Disable / Turn Off Copilot in Word - Solution! (Nov 2024)

Anonymous
2024-11-01T07:14:30+00:00

See solution below - I have now turned Copilot off!!! NOTE: See Moderator's note at the end of this post.

Still frustrated, I was looking in my settings again (January 2025), and there is a new option!

[Moderator's note: This came out with update 2501.]

File Tab > Options (at bottom), then in the Word Options window > Copilot, then uncheck Enable Copilot.

The silly inline prompt was gone, and the Copilot icon in the toolbar greyed out! Yay!

I then right-clicked on the ribbon, and went Customise the Ribbon, then from the Home Tab, I just removed the Group that contained the Copilot Icon, I think it was called Assistance (gone now so not 100% sure).

Hopefully this is now available for other people too!

* * * * * * * * * *

I DO NOT wish to use Copilot in Microsoft Office, especially Word. It just started to show up for me and I have no interest in it, and it affects my work immensely.

I have tried to find a way to turn off / disable Copilot in Word and cannot.

I can't even see an option to turn the icon to the left of the page off.

I have uninstalled Copilot from Windows (currently on Windows 10) as I have no interest in using this all together, yet it is still showing in my Word 365 (program installed on my computer).

I am really hoping someone can please help me remove this so I can continue with my work.

Users should not be forced to utilise this option. There are many settings where this feature is inappropriate (and I shouldn't have to be part of a larger office network in order to disable it in the back end). There should be a way to easily turn it off.

=============================================================================

Moderator's note:

This has been locked because so much has happened in the months since the original post. That is not because the issue has gone away, but because this lengthy thread is likely to confuse. There are other threads on the issue that are more targeted than this one has become.

Much of this evolution of the issue is reflected in the various posts here, but it is difficult to follow and the issue has been conflated. Recent updates have added the option to turn off Copilot lite - the version added to Microsoft 365 without the user asking for it - in Word in the Windows and Mac desktop applications.

It has been promised that similar switches will be added to the other desktop applications, and perhaps the mobile and online apps.

If looking for help on this, try to search for both the application and the platform (i.e. Windows, Mac, Android, IOS, online.)

See How to Ask Questions In this Forum (to get the best and quickest answers).

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | Other | Windows

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.

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Anonymous
2025-01-14T23:43:23+00:00

I have turned Copilot off!!!

Still frustrated, I was looking in my settings again, and there is a new option!

File Tab > Options (at bottom), then in the Word Options window > Copilot, then uncheck Enable Copilot.

The silly inline prompt was gone, and the Copilot icon in the toolbar greyed out! Yay!

I then right-clicked on the ribbon, and went Customise the Ribbon, then from the Home Tab, I just removed the Group that contained the Copilot Icon, I think it was called Assistance (gone now so not 100% sure).

Hopefully this is available for other people too!

Image

[Moderator's note: This control was just introduced with update 2501 in January 2025.]

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  1. Anonymous
    2025-01-17T08:32:13+00:00

    THANK YOU!

    I started having the same problem, and found Copilot to be incredibly annoying. Thanks to your little tidbit of info, I'm back where I started and am happy again! Best wishes going forward!

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  2. Anonymous
    2025-01-17T13:04:49+00:00

    Thanks Suzanne. That worked in Word but not Excel. It's odd because it just showed up that day, but I still had to update to get the latest version. Either way, it's now disabled, so my thanks! :-)

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  3. Suzanne S Barnhill 279.2K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2025-01-17T13:28:16+00:00

    Yes, elsewhereI saw a rundown on the new option--not available at all in Excel or PowerPoint or Outlook apparently, but at least Copilot doesn't appear in Publisher at all! (Publisher is to be deprecated in M365 going forward.)

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  4. Anonymous
    2025-01-17T20:25:49+00:00

    I appreciate your comment. At least you're trying to help.

    But I'm not able to try to follow your solution, because as happens so frequently, at least for me, there are so many different versions of all Word versions, or formats for them, that as typically happens, i don't see on my version the screen you showed for "Word Options." When I click on Word, there is no "Options" that appears. And when I click on "Help," and type on "Options" or "find Options," none of the programmed choices I see bring me to any Word Options.

    Same with the guidance for Copilot. When I typed in "how to turn off Copilot" or "Copilot," there's a message to "Open Word Prefeences" and then click on "Copilot" and then unclick "Enable Copilot." But there is no "Enable Copilot" link when I click on Copilot.

    And this isn't the first time. Here is what I attribute this to: IT REFLECTS MICROSOFT'S CORPORATE PRIORITIES FOR CUSTOMER SERVICE AND CUSTOMER SATISFACTION. WHICH IS TO SAY, AT THE BOTTOM OF THEIR PRIORITIES, OR NONEXISTENT. If it was a priority, or important to Microsoft at all, NEWS FLASH: THEY WOULD NEVER IMPLEMENT ANY NEW PROGRAMS, OR EVEN UPGRADES, WITHOUT FIRST MAKING SURE THAT THE CHANGES WORK WIITHOUT GLITCHES IN ALL VERSIONS OF WORD (IN THIS CASE, OR OTHER MICROSOFT PROGRAMS),, AND CONFIRM THAT ALL SUBSCRIBERS CAN FIND ANY INFORMATION THEY NEED, BEFORE THEY GO AHEAD AND INSTALL SOMETHING LIKE COPILOT. WE NEED NO CHOICE IN THE INSTALLATION OF COPILOT. AS OTHERS HAVE JUST MENTIONED, ALTHOUGH IN DIFFERENT TERMINOLOGY, COPILOT WAS JUST FORCED DOWN OUR THROATS. AND WHY DOESN'T MICROSOFT CHANGE HOW THEY IMPLEMENT NEW THINGS BEFORE THEY OPEN THEM AND FORCE THEM ON SUBSCRIBERS? THEY DON'T HAVE ENOUGH COMPETITION TO MAKE THEM CONCERNED ABOUT LOSING SUBSCRIBERS. WE WON'T GET ANY FUNDAMENTAL CHANGES TO THEIR OPERATIONS UNTIL SOMEDAY A THREAT LIKE THAT ARISES. THEY NEED SOME CORPORATE EQUIVALENT OF A NATURAL DISASTER TO EVEN GIVE A DAMN ABOUT HOW SUBSCRIBERS RESPOND.

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