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The latest Microsoft 365 Update has added a Copilot function to Word. Now every time I create a new paragraph, a little copilot symbol appears in the left-hand margin prompting me to use copilot. It is extremely annoying and distracting. How do I stop this symbol appearing, or better, remove copilot from Word?
Processes in Microsoft 365 for setting up Office apps, redeeming product keys, and activating licenses.
Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.
I 100% agree. How hard would it be to have a button to turn it off, or at least get rid of the prompt in the middle of your word document!
Ben, I agree 100%. And what's feeling incredibly annoying as I deal with this and get little or no work done this week because of this issue, is that Microsoft does not provide any human beings to talk to about this. I phoned the local help line and got an AI assistant that pointed me back here to this very online help! It's treating users like a cash-cow. It's an aggressive 'like it or lump it' approach to their services.
I 'get' that some people (not writers!) might enjoy Copilot, but Microsoft should have GIVEN US THE OPTION, not simply added it in. It should be opt-in, not opt-out -- and ha! there's not even an opt-out option anyway! It seems that the only way to opt out is to unsubscribe. This is totally unacceptable.
We can choose to buy an electric car, but not own it, per se – only lease/subscribe options as the manufacturers still require access to 'update' the code for our driving pleasures. All the capability is there but the manufacturer have the control to turn on/off the go-fast toggle if you pay big dollars.
Thus, we subscribe to – but cannot dictate how – Microsoft controls our life or lets us drive our own workflow. And we are paying for this. We are paying Microsoft to access our IP, learn from us, and not give us the ability to turn functions off that we don't want or have adverse risks to our lives.
Why is there not a greater backlash globally against this?
And yet after removing all connected experiences, the copilot still annoys with its icon next to the cursor. So your answer is incorrect and false.
It's almost as if Microsoft are removing any way of people pushing back against technology they don't want injected into their work flow... collecting data and information... not turning off...
You work for Microsoft as do some others in these chats about Copilot, and not even you know how to remove it?! This is very very very bad service by Microsoft.
On my Macbook I went: Word->Privacy->Manage Connected Experiences, and disabled all (apparently losing other functionality in the process), but after a restart, Copilot's margin icon is still there on my pages!
This is incredibly annoying. Users should not have to spend days of precious time trying to figure how to get out of something we did not opt-into. I'm paying $$$ per year for a functional Word programme, and I need Copilot gone asap.