Forum Discussion
How do I turn off Copilot in Word documents?
I don't need Copilot in my word documents and I don't need the copilot icon stalking me on every page when I begin to type. Its very distracting. How do I disable Copilot?
Also trying to do this. I don't want copilot. Ever. Where can I request that this is a feature added to turn this off? At this rate no one will know how to write their own name without AI. Stop pushing this crap on paying subscribers.
I also dont want anything to do with AI
I wrote the below out of sheer exasperation of not being able to turn this icon off.
.
Copilot you are a pain in my side
As you follow me wherever I slide
Your icon poking its nose in where it doesn’t belong
You can go away now and run along
You are a constant distraction to my view
Can’t you just do one and shoo
Turning you off is no joy
Time for a new deploy
My frustrations written in rhyme and prose
When I really wish I could just make it doze
This visual disturbance I can do without
Now all I am left with is pulling my hair out
This icon is sending me around the twist
I really hope you get my gist
Microsoft step up to the plate
Send this icon to purgatory state……
Oh I do really love this.
Plot twist: was it written by copilot?
Ha ha, now that would be a little cheeky wouldn't it
But no, I have actually been writing poetry for years and this one was written out of frustration
username007
OK, I finally worked out how to get rid of Copilot in Word - at the moment, the only way seems to be to roll back Office to a previous version, but I also had to downgrade my 365 subscription to "Microsoft 365 Family Classic", ie the version which contains everything it used to (OneDrive, family sharing etc) but NOT Copilot.
Microsoft had kindly upgraded my subscription to "Microsoft 365 Family" at an extra $40 per year, just to give me Copilot, which I didn't ask for or want...
So the steps are as in the thread here: How to disable or remove Copilot in Office 365 Personal - Microsoft Community
1) Uninstall 365
2) Follow the "unsubscribe" link on the 365 page to get the option to downgrade your subscription (sneaky to hide it behind the scary unsubscribe)...
3) Only after you've downgraded to "Microsoft 365 Family Classic", use the img download in the link above to get the previous version of Office.
(If you just downgrade your subscription without uninstalling, Copilot hangs around, presumably until your next payment, which for me was 10 months away)
4) I went into Word's option and chose "Never update" - this isn't ideal, but hopefully there will eventually be an option to turn this unwanted and expensive feature off with the latest version.I have a family subscription, and when I went to cancel it because it's gone up $5 a month I saw that the classic family subscription, which is the old price, does not include AI! It's only $1 a month more than the 'personal' one. So it's an option for now. If they add AI, I'm done for good.
Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be any way to get my subscription back to the non-AI version, now that Microsoft upgraded it to the new 365 Family plan (without asking me).
I even just tried cancelling my subscription, but it's stay with the AI version until next August, as I've already paid.
Same experience here... thanks for your post!
Copilot really is the new Clippy, but from memory MS didn't unilaterally and sneakily try to charge me $40/year for Clippy.OK, I 'll try this but I'll need to get my husband to help. I am pretty bad with installing and uninstalling. It's insidious how Co-pilot just comes into your world, stuffs everything up and is so difficult to get rid of.
I'm so over companies forcing their will on us and charging us more. I couldn't disable it, so I'm deleting Office 365 and will be using the Mac alternative from now on.
Please microsoft get rid of the floating icon, it's impacting my productivity!!
Could Microsoft introduce a toggling feature for Copilot in Office files, allowing users to easily turn it on when they need it and turn it off when they don’t?
That would be a good move and resolve the problem.
- It looks like there is no direct way to completely disable Copilot within Word documents itself yet, However, there are a couple of options depending on what aspect of Copilot you find distracting,
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 www.copilotwithme.com. This site is dedicated to copilot enthusiasts and provides valuable insights and updates about Copilot.- 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
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.
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
The lightbulb solution is a fail. Click on the lightbulb and you get Microsoft ads.
For office efficency we need fast operations without unwanted changes or distractions. Certainly for people who struggle with English or Grammar AI can help, but the bulk of the population doesn't need writing on the document suggesting AI is ready to leap to the rescue.
Please tell us how to get AI out of our way unless we need it.
If you (Microsoft don't know how to fix it, please tell us so we can find an expert to get our effeciency back up to where it should be.
Today's Windows 10 update includes adding copilolt to the taskbar but it is now "uninstallable" using more conventional Window methods.
art
- I use gpedit.msc (Windows 10) to disable copilot for all of Windows. I haven't tested the extent of this.
Local Computer Policy/User Configuration/Administrative Templates/Windows Components/Windows Copilot
good luck.
I also want to disable engage.microsoft.com from sending me messages, especially copilot.
art I can't believe there are aren't more people complaining about copilot ruining Microsoft Word completely. I can't do a single thing without that annoying copilot getting in the way of what I wanted to do and there is no way to remove it and it is absolutely ridiculous and totally frustrating. I am not very technical and I have not really got the capacity to follow anything too technical in terms of removing this. It certainly doesn't look like a simple process from what I have read here. If anyone's got any ideas about how we can put pressure on Microsoft to make it easy not to have copilot then that would be fantastic. I wonder if anyone is interested in launching legal action against word because this is pretty unfair and really damaging to one's mental health. I think it would be an interesting claim. I've got a law degree and a little bit of spare time for something worthy like this. I'm based in Australia though.
Problem is the people who wrote the software for copilot may have had software skills, but that doesn't mean they had business skills.
As others have pointed out, Academics are supposed to present material to the public without any assistance. from others.
Students submitting their work will have the same problem; many industries will be disadvantaged.
You could try writing to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, which administers the Competition and Consumer Act 2010.
This Act addresses Unconscionable Conduct like gouging credit cards, taking monthly payments until the "subscription" expires.
