I want to disable Copilot in Word on MacBook Air

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.

Jack, you are preaching to the wrong choir. This is an Apple forum, not a Microsoft forum. Since none of the solutions in this thread seem to work for everyone, your only option is to contact Microsoft directly

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.

JackBRochester wrote:

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."

That sounds like something to ask in the Microsoft forums or by contacting Microsoft.

For me, these steps disable CoPilot but don't remove the shadow icon from the left margin. It's at least a start! I have also logged in to both my Apple ID and Office 365 accounts and left feedback. For now that is all I can control, but seriously thinking about moving to a different word-processing environment after being a Word user since back in the DOS days.

As of midday on 22 Jan 25 1) I have the version of Word for Mac that my Microsoft account's "help" function says has an "Enable Copilot" box that can be unchecked, but it does not, in fact, have this box. 2) Contrary to what is stated in this "help" I am not allowed to "manage connected experiences" in the Privacy section. Shame on Microsoft for posting these blatant lies. If I am next asked to pay for AI that I don't want, I will switch to LibreOffice.

What I write in my Prayer Journal is between God and me, exclusively. If I need any AI help, I'll invoke a platform dedicated to that service for that specific purpose; in the meantime, I don't need an unsolicited algorithm analyzing -- and "learning from" -- how well I'm expressing myself about the layers of personal and family trauma I am processing existentially.

AT LAST! Why? Why do they do this? Particularly without my permission...

This is how you simply get rid of that HORRIBLE, ANNOYING, IDIOT copilot thing that is utterly uncreative, invasive and pointless:

Open a MS Word document. Go to WORD at the top of the computer (next to the Apple symbol) then go to PREFERENCES. There you will see the offending thing. Untick it. Bingo.

I successfully disabled Copilot in Word 365 on my MacBookPro (running Sonoma 14.7.3) as follows:

Word main menu > Preferences

Preferences > Privacy

In Privacy field, search (upper right) Copilot

The Copilot icon will appear, highlighted

Click on the Copilot icon

Unclick “Enable Copilot”

Restart Word

Hello I have a Macbook and have figured out how to disable copilot. In the top left of your screen while having Microsoft Word opened, click "Word", then proceed to "Preferences" in the drop down menu, a chart will appear and under the "Authoring and Proofing Tools" section select the "Copilot" symbol by double clicking, an option will appear that says "Enable Copilot" and you must uncheck that box before exiting the menu screen. After this copilot will be removed.

Brilliant! This worked for me. No more pesky, intrusive "Co-Pilot" icon on my documents!

Thanks so VERY much!

For the record:

• Office365
• Word Version 16.93 (25011212)
• Mac OS Sequoia 15.2

I spent hours trying to solve this. I even contacted MS support and worked with them. Currently, there is NO WAY to turn off the copilot prompt except for installing an older version of MS Office. To do this -

1. Delete MS AutoUpdater from your system library.
2. From https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/officeupdates/update-history-office-for-mac download version 16.89 (Sept 10, 2024 update) or lower.
3. Install
4. Make sure the new MSupdater is off.

Yes, agree, forcing copilot on the user is "creepy". I, too, find it hard to concentrate while the copilot prompt is on. I hope MS makes fixes soon.

If don't have the Enable copilot checkbox in your preferences but you're seeing the copilot icon and prompt in your document, here's how to get the checkbox to appear. It took me ages to work this out, so I thought I'd share it here.

The process is to update your software, enable copilot fully, then you can fully disable it.

1. Go to Help > Check for updates and update to the latest version. You need 16.93 or later (check your version in Word > About Microsoft Word).
2. Once you've updated, go to Preferences > Privacy and click on Manage Connected Experiences. Use the checkboxes to turn everything on. Click on OK. You'll need to restart Word to apply this change.
3. When you restart Word, go to Preferences > Copilot and the Enable copilot checkbox is there. Uncheck it and all the copilot stuff disappears from your documents.

Alas, most of us don't have that option. The best I could do is to tweak the privacy settings. But that blasted co-pilot icon still appears in every new document, even if it doesn't work.