Word Add-In Overview
The August Word Add-in puts August in a sidebar next to your open Word document. Ask questions about the document, propose redlines you approve one by one, run Playbooks, launch saved Agents and Skills, and translate the whole document, all without leaving Word.
This video provides an overview of the Word Add-in tooling.
Installation and System Requirements
How to Install
If your firm deploys add-ins centrally, the August button may already be on your ribbon. Otherwise, install it yourself:
In Word, go to the Insert tab and click Get Add-ins (or My Add-ins).
Search for "August for Word" and click Add.
On the Home tab, click the August button to open the sidebar.
Sign in with your August account.
You can also install the add-in from its August for Word listing on Microsoft Marketplace. Firms that use August's EU processing install the August for Word (EU Processing) listing instead; your admin can confirm which one to use.
System Requirements
The add-in needs a current version of Word that supports Microsoft's Word JavaScript API 1.6.
Requirement | Details |
|---|---|
Word version | Word for Microsoft 365 on Windows or Mac, kept up to date, or Word on the web. Older one-time-purchase versions such as Word 2016 and Word 2019 can't run the add-in. |
Connection | Active internet connection required |
Account | Active August subscription |
The Five Sidebar Tabs
The tab bar at the bottom of the sidebar switches between five tools. A Playbook evaluation or translation keeps running if you switch tabs.
Tab | What it does |
|---|---|
Assistant | Chat about the open document. Ask questions, upload files or attach August folders and tabular reviews, research the web, and get proposed edits as review cards. |
Skills | Search your Skills, with favorites at the top. Click one and it is added to your next message in the Assistant tab. Create and edit Skills in the August web app. |
Playbooks | Run a Playbook against the open document and draft edits for rules that need work. See Playbooks Evaluation in the Word Add-In. |
Agents | Run a Word agent (a reusable prompt with input fields and optional file, folder, and tabular review slots) in a new chat. Fill in its inputs and click Run Agent. See Word Agents below. |
Translate | Translate the whole document with formatting preserved. See the steps below. |
The Assistant Composer in Word
The Word composer works like the one in the web app, with a few differences:
Type @ to add context and / to add a Skill.
Every Word chat runs in Auto, so there is no mode selector or Create menu.
The Add menu offers Upload files, Add from folders, and Add tabular reviews. Agents and playbooks have their own tabs instead.
Dictation isn't available in Word.
Word Agents
The Agents tab lists only Word agents, under Prebuilt Word Agents and My Word Agents. Agents you build on the web app's Agents page don't appear here.
Click Create Word agent to write your own: a prompt plus inputs such as text, select, checkbox, toggle, or number fields, and slots for files, folders, or tabular reviews.
Use Edit agent or Delete agent to change or remove one of yours.
Turn on Enable web search, when the agent offers it, to let the run search the web.
Chats and Projects
Each Word chat belongs to an August project, chosen with the project picker at the top of the sidebar. Switching projects after you send a message starts a new chat.
Click New to start a fresh chat, or History to reopen an earlier one. History lists every chat in the selected project, including chats from the web app.
Chats from earlier versions of the add-in, or from Agent or Genius Mode, can't be reopened in the sidebar; open them in the August web app instead.
Word chats appear in your August chat history labeled Word Add-in.
When you open a document that August created in a chat, the sidebar shows a Created in an August chat card. Click Continue this conversation to pick up that chat next to the document.
For deeper work across many documents, use Assistant in the main August workspace.
Core Capabilities
Clause Review and Redlining
Ask August to review the document, for example "Redline this against our standard NDA positions," and it proposes edits as review cards. Nothing changes in your document until you apply a card.
Changing your tracked changes author name: The name displayed on tracked changes is controlled by your Word user settings. To change it, go to File → Options → General, then update the "User name" and "Initials" fields. Changes apply to new tracked changes only.
To check a document against a full Playbook rule by rule, use the Playbooks tab.
In-Text Editing
Select a passage in Word and the sidebar picks up your selection, so your next instruction applies to it:
Highlight the text you want changed.
Give an instruction: "Make this more protective" or "Translate to Spanish."
Review the proposed edit card and apply it as a redline or a direct edit.
Web Search
Research case law, statutes, and regulations without leaving Word:
Verify citations and confirm a case is still good law
Find current case law on a topic
Check regulatory updates and statutes
Results appear with source links you can open directly. For detailed guidance, see Web Search in the Word Add-In.
Using Precedent Documents
Attach precedent documents from August to guide suggestions:
In the Assistant tab, attach a firm-standard agreement or prior negotiated draft.
Ask for conformity edits: "Align this clause with our standard NDA."
Review the proposed edits against your precedent language.
Analyzing Opposing Counsel Markup
August reads pending tracked changes in the open document, including who made them:
Open the redline in Word.
Ask August to summarize changes across the document.
Focus on specific sections: "What changed in the indemnification clause?"
Use summaries to prioritize negotiation and response strategy. Verify high-impact edits directly in the document.
Translate the Whole Document
The Translate tab translates the entire open document and keeps its formatting.
Open the Translate tab.
Choose the From language, or leave it on Auto-detect.
Choose the To language.
Under Result, choose Open as a new document or Replace this document. Where your version of Word can't open a new document from the add-in, such as Word on the web, the first option is Download a translated copy instead.
Click Translate. For a downloaded copy, click Save translated document when it's ready.
Replace this document overwrites the document body with the translation. Tracked changes, comments, and content controls in the current body are lost, so keep a copy if you need them.
Reviewing Proposed Edits
August never edits your document on its own. Each proposed change appears as a card in the sidebar showing the old and new text, and you decide what lands:
Apply the card, or Dismiss it. A dismissed card can be restored with Undo dismiss.
Choose Redline to apply the edit as a tracked change, or Direct to apply it without tracking. You can set this per card, and Apply all applies every pending card in a response.
Give follow-up instructions, such as "Make the tone more formal." August sees which cards you applied or dismissed and adjusts.
August reads the structure of your document, not just its text, so edits preserve numbering, tables, headings, fields, and footnotes. For details, see Edit Documents with the Word Add-In.
When to Use the Word Add-In
Use the Word Add-In when:
You're drafting or revising a document and want AI assistance inline
You need to review counterparty markups quickly
You want to apply firm standards via Playbooks without switching tools
You need to verify citations or research case law while drafting
You need a formatted translation of the document you have open
What to Read Next
Edit Documents with the Word Add-In for reviewing and applying edits
Playbooks Evaluation in the Word Add-In to check a document against firm standards
Web Search in the Word Add-In for real-time legal research