How to disable copilot on microsoft office (excel, word, ppt) on Macbook

I totally agree. I'm an editor, and this is utterly unacceptable. I think, if a uni student fails due to this, there should be court proceedings where you sue MS for all costs associated with the degree as well as time spent and lost wages due to a loss of PhD. Maybe the financial burden, if every student did this, would be enough to restrict MS from their egotistical need to place themselves in our homes as we research and write.

Thank you, Tanya.

I respond to each of your points below:

I also have a Microsoft 365 Family subscription! Pardon me, an important distinction I completely overlooked until checking back for you. A personal Microsoft account, but an Office 365 Family subscription. Noted

I can only suggest:

• Were Word (and all the other 365 apps) closed while you changed the privacy settings from Excel? Yes
• I deselected ALL the available 'connected experiences' in the privacy settings (there are three altogether - they advise turning off only two of them) I did this too.
• You are accessing these apps on the one device, using the one subscription? Yes and yes.
• You were signed in to your account while changing the settings in Excel? Then, again, signed in to Word? Its quite onerous to sign out, must admit, but worth a check? I was signed into my Microsoft account in each App.

If I were you, I'd turn the connected experiences on again, then off again in the privacy settings each app. Just in case something is over riding the settings for one app in particular. I tried this. Copilot is still active in Word, but not Excel.  Interestingly, when I prompt the Copilot dropdown (RH end of the top ribbon) in Word, I get a message "Open Copilot",  but it's already open!!  In Excel the dropdown message is different: "Use the power of AI to explore your data. Copilot only works with files stored in OneDrive or SharePoint."  I use neither OneDrive nore SharePoint.

I tried going into privacy settings from my Microsoft account - none of the relevant options available unfortunately.

You could simply try turning everything off and starting again i.e.: system restart???? I tried this, but the result was the same.

Unlike others, for whom Copilot has serious implications, I can live with it, albeit with increased blood pressure!

Hopefully, Microsoft will get the message that this is unacceptable and default Copilot OFF - and provide a simple opt-in for those who see merit in it.

I was also having an issue with this. I'm not a writer, but do I need to write up contracts and business stuff, so this is super frustrating. I was able to disable being able to USE Copilot, but I'm not sure if my solution disables everything it does. I'm not a programmer or even a big computer person, but this was my "solution".

1. Open word > File > Options > General
2. Under General click Privacy Settings
3. Uncheck the boxes for Connected Experiences (be aware that the last box is an opt in box for "personalized offers" and such. I kept it unchecked also.
4. Click ok

After doing all of this, the same prompt will still appear on the page. However, if you click the Copilot icon in the ribbon, a pop-up box appears saying that you have to enable the privacy settings again in order to use Copilot. I hope that helps someone even a little. :) I wasn't able to upload my screenshots, but I hope my instructions are clear enough.

If you want to completely disable the Copilot App, follow these instructions at this site:

https://www.tomsguide.com/computing/software/how-disable-copilot-in-windows-11

I did this fairly easily. :)

Could always consider a class action lawsuit against them for invading privacy? I'm sure there's a loophole we can use if they don't fix this (intended) 'glitch'.

Are you reading the room yet, Microsoft?

@Shay1357: this worked. It briefly came back with a note to check the boxes in your connected experiences if you wanted to use this service. I found it very annoying and take pride in writing my own stuff.