Forum Discussion
DeviousMalcontent
Nov 08, 2024Brass Contributor
I want to turn off or hide the draft with copilot dingbat that follows my cursor around in MS Word.
I have seen a few articles on this website, and I know it's not possible but I'm going to ask anyway. For reference this is what I'm referring to: It's more I find the little thing following me...
- Jan 17, 2025
Found it, and unchecking the box worked. From inside of Word, File-->Options-->Copilot.
DeviousMalcontent
Jan 16, 2025Brass Contributor
I did manage to get rid of the dingbat out of Word!
After exhausting all of the recommended downgrade options, I had a fairly successful attempt at hacking the application to remove it out of the JavaScript files, but also ran into stability issues, and found that after a little bit it would come back,
Finally, I discovered that my work was running a slightly older version of Microsoft Word, version 2410, (listed as a monthly enterprise channel) so I copied and pasted that onto a USB thumb drive and overwrote the copy that I had on my home computer, this got rid of the dingbat and made me extremely happy.
(Yes, the non-consensually obtained work copy uses my home account\licence!)
Once I implemented this fix, I also made sure to disable all Microsoft Word updates,
During my hacking spree I did manage to isolate the library file where the copilot extension lives, but the process to remove it's just too difficult to create a user guide for.
Finally, to permanently disable Copilot across Microsoft 365 subscriptions, I've already made a response in another thread that I will link here as well as import into this thread here:
If it hasn't been mentioned in the thread already, and I am not sure what Microsoft's reasoning is behind all of this,
but if you go to the manage subscription option on your account, and then go to cancel your subscription, on the landing page there will be an option for Microsoft Office 365 Family Classic, with a button that allows you to switch to that tier, not only does this get rid of the AI but it keeps the price the same for next year.
It's just really inane that it's only available on that page.
I was shown this from a Reddit thread that I will link to in reply because I'm not sure if it'll get flagged doing it in this response.
So, in June when my subscription lapse over to the classic tier I'll finally be able to update Microsoft Word again, and it may be one of the last times that I'll be able to update Microsoft Word because this whole experience has put me off Windows 11. (I am staying on Windows 10 until the support runs out and moving away afterwards)