I want to disable Copilot in Word on MacBook Air

It works for some but not all users. Many (like me) have the most updated version of WORD on a Mac and still there is no way to turn off copilot. There is no "Enable Copilot" checkbox anywhere. There is no "Options" button under File. I'm glad you were able to fix the problem, Carol. But most of us are out of luck. In the meantime, I'm using Pages to write drafts and then edit them in Word. That's the only way to avoid the Copilot icon from following me.

Carol B. wrote:

I also find that feature very annoying so I researched the answer. To disable Copilot in Microsoft Word on a Mac, open your Word document, go to File > Options > Copilot, and then uncheck the "Enable Copilot" box. I'm happy to report it works!

I just double-checked in Word. I have no "File>Options". I also followed the instructions in the article you linked to, which say go to Preferences > Authoring and Proofing Tools > Copilot. I don't have Copilot there, either. So, I'm not sure what I would do if I wanted to turn it off. Fortunately, I don't.

Exactly! Creepy! That's what I felt. I write, I need to get to my words. I pay Microsoft for the privilege. And suddenly I have this AI ‘thing’ blocking my human way. Yuk!!!!

And help! ;-) and actually help ‘cause I can’t use Microsoft atm

The only option currently seems to be to revert to a previous version of Office. After chatting with Microsoft for an hour, that was the conclusion. You find previous versions here:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/officeupdates/update-history-office-for-mac

Do the followoing:

1. Turn off AutoUpdate (Word/Help/CheckForUpdate)
2. Close all office apps
3. Delete the apps with Copilot (Word, PowerPoint)
4. Download and install a previous version. I used the March 12 version (16.83), any version before the introduction of Copilot in your country will probably work.

You're in the drivers set - with no Copilot. At least for now.

I turned on copilot just for fun, I have a Microsoft 365 subscription. It doesn't look very useful or impressive. To remove it (or deactivate it), from Word, open Preferences from the Word menu, then Privacy. In Privacy, under Connected Experiences, choose Manage Connected Experiences, then uncheck all the Connected Experiences boxes. Going through these layers of nested menus that are not intuitive to do something simple that should be one click is very Microsoft-ish!

relarion wrote:

Thanks, Carol. For me, there is no Options choice under File.

those instructions are for the windows version of Word. The Mac version does not have any options under the file menu, but the windows version does.

Relarion and others: IMO this Co-Pilot is a dupe to gather more of our personal information for Microsoft's AI to munch on. No wonder there's no way to disable it! Microsoft and some other tech companies are shills for data-gobbling - but for what? Am I going to see a Word doc I wrote show up in an AI fetch? I don't know but if it smells like a fish then it's probably a fish. I just don't being told what the rules of engagement are with no clear instructions for how to opt out. Look at the other responses - most everyone was unable to get rid of this Co-Pilot. And take a look at this Microsoft document if you aren't convinced of my argument: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365-apps/privacy/required-service-data An excerpt to clarify: "As you use a connected experience, data is sent to and processed by

Microsoft to provide you that connected experience. This data is crucial

because this information enables us to deliver these cloud-based

connected experiences. We refer to this data as required service data."

Don't you love this "required service data."? I don't believe tech should have the right to lord this over us. We pay for the use of their programs. That shouldn't allow them unlimited access to and use of our private created information. We let the auto mechanics service our car but we don't have to give them permission to drive our car whenever or however they wish.

I am so furious at that company right now. The nerve of them, putting this disgusting garbage on my computer without an option to turn it off!

And no, there is no option. All the suggestions here apply to some machines, apparently, but not mine.

They don't even have tech support!

No, they don't - I've tried to contact them. And I resent not being able to install a purchased copy of Word on my desktop and laptop without buying two licenses.

They've lost us as customers, and I've been using Word since the '80s.

QuillaTheCat wrote:

I did the advice to go to Preferences and Privacy, then Connected Experiences. I disconnected all three, and it got rid of CoPilot, but that also disconnected my OneDrive, which was a dealbreaker. So I only disabled the third feature of the Connected Experiences. This got rid of the annoying chatty paperclip on my document, but CoPilot is still on the dashboard. I'll keep trying.

Seems a simpler solution would be to stop using Word.

Thanks to all of you who joined in on this Microsoft travesty with the Co-Pilot. IMO the sad truth is MS does NOT want to make it easy, even impossible, to delete it.

Monique wrote, "i'm cancelling my subscription to Word, at least for now. creepy, intrusive, no way to turn off? word is hard enough to use lately in all honesty. i'm disappointed."

Me as well. Going forward, I'm using Apple's Pages (which seems to be becoming easier to use). I was disturbed when MS redesigned (sic) the search function, requiring us to go through dropdown menus and multiple clicks to perform a task which worked perfectly and simply before. And for me it had a danger: if I didn't clear the popup box and went back to writing, it overwrote the word unless I clicked the red dot to close it.

The point being, did the "Microsoft/Word/365 etc. user community" ask for these changes, or were they they product of some junior programmer who lacked an understanding of how PEOPLE use word processing software? I'll stop my rave about workflow process here and just say, "if it isn't broke, it doesn't need to be fixed."

relarion wrote:

This morning, I opened a new document in Word, and I got a prompt to "Press the icon or select ⌘+ \ to draft with Copilot." I do not want to use Copilot.

If you don't want to use it, can you simply not press the icon or use that key combination?

If you just start typing in the document, that goes away.