Remove Copilot from Word

Why did you make this removal process so difficult? I find the AI copilot extremely annoying and Microsoft's proposed way of removing it is way too tedious. Microsoft could've made an easy toggle on/off button. Why not do that instead? I'll likely stop using Word as a result. It's incredibly distracting.

So you can switch it off if you don’t want it but you are still being charged for it - typical Microshaft.

Looks like the Classic versions, which aren’t available in their testing sites which includes Australia, may not provide the same experience as the current 365 if you read between the lines in Microsoft’s news release

Microsoft have announced the news prices, and state that a February update will allow CoPilot to be turned off. So bad news good news.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/blog/2025/01/16/copilot-is-now-included-in-microsoft-365-personal-and-family/

ZDNet article describes the main points.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/its-official-all-your-office-apps-are-getting-ai-and-a-price-increase/

Hello--I'm also struggling to remove Copilot after a recent update. Per some recommendations I changed privacy settings to disable "connected experiences", but I'm still seeing the icon in my documents, even after restarting both the application and my computer. Like others, I'm finding it very disruptive/infuriating/have wasted quite a bit of time trying to remove.

Can you please respond with directions re: how to uninstall the latest Office update for Mac users? Or, let me know if there's a better way? I am not seeing the option to enable/disable Copilot that others have noted. I don't have an "options" tab at all, only "Preferences", and Copilot is not showing up anywhere there.

Thanks! I'm a nearly 30-year user of your product and am v. frustrated with this bizarrely unhelpful new "feature" and the insanely complicated process of trying to disable.