How to Disable Copilot in Microsoft Word

Microsoft Copilot has been integrated deeply into Word as part of Microsoft 365, bringing AI-assisted writing, summarization, and editing tools directly into the document experience. For many users, it's a welcome addition. For others — whether due to distraction, privacy concerns, organizational policy, or simply personal preference — knowing how to turn it off is just as important as knowing how to use it.

The challenge is that "disabling Copilot in Word" doesn't mean the same thing in every situation. The steps available to you depend on how Word is licensed, who manages your Microsoft 365 account, and what version of Word you're running.

What Copilot in Word Actually Does

Before disabling anything, it helps to understand what you're working with. Copilot in Word is an AI layer built on large language models, connected to your Microsoft 365 account and, optionally, your organization's data through Microsoft Graph.

It surfaces in a few different ways:

• The Copilot button in the Home ribbon
• The Copilot pane that opens on the right side of the document
• Inline suggestions and draft-assist prompts when you start a new document
• The Copilot icon that appears in the document margin

Each of these touchpoints can behave differently depending on your settings, and not all of them are controlled by a single toggle.

Who Controls Copilot — You or Your Admin?

This is the most important variable. Copilot availability in Word falls into two broad scenarios:

If your Word is connected to a workplace or school account, your organization's IT administrator may have already enabled or locked Copilot at the tenant level. In that case, individual users typically cannot fully disable it without admin-level access to the Microsoft 365 Admin Center.

If you're on a personal subscription, you have more direct control.

How to Disable or Hide Copilot in Word 🛠️

Option 1: Turn Off Copilot From the Ribbon

The most straightforward approach for personal Microsoft 365 users:

1. Open Word and go to the Home tab
2. Locate the Copilot button in the ribbon
3. Right-click the button and select "Remove from Quick Access Toolbar" or "Customize the Ribbon"
4. In the ribbon customization panel, you can uncheck or remove Copilot from the visible ribbon groups

This hides the interface element but does not fully disable the underlying service.

Option 2: Disable via Microsoft 365 Account Settings

For users who want Copilot turned off across their Microsoft 365 apps:

1. Go to account.microsoft.com
2. Navigate to Privacy settings
3. Look for AI and Copilot experiences settings
4. Toggle off connected experiences or Copilot-specific options where available

Microsoft periodically updates where these controls live, so the exact path may shift between software versions.

Option 3: Admin Center Disable (Organizations)

For IT administrators managing a Microsoft 365 tenant:

1. Sign in to the Microsoft 365 Admin Center
2. Go to Settings > Org settings > Copilot
3. From here, admins can control whether Copilot is available to specific users, groups, or the entire organization

Admins can also use Microsoft 365 Apps admin center to configure policy settings that prevent Copilot from appearing in Word at the application level.

Option 4: Disable Connected Experiences in Word

Word includes a setting to disable connected experiences — the broader category of cloud-powered features that includes Copilot:

1. In Word, go to File > Options > Trust Center
2. Click Trust Center Settings
3. Select Privacy Options
4. Under Connected Experiences, uncheck "Turn on experiences that analyze your content"

⚠️ This is a broader setting. Disabling connected experiences will also affect other cloud-powered features like Editor, smart lookup, and translation tools — not just Copilot.

What Changes Based on Your Setup

The effectiveness of any of these approaches varies meaningfully depending on a few key factors:

Microsoft 365 subscription tier — Copilot is a licensed add-on for many plans. If your plan doesn't include a Copilot license, many of its features won't appear regardless of settings. If it does, disabling it requires more deliberate steps.

Windows vs. macOS — The exact menu paths differ slightly between platforms. On macOS, some admin-level group policy settings available on Windows aren't applicable, which can affect how thoroughly Copilot can be suppressed.

Word version (desktop vs. web) — Word for the web, accessed through a browser, has a different settings interface than the desktop application. Changes made in one don't automatically carry over to the other.

Whether Copilot is licensed per-user or organization-wide — A user on a personal Copilot Pro plan has different controls than someone whose employer purchased Copilot for Microsoft 365 licenses and deployed them through a tenant.

Group Policy settings — On managed Windows devices, organizations can push Group Policy Objects (GPOs) that control Word behavior at a system level, overriding anything a user can set manually.

Partial vs. Full Disable

It's worth distinguishing between hiding Copilot (removing it from view) and fully disabling it (stopping it from running or processing data). 🔍

Removing the ribbon button or closing the Copilot pane hides the interface. But if the underlying service is licensed and active, it may still be running in the background. For users with privacy or data-handling concerns, the more thorough routes — disabling connected experiences or working with an admin to revoke the Copilot license — are more meaningful than cosmetic UI changes.

How far you need to go depends entirely on why you want Copilot disabled. Someone who finds it visually distracting has different needs than someone managing sensitive documents under strict data governance requirements. That distinction is worth thinking through before settling on which method fits your situation.