How to Turn Off Copilot in Word, Excel, Outlook and Windows (2026)

How to turn off Copilot depends on where it shows up, because Microsoft gives every app its own switch. Word, Excel and PowerPoint need a checkbox in each app on each device, Outlook has one toggle per account, and on Windows you can now uninstall the Copilot app. There is no master switch, and the Group Policy trick most older guides still teach is one Microsoft now marks as deprecated.

This guide gives the exact paths for Mac and Windows, checked against Microsoft’s own support and Learn documentation in October 2026. It covers Microsoft 365 apps, Outlook, the Windows Copilot app, the Copilot key, Microsoft Edge and GitHub Copilot in VS Code. It also covers what to do when the checkbox is missing, which happens to everyone on a work or school account. And if the real problem is the bill, the last section shows how to stop paying, because none of the switches touch your subscription.

The Key Takeaways

• Word, Excel and PowerPoint each have an “Enable Copilot” checkbox, and it only covers that one app on that one device. On a Mac it sits under Preferences → Authoring and Proofing Tools → Copilot.
• Outlook uses a “Turn on Copilot” toggle that follows your account, so switching it off on your Mac also switches it off on your iPhone. Classic Outlook for Windows has no toggle yet.
• You can uninstall the Windows Copilot app from Settings → Apps → Installed apps. Microsoft says the old “Turn off Windows Copilot” policy is deprecated and does not apply to the new app.
• Work and school accounts do not get these switches. Microsoft says the in-app settings are only available when you sign in with a personal Microsoft account, so your IT admin decides.
• Hiding the Copilot button is not turning Copilot off. Microsoft warns that a removed ribbon icon still leaves Copilot reachable from the right-click menu.

How to Turn Off Copilot: Quick Answer

To turn off Copilot in Word, Excel or PowerPoint, open the app’s settings, find the Copilot page, clear Enable Copilot and restart the app. Repeat it in every app you use, on every computer you use it on. To turn off Copilot in Outlook, open Settings → Copilot (or Quick Settings → Copilot on Mac and mobile) and switch off Turn on Copilot. To remove Copilot from Windows 11, uninstall the Microsoft Copilot app from Settings → Apps → Installed apps.

The table below shows which Copilot you are dealing with, where its switch is, and how far each switch reaches. The reach column matters most, because it explains why Copilot keeps “coming back” for people who switched it off once.

How to Turn Off Copilot in Word, Excel and PowerPoint

Copilot in Word, Excel and PowerPoint is turned off with an Enable Copilot checkbox inside each app. According to Microsoft’s support page on turning off Copilot in Microsoft 365 apps, clearing it disables the Copilot icon on the ribbon and every Copilot capability in that app.

The checkbox has three limits that catch people out. It applies to one app only, so turning it off in Word leaves it on in Excel. It applies to one device only, so a second Mac or a work laptop needs the same change. And Microsoft says turning it off on a device turns it off for anybody using that device, which matters on a shared family computer.

Turn Off Copilot in Word, Excel and PowerPoint on a Mac

On a Mac, the Copilot setting lives in the app’s Preferences, not in a ribbon menu. Microsoft’s steps for Word, Excel and PowerPoint are the same in each app:

1. Open the app, for example Word, and click the app menu in the menu bar (the word Word next to the Apple logo).
2. Go to Preferences → Authoring and Proofing Tools → Copilot.
3. Clear the Enable Copilot checkbox.
4. Quit the app completely with ⌘Q and open it again.

The checkbox needs a recent build. Microsoft lists Word 16.93, Excel 16.93.2 and PowerPoint 16.93.2 as the first Mac versions that have it. If the Copilot page is missing, check your version under the app menu’s About item. Then update through Help → Check for Updates or the App Store, depending on where you installed Office.

Turn Off Copilot in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote on Windows

On Windows, the Copilot checkbox sits in the app’s Options window. Microsoft’s steps:

1. In the app, for example Excel, go to File → Options → Copilot.
2. Clear the Enable Copilot checkbox.
3. Select OK, then close and restart the app.

Microsoft lists Word 2412, Excel 2501, PowerPoint 2501 and OneNote 2502 as the first Windows versions that carry the checkbox. To turn Copilot back on later, repeat the steps and tick the box again.

What About the iPhone, iPad and Web Versions?

Microsoft offers no way to turn off Copilot in the iPhone, iPad, Android or web versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Microsoft states this directly and offers only one workaround: the privacy setting described in the next section, which turns off a lot more than Copilot.

