How to turn off Copilot in Windows 11, Word, Excel, Outlook and Edge

Microsoft Copilot now appears in a lot of places: its own app on Windows 11, the Copilot key on newer keyboards, the Edge browser, and Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote and Outlook. There is no single off switch, so this guide covers each one. Pick the sections you need.

Before you start: the settings for Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook below apply when you’re signed in with a personal Microsoft account, such as an Outlook.com address. On a work or school account, your organisation’s IT team decides whether Copilot is available, and you may not see these options.

Remove Copilot from Windows 11

Uninstall the Copilot app

1. Open Settings (press Windows key + I).
2. Select Apps, then Installed apps.
3. Find Copilot in the list, select the three dots (…) next to it and choose Uninstall.

Uninstalling removes the app and its taskbar icon. Take care if you see more than one Copilot app: Microsoft renamed its Microsoft 365 app, which opens Word, Excel and your recent files, first to Microsoft 365 Copilot and now to the Microsoft Copilot app. Removing that one also removes its shortcuts to your Office files.

Or remove it with PowerShell

If you prefer the command line, open Windows PowerShell from the Start menu and run the two commands Microsoft provides:

$packageFullName = Get-AppxPackage -Name "Microsoft.Copilot" | Select-Object -ExpandProperty PackageFullName
Remove-AppxPackage -Package $packageFullName

Just hide it from the taskbar

If you want to keep the app but not see it, right-click the Copilot icon on the taskbar and choose Unpin from taskbar.

Change what the Copilot key does

On keyboards with a Copilot key, pressing it — or Windows key + C — opens Copilot. To change that:

1. Open Settings, then Personalization, then Text input.
2. Find Customize Copilot key on keyboard.
3. Choose Search, or choose Custom and pick another app.

Turn off “Hey Copilot” and file access

The “Hey Copilot” wake word is off unless you turned it on. If you did, switch it off in the Copilot app’s settings. In the same place, under Account, then Settings, you can control File Search and File Read so Copilot can’t search or read the files on your PC.

For IT administrators

To stop the Copilot app installing or opening on managed PCs, Microsoft recommends an AppLocker policy for the package MICROSOFT.COPILOT from publisher Microsoft Corporation. The older Turn off Windows Copilot policy is a legacy setting that Microsoft says is subject to deprecation. The Copilot key can be remapped with the Set Copilot Hardware Key policy.

Turn off Copilot in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote

Each app has its own Enable Copilot checkbox, and it only affects that app on that device — for everyone who uses the device. To turn Copilot off in Word and Excel, change the setting in both.

On Windows

1. Open the app, for example Excel.
2. Go to File, then Options, then Copilot.
3. Clear the Enable Copilot checkbox.
4. Select OK, then close and restart the app.

The checkbox is available from Word version 2412, Excel and PowerPoint version 2501 and OneNote version 2502. If you don’t see it, update the app.

On a Mac

1. Open the app, for example Word, and select the Word menu, then Preferences.
2. Select Authoring and Proofing Tools, then Copilot.
3. Clear the Enable Copilot checkbox, then close and restart the app.

On a Mac, the checkbox needs Word version 16.93 or Excel and PowerPoint version 16.93.2 or later.

If you only want to hide the button

You can remove the Copilot icon from the ribbon with Customize the Ribbon instead. That hides the button but doesn’t turn Copilot off — you can still open it from the right-click menu.

If the checkbox isn’t there

You can’t turn off Copilot in the iPhone, Android or web versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint. The alternative is to switch off connected experiences, but it turns off other features too, such as suggested replies in Outlook, text predictions in Word, PowerPoint Designer and automatic alt text:

1. In any Office app on Windows, go to File, then Account, then Account Privacy, then Manage Settings.
2. Under Connected experiences, clear Turn on experiences that analyze your content.
3. Select OK and restart the app. The change applies to the other Office apps the next time you open them.

Turn off Copilot in Outlook

Outlook uses a Turn on Copilot toggle instead of a checkbox, and your choice applies to Outlook on all your devices signed in with the same account.

• New Outlook for Windows: Settings, then Copilot.
• Outlook on the web: Settings, then Copilot.
• Outlook for Mac, iPhone and Android: Quick Settings, then Copilot.

Switch off Turn on Copilot. On a Mac you need Outlook version 16.95.3 or later. Classic Outlook for Windows doesn’t have the toggle yet, so use the connected experiences setting above.

Turn off Copilot in Microsoft Edge

1. In Edge, select the More (…) menu in the toolbar, then Copilot and AI.
2. Turn off Allow Copilot to read context clues on the web to stop Copilot using the page you’re on, your open tabs and your browsing history.
3. If you turned on the Copilot new tab page, switch it off in the same menu.

To hide the Copilot button, open Edge Settings, search for Copilot and turn off the option that shows the Copilot button on the toolbar. Edge’s menus change between versions, so searching settings is the quickest way to find it.

Stop paying for Copilot

Copilot in the Office apps comes with Microsoft 365 Personal, Family, Premium and Pro. To move to a plan with fewer features:

1. Sign in at account.microsoft.com/services.
2. Find your subscription, select Manage, then Cancel subscription.
3. On the cancel page, choose the plan you want to switch to and follow the steps.

The new plan starts when your current one renews, and you aren’t charged for it until then. Depending on your account and region, the choices can include Microsoft 365 Personal Classic or Family Classic, which don’t include Copilot’s AI features.

Want a different assistant instead?

If you’re turning off Copilot because you prefer another assistant, read our Copilot vs ChatGPT comparison or the guide to choosing an AI assistant. Using other AI features you don’t want? See how to turn off Gemini and how to turn off Siri.