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

You can actually switch now if you choose—you go in, cancel your subscription, and they'll offer you the option of backing out of the cancellation by choosing Classic instead. That's what I did. I switched back to Classic and since my account doesn't renew until December, I have time to figure out whether I'm going to purchase a downloadable 2021 version of Office that isn't subscription based, or if I'm going to develop a relationship with one of the various alternatives to office, whether that's Pages (which I have tried out on my tablet with encouraging results) or one of the "open office" softwares out there.

I've used Word, specifically, for almost 30 years. It annoys the living hell out of me when they "upgrade" and change the interface so I have to relearn how to find specific functions. This goes beyond annoyance. They actively threaten my livelihood by doing this. I'm not sure I can continue to use any of their products under the circumstances... but I'm still assessing that.

You can't.
End of story.
You gave permission to Microsoft to install spyware on your computer and there is no 'off' switch or way to remove it except by downgrading the app.
Users on Windows do apparently have an 'off' option but Microsoft have not yet explained whether this entirely turns off Copilot or if it just turns off the helper interface. In other words, if when turned off, it is still stealing your work in the background.

Stop using Word, Excel, etc, use Pages, Numbers, from Apple.

The whole exercise of slipping the app in with no permission and making it close to impossible to remove is manipulative and unacceptable. Things like this have to be resisted.

This is absolute ****. I CANNOT remove the copilot icon from powerpoint!

I found information at the following link that as of January 16, 2025 copilot can only be removed from Word. The remaining apps will happen February 2025. I tried the notation at the bottom about changing privacy settings and it didn't work so I think we have to wait a few more weeks for the ability to disable it on anything other than Word.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/how-to-turn-off-copilot-in-microsoft-365-family-and-personal-subscriptions-bc7e530b-152d-4123-8e78-edc06f8b85f1#:~:text=If%20you%20want%20to%20turn,your%20Windows%20or%20Mac%20device. 

There is a separate Enable Copilotcheckbox in each app and the checkbox only applies to that app on that device. For example, if you want to turn off Copilot in Word and PowerPoint, you need to go to both apps and clear the Enable Copilot checkbox. If you have multiple devices, you need to go to each device and clear the Enable Copilot checkbox for each app. Also, turning off Copilot on a device turns off Copilot for anybody using that device.

As of January 16, 2025, the Enable Copilot checkbox is available in the following apps:

• On Windows: Version 2412 of Word
• On Mac: Version 16.93 of Word

If you don't see the Enable Copilot checkbox in the app, check which version of the app that you have. If necessary, update your versionof the app on your device.

We're working on adding the Enable Copilot checkbox to Excel, OneNote, and PowerPoint on Windows devices and to Excel and PowerPoint on Mac devices. That is tentatively scheduled to happen in February 2025. In the meantime, you can change your privacy settings to turn off Copilot.