How to disable or remove Copilot from Word (there is a solution - check 2nd edit)

Australia, January 2025 - update has included a disable Copilot feature under File - Options - Copilot - enable/disable.

Issue resolved.

If only it worked. I asked Copilot:

How can I turn off copilot?

Copilot said: 

To turn off Copilot in Microsoft Word on your Mac, you can follow these steps:

1. Open Microsoft Word.
2. Go to the File menu and select Options.
3. In the Options window, navigate to the Copilot section.
4. Clear the Enable Copilot checkbox.
5. Click OK and then close and restart the app1.

If you want to turn Copilot back on, you can repeat these steps and select the Enable Copilot checkbox in Step 41.

If you have any other questions or need further assistance, feel free to ask! 😊 Copy AI-generated content may be incorrect 1 Reference

You said: 

Options does not appear under File on a Mac

Copilot said: 

I apologize for the confusion. On a Mac, the steps to turn off Copilot in Microsoft Word are slightly different. Here’s how you can do it:

1. Open Microsoft Word.
2. Go to the Word menu at the top of your screen.
3. Select Preferences.
4. In the Preferences window, click on Copilot.
5. Uncheck the Enable Copilot checkbox.
6. Close the Preferences window and restart Word.

If you don't see the Enable Copilotcheckbox, make sure your Word application is updated to the latest version. If you still encounter issues, please let me know! 😊1 Copy AI-generated content may be incorrect 1 Reference

You said: 

The only checkbox in Copilot under Word Preferences is to collapse Copilot summary automatically. I have updated to todays version of Word and reopened the appiication.

Copilot said: 

It seems that the option to turn off Copilot in Microsoft Word for Mac might not be available in the current version you have. According to the latest information, the "Enable Copilot" checkbox should be available in Word on Mac, but it might not be visible in your version1.

As an alternative, you can try the following steps to minimize the impact of Copilot:

1. Hide the Copilot icon: Click on the small light bulb icon (Copilot icon) on your Word document. A pane will appear on the right side. Uncheck the box to hide the icon2.
2. Adjust AutoCorrect settings: Go to File > Options > Proofing. Under AutoCorrect Options, click on AutoCorrect Settings. In the new window, navigate to the Typing tab and make adjustments as needed2.

If these steps do not resolve the issue, you might want to provide feedback to Microsoft through their feedback mechanisms3. They may be able to offer additional support or updates in the future.

If you have any other questions or need further assistance, feel free to ask!

We really should be able to disable copilot. I don't want it, nor do many others. We pay a lot of money, surely with the billions we pay, they must be able to built a box wich we can 'unclick'.

I find this really annoying!

It can be disabled in the newest update of word, including in Australia.

Go file -> Options -> Copilot (4th one down) -> unclick the enable copilot.

You may need to redownload your office 365 if it hasn't been updated fully or isn't being nice.

I woke up this morning (in the eastern U.S.) and opened the book I'm working on to find the blasted Copilot thing every time I start a new paragraph.

As many others have said, Microsoft...WE DO NOT WANT AI FORCED ON US! Make it optional. Those of us who write for a living, those who are in university, etc. CANNOT have AI in our documents at all.

I've tried every suggestion I've seen in this thread. I can't shut it off, because Copilot doesn't appear in any of the Options lists or Privacy settings or anything. I've looked at every possible thing in Word and cannot find any options for Copilot whatsoever, which means I can't disable it in Word. I also can't find it on my computer to disable. And the instructions for reverting to an older version of Word are too much for this tech-challenged brain to understand...but we shouldn't have to jump through hoops to get rid of something we didn't want in the first place.

I have a 365 subscription. I've been using Word since 1995, I think? A really fricking long time, anyway. I would like to continue using it, but not if there's this bleeping thing that I don't want popping up and telling me to use it every time I start a new paragraph. It's distracting, it's annoying, and it's pretty much guaranteed to lose Microsoft a bunch of customers and subscribers if they don't either get rid of it or add a VERY CLEAR option for turning it off. Or, even better, remove it from the program and have an option for turning it *on* for those who want to use it.

Microsoft, stop forcing things on us that we don't want. And if anyone can tell me how to shut off Copilot in Word 365, when I've looked at every possible menu option in the program and Copilot doesn't show up--but keeps showing up in the document itself--I would be extremely grateful.

EDITED to add: I wound up asking Copilot how to get rid of Copilot, and to my bitter amusement, it told me. I had to close my document, find the Word program in my Control Panel on my computer, click "Change," click "Quick Repair," and wait. When it told me it was done the repair, I reopened my document and clicked on "Options," and THIS time, "Copilot" appeared in the options list. Clicked on that, unchecked the box that says "Enable Copilot," and now I don't have obnoxious AI distracting me from using my BRAIN to write my book.

But Microsoft, if anyone who actually has control over anything reads these... Please make NO Copilot the default, so people have to *check* the box to enable it, rather than making Copilot the default and people having to ramble through online forums and help articles and such to figure out how to *uncheck* it.

I'm a Mac user and had Copilot thrust upon me as well (it popped up this morning as a cheerful notification, when I opened Word).

I had to go into my MS account to investigate my subscription status, only because I'd seen someone on Reddit mention it, otherwise it would've been too late...but with the forced "upgrade" with Copilot, MS also increase subscription fees—but nowhere are users notified of this in advance, which is deeply unprofessional.

So I had to manually roll back my subscription to the one I had before (pre-Copilot) to keep my subscription fee the same. Today (Jan. 17) is when my monthly subscription is supposed to be renewed (ie, without Copilot), so I would expect to see the Copilot button in the ribbon and the annoying floating in-page icon to the left of my texts to disappear from tomorrow.

I'll post again with an update, to say if they disappeared, or if I've had to do something manually. The tips in this thread for getting rid of the icons on a PC don't work for Mac users.