Forum Discussion
How do I turn off Copilot in Word documents?
If the icon on the page is the main annoyance, you can hide it without affecting Copilot's functionality:
• Click on the small light bulb icon (Copilot icon) on your Word document.
• A pane will appear on the right side. At the bottom of the pane, you'll see a checkbox labeled Show Copilot in document.
• Uncheck the box to hide the icon.
Copilot leverages Microsoft Editor for some suggestions. Disabling Editor suggestions might reduce some of Copilot's influence, but it won't completely turn it off:
• Go to File > Options > Proofing.
• Under AutoCorrect Options, click on AutoCorrect Settings.
• In the new window, navigate to the Typing tab.
• Uncheck the boxes for features you don't want, like Show suggestions as I type and automatically correct text as I type.
If you need a completely Copilot-free experience, you can also work in offline mode i.e.
• Go to File > Work Offline
I hope this helps!
If you find this response helpful, please consider marking it as the Best Response and giving it a like. I am also developing a Copilot solution and invite you to subscribe to my blog at http://www.copilotwithme.com. This site is dedicated to copilot enthusiasts and provides valuable insights and updates about Copilot.
"• A pane will appear on the right side. At the bottom of the pane, you'll see a checkbox labeled Show Copilot in document." Nope. No such option appears in that panel. Not in the Word online version, any way.
I appreciate you trying to solve this for people, but I AM offline and still have the Copilot Icon. I just want it gone. We're not allowed to use AI for uni. I wont use it but I dont want it anyway on my Word.
that's interesting. but in the side pane that I get once I've clicked the lightbulb, i can't see any check box labelled 'Show Copilot in document.' The work off line option is a good one, thanks.
- Follow up. I stand by my earlier comment. However, this is good news, even if I cant find a way to turn copilot off. I found it by accident. Just started typing, and the copilot box disappeared. Yay.
agreed, that is good at least. but then every new paragraph it pops back up in my face!
I've just come off a frustrating hour on the chat with Microsoft Support and they had no answer to this issue. It appeared for me in build 2410 of Office 365 and so I reverted to build 2409.
To do that I ran CMD (as admisnitrator) and navigated to:
"\Program Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\ClickToRun" then press enter
Then run: officec2rclient.exe /update user updatetoversion=16.0.15427.20194 then press enter
I've also turned off updates in Office which is not a great idea but hopefully this feature will become optional in a future build.
Good luck
thanks!
Thanks for your help. However, I can't find the work-offline link in File.
Please advise Microsoft that they should change the default for CoPilot.
At present the default is that it is automatically on.
Moreover, there is no facility to simply turn it off.
The default should be that Copilot is off. Customers may be prompted (asked) if they want to use it. If no reply or if they say no, then Copilot should be switched off.
I write for work and also for pleasure. Word has long been key to my work. I do not have the time to search to find how to turn off a feature I do not want. Especially since from today's experience I have to use it to start up this new document I want to create. Not acceptable.
I wholeheartedly agree with this. default should be off for sure.
- Your point - "Click on the small light bulb icon (Copilot icon) on your Word document.
• A pane will appear on the right side. At the bottom of the pane, you'll see a checkbox labeled Show Copilot in document." does not correspond to what I am seeing on the screen. There is an icon in the document, but it is NOT a light bulb icon. A right click produces nothing. I am frustrated in being unable to access this setting.I don't think the work offline or hide copilot button is available on Mac OS
My last hope was that they hadn't rolled the feature out to Mac OS yet, sad. 😭
harry18garg appreciate the response but I don't have a Copilot light bulb that opens a new panel. I have 2 icons (one in the word doc itself that when clicked says to type text to generate a draft) and one icon in the toolbar that again asks for you to enter text to generate text. See attached photos to see if they are the same as yours.
I'm so frustrated with this copilot option in my word document. I want to get rid of it for this particular doc, why is it so hard??? My 10 min project for a word document has now turned into over an hour.
- Same for me. Have you solved this yet?
- so far, the only means I've found is to use gpedit.msc (with admin privilege). This approach appears to be available for global purposes.
Local Computer Policy/User Configuration/Windows Components/Windows Copilot/Turn off Windows Copilot/ and enable this policy.
"This policy setting allows you to turn off Windows Copilot.
If you enable this policy setting, users will not be able to use Copilot. The Copilot icon will not appear on the taskbar either.
If you disable or do not configure this policy setting, users will be able to use Copilot when it's available to them. "
good luck
Hi harry18garg,
thank you for you explanation - I am having the same problem, but cannot find the checkbox in the Copilot side pane in Word.
Could you maybe provide a screenshot of the panel and the "Show Copilot"-checkbox in Word?
Thanks
This must be relatively new(ish) - I had been looking for this fix for awhile (must've been last year sometime), then updated to a new computer and didn't feel the need to get rid of it until now, working on a much larger manuscript. But when I went looking in options... I found this.... unclick, click 'ok' and voila!
Thanks for this. I bit the bullet and upgraded (been running late 2024 version of Word for a while to avoid copilot), and the current version makes it easy to turn copilot off as per your post.
