"We are sorry, but this feature is deprecated" (Smart Lookup on Word for Mac)

Anonymous
2024-12-13T22:08:50+00:00

I just right-clicked on a word to use the "Smart Lookup" feature, and I received this message, "We are sorry, but this feature is deprecated." I am a current subscriber and logged in.

I appreciate your help!

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | Other | MacOS

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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Stefan Blom 353K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
2024-12-16T22:31:07+00:00

As stated in this thread and elsewhere in the forums, Smart Lookup has been discontinued. The official notice is in the article at https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/get-insights-into-what-you-re-working-on-with-smart-lookup-debf2083-5ac0-4739-8667-ae2467bec044.

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You can send feedback to Microsoft developers by using the feedback facility in your version of Word. See https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/how-do-i-give-feedback-on-microsoft-365-2b102d44-b43f-4dd2-9ff4-23cf144cfb11#platform=macOS.

Also/alternatively, post in the portal at https://feedbackportal.microsoft.com/feedback/forum/fb6d67e3-301c-ec11-b6e7-0022481f8472.

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  1. Bob Jones AKA CyberTaz MVP 437.7K Reputation points
    2025-01-03T01:38:21+00:00

    The search function can be provided by any decent web browser.

    Interestingly, though. Smart Lookup continues to be available in OneNote.

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  2. Anonymous
    2025-01-05T13:09:04+00:00

    What a weird notification? Deprecated? who wrote this? Do they even know what that word means? How ironic that MS Word used a word incorrectly to explain the smart lookup malfunction.

    What does it mean when an item is deprecated?

    Similarly, when a class or method is deprecated, it means that the class or method is no longer considered important. It is so unimportant, in fact, that it should no longer be used at all, as it might well cease to exist in the future.

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  3. Jim G 134.1K Reputation points MVP
    2025-01-05T15:51:13+00:00

    Deborah,

    Your definition of what "deprecated" means is spot on. I'd go one step further and say that sometimes a deprecated feature no longer works at all.

    There are over 2,000 view of this thread. Hopefully, everyone who came across this problem used the Menu Bar and choose Help > Feedback > Report a Problem and reminded Microsoft that it is a problem that the feature no longer works. Microsoft uses the squeaky wheel criteria to prioritize fixes. Of course if users don't bother to tell Microsoft, then they think all the users love that they can no longer use the feature.

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  4. Anonymous
    2025-01-06T03:21:23+00:00

    This is not an answer to the question.

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