Remove Copilot from Word

Thanks for the advice. This worked. I was astonished to discover I had been shifted to the AI version of O365 without my permission, and was going to be charged an additional £25 at the next annual billing date for the privilege of having an infuriating Copilot icon hovering around my cursor on Word. Why does MS so often seem unable to understand the simple principle of CONSENT.

Just tried to followed your instructions.

There is no option to switch when you cancel subscription ( there is no Unsubscribe) and there is no such version as Microsoft 365 Family Classic. There is Microsoft 365 Personal at $159 or Microsoft 365 Family at $179 and both have Co-pilot.

If there is such versions as you posted, please show me where, on Microsoft’s site, they reside.

Additional info

Just spent an hour online with Microsoft chat and it would appear that Microsoft customers in Australia, New Zealand and others ( for some reason only known to those high up in Microsoft) do not have that Classic Option. We only have Persnal and Family. - both with Co-pilot and a hefty subscription increase. Apparently I now have to ring Microsoft direct and beg them for Classic.

What a dreadful Company.

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.

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/

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