Microsoft has redesigned all its Office application icons and introduced a new feature in Word that automatically saves files to the cloud.
The company says both updates are because artificial intelligence reshapes the way its products are built and used.
The redesign, announced in a Microsoft blog post on October 1, 2025, includes 12 updated icons across Microsoft 365. The new designs cover applications such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, OneDrive, and Teams.
According to the company, this is the first full redesign in seven years. The icons now use brighter colors, curved edges, and gradient tones instead of the flat, solid designs introduced in 2018.
In the blog post, Microsoft said:
“Today, as we roll out refreshed icons for Microsoft 365 apps, small but significant design changes are a reflection and a signal. They encapsulate how AI is shifting the discipline of design and the nature of product development.”
The Word icon now blends blue, navy, and purple, while PowerPoint combines orange, pink, and red, and Excel adds yellow tones to its green color scheme.
Gareth Oystryk, Microsoft 365’s senior director of consumer marketing, explained:
“We’ve modernized Microsoft 365 icons to feel alive and approachable—soft curves, smooth folds, and dynamic motion that reflect Copilot’s brand.”
Microsoft’s designers said the goal was to make the icons appear more “vibrant and dynamic,” and to represent a shift in modern work, where collaboration increasingly involves both people and AI systems.
Experimental Icons That Were Not Used
On October 15, 2025, Microsoft revealed several concept icons that were tested but not adopted.
For Word, designers tried a notepad-style symbol and various ways of showing stacked documents. For Excel, the company tested designs that focused heavily on the cell grid, while PowerPoint concepts included a ribbon-shaped P and a P combined with a pie chart.
The final icons are simpler and more rounded, chosen to keep a consistent appearance across Microsoft’s platforms.
Alongside the visual changes, Microsoft has also begun rolling out a new feature called “cloud-first creation.”
Starting with Microsoft 365 Insider build 2509, any new Word document is now saved automatically to OneDrive instead of the local computer.
The company said this change will make it easier to access files from any device, share work, and edit documents in real time.
A Microsoft spokesperson said:
“With documents saved to OneDrive, users can access files from anywhere, collaborate in real time, and share work seamlessly.”
The company added that this system eliminates the need to email attachments or manage multiple versions of the same file.
However, the update has raised privacy and data control concerns among some users who prefer to keep documents offline. Microsoft clarified that users can turn off the feature by opening File → Options → Save and unchecking “Create new files in the cloud automatically.”
The feature will expand to Excel and PowerPoint in the coming months.
Microsoft is gradually making cloud storage the default for all its major products, from Windows settings backups to Edge browser profiles.
The design team explained that the way digital products evolve has also changed. In earlier years, Microsoft released major updates after long development periods. Now, with AI tools assisting in design and user testing, updates occur in smaller, continuous stages.
In the company’s words:
“Research shows changes to iconography are almost always received as a signal for product changes. In an era of ongoing, smaller shifts, the icons should reflect that.”
