open the page →python-pptx, presentations generated from data with charts and tables, templates and masters, batch rebranding, export to PDF and images, speaker notes. Octo can build the committee presentation from the month-end close.
Open the page →Project desktop, Project Online (retired on Sep 30, 2026) and Planner, MPP and XML formats, MPXJ, critical path, baselines and progress reports. Octo can read the schedule and show the critical path and the variance from the baseline.
Open the page →Graph for mail and calendar, rules, shared mailboxes, Exchange Online PowerShell, exports, batch calendar, privacy and LGPD (Brazil's data protection law). Octo can list the shared mailboxes with no owner and who has access to each one, without opening any message.
Open the page →ACCDB and MDB formats, ODBC and ACE, queries, migration to SQL Server and PostgreSQL, inventory of legacy databases and risks. Octo can find the Access databases scattered on the file server and say what each one holds.
Open the page →VSDX format (Open XML), diagrams generated from data (org chart, network, process), Visio for the web and plans, diagrams as code. Octo can draw the org chart straight from the HR spreadsheet and redo it when the spreadsheet changes.
Open the page →SharePoint, OneDrive, Teams, OneNote and Power Automate through Graph and PnP PowerShell: governance, permissions, site inventory and file migration. Octo can list every site, who has access and what is shared with outside people.
Open the page →The same Octo cycle, applied to documents, spreadsheets, schedules and the tenant. Each arm has a narrow role; the ones who sign, send, approve the baseline and consent to permissions are people.
Templates, spreadsheets, schedules, Access databases, macros, add-ins, sites and shared mailboxes, with version and owner.
Columns, types, dates and currencies of the source spreadsheet, template fields, schedule tasks and dependencies, and which file is the official one.
Minimum permission in Graph, delegated before app permissions, secrets outside the script, macros of unknown origin and personal data (LGPD, Brazil's data protection law).
Open XML, Graph, PowerShell, Office Scripts or COM on a workstation; never COM in an unattended service, following Microsoft's caveat that it neither recommends nor supports it.
Python, PowerShell or C#, with a log, an exit code, a separate output folder and the source of each operation noted.
Opens the generated document and reads the text, redoes the spreadsheet calculation, compares schedule dates. The file merely existing is not enough.
Only with your OK, it places the files on the staging site or in a test account. Bulk email sending and publishing stay with whoever approves.
Script, template, permissions used, checked sample, sources and what was decided are written down for next month.
The criteria Octo uses to choose. From what runs on a Linux server without Office to what needs the program open on a Windows workstation.
| Path | Used for | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Open XML directly (Open XML SDK, python-docx, openpyxl, python-pptx) | Generate and change .docx, .xlsx and .pptx without Office installed | The path Microsoft supports for working with files from a service |
| Microsoft Graph (REST) | Mail, calendar, OneDrive, SharePoint, Teams, Planner and workbooks in the cloud | Delegated permission before app permission; 429 with Retry-After when over the limit |
| Microsoft Graph PowerShell | Bulk tenant administration | PowerShell 7 and 5.1, on Windows, macOS and Linux |
| Exchange Online PowerShell | Mailboxes, permissions, mail flow rules | ExchangeOnlineManagement module; app-only authentication for unattended scripts |
| Office Scripts and Power Automate | A repeated routine in Excel, triggered by a flow | Scheduling inside Office Scripts temporarily disabled (checked on Oct 30, 2026); a flow is used |
| Office add-ins (Office.js) | A button or panel inside Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote and Project | Windows, Mac, iPad and browser; central deployment by the administrator |
| COM and VBA | Export with the program's own engine, recalculate, print | Only on a workstation with a user session; Microsoft does not recommend or support it in an unattended service |
LibreOffice --headless --convert-to | Batch conversion on a Linux server | Mentioned only; fidelity versus Office not measured here |
Three steps. Each one only makes sense after the previous one has shown results on your team.
A proposal, not a promise
Octo shows what exists: unsupported versions, macros, add-ins, Access databases, schedules in Project Online, sites and mailboxes with no owner.
Documents, spreadsheets and presentations come out of data and templates, into an output folder, with a check report.
The month-end close, the schedule status and the tenant inventory run the same way, with who approved and what changed.
Only what has a published source goes into the field's pages: every point carries its reference, and every page closes with its own list of sources.
40
points with a published source across the field's eight pages, each with its reference on the page itself.
Octo prepares everything, but it does not sign. The document of record stays with whoever is accountable for it.
Surveys, organizes and produces the files: documents, spreadsheets, presentations, schedules, inventories and check reports, on file and through the APIs, without sending or publishing anything.
Deliverable: material ready to checkWhoever is accountable for the document, the spreadsheet or the schedule checks what Octo delivered before approving. If something doesn't add up, it goes back to Octo with the correction.
Step: checked by the person accountableOcto does not sign, approve or send. The document owner reviews and signs; the project manager approves the baseline; the Microsoft 365 administrator grants consent for permissions; the data protection officer approves anything that goes out with personal data.
Approval: document owner and 365 administratorPrimary sources, consulted on Oct 31, 2026. Each page in the field closes with its full list.
The assessment starts by reading the templates, spreadsheets and schedules your team already has, without changing anything. You get the inventory and the map of what can be generated or checked in batch, with a trial on a known case, and you decide with that in hand.