When the Enable Copilot Checkbox Is Missing

A missing Enable Copilot checkbox has one of two causes: an old version of Office, or a work or school account. Updating fixes the first. The second is out of your hands. Microsoft says the in-app Copilot settings only exist when you sign in with a personal Microsoft account, and they are not available with a work or school account.

On a company laptop, Copilot is your IT administrator’s call.

For personal accounts on older builds, Microsoft offers a fallback: the Connected experiences privacy setting. Clearing Turn on experiences that analyze your content turns Copilot off. You only need to change it in one app, because the others pick it up the next time they open.

The fallback has a cost. Microsoft lists suggested replies in Outlook, text predictions in Word, PowerPoint Designer and automatic alt text for images among the features it also switches off. Use the Enable Copilot checkbox whenever your version has it, and keep the privacy switch for when it does not.

How to Turn Off Copilot in Outlook

Copilot in Outlook is turned off with a Turn on Copilot toggle, and unlike Word or Excel, the choice follows your account. Microsoft’s example: turn it off in Outlook on a Mac, and Copilot is also off in Outlook on your iPhone for the same account.

Microsoft’s list of where the toggle sits in each version of Outlook:

Classic Outlook for Windows is the gap. Microsoft says there is currently no estimated date for the toggle there. If you are on classic Outlook with a personal account, the Connected experiences privacy switch is the only route, with the same cost to suggested replies.

How to Turn Off Copilot in Windows 11

Copilot on Windows 11 is now an ordinary app called Microsoft Copilot, so the clean way to turn it off is to uninstall it. Go to Settings → Apps → Installed apps, find Microsoft Copilot, select the three dots beside it and choose Uninstall. You can reinstall it from the Microsoft Store whenever you want it back.

Why the Old Group Policy and Registry Trick Is Out of Date

The “Turn off Windows Copilot” Group Policy, and the TurnOffWindowsCopilot registry value that copies it on Windows Home, belong to the old Copilot sidebar. Microsoft’s Learn page on managing Copilot in Windows calls it a legacy setting that is subject to near-term deprecation. Microsoft’s policy reference adds that it is not for the new Copilot experience. Several of the highest-ranking guides still lead with it. Skip it.

If the uninstall option does not appear, Microsoft documents a PowerShell route. Open Windows PowerShell from the Start menu and run these two lines:

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

Copilot on Company PCs

On managed business PCs, removal is an administrator job with its own tools. Microsoft points admins to AppLocker to stop the consumer Copilot app installing or launching, and to a newer RemoveMicrosoftCopilotApp policy that BleepingComputer reported became broadly available in April 2026. Microsoft’s policy reference sets three conditions. Microsoft 365 Copilot must also be installed, the user must not have installed Copilot themselves, and the Copilot app must not have been opened in the last 28 days. Users can still reinstall it afterwards.

How to Turn Off the Copilot Key on Your Keyboard

You cannot remove the Copilot key, but you can change what it opens. Microsoft’s Learn page gives the path: Settings → Personalization → Text input → Customize Copilot key on keyboard, with a choice of Search or Custom for any other app. Pick Search. A stray press then opens Windows search instead of a chatbot. The Windows key + C shortcut also opens Copilot while the app is installed, so uninstalling the app is the way to retire both at once.

How to Turn Off Copilot in Edge and VS Code

Copilot in Microsoft Edge is a toolbar button you can hide in two clicks. Right-click the Copilot icon in the toolbar and choose Hide Copilot, which opens the Edge setting that controls the button. Hiding the button stops accidental clicks; it is the Edge equivalent of removing a ribbon icon, not a full off switch.

GitHub Copilot in Visual Studio Code has a real off switch. The VS Code AI settings reference describes chat.disableAIFeatures as the setting that disables and hides built-in AI features such as chat and inline suggestions, and disables the Copilot extensions. Open Settings (⌘, on a Mac, Ctrl+, on Windows), search for disable AI features and tick it. It is off by default, so nothing changes until you turn it on.

Turn It Off, Hide It, Uninstall It or Stop Paying

“Turn off Copilot” means four different things, and picking the wrong one is why Copilot seems to return. Hiding removes a button and leaves the feature working. Turning off disables the feature in one app. Uninstalling removes the Windows app. Stopping paying is a subscription change, and none of the switches in this guide touch your bill.

How to Stop Paying for Copilot

Turning Copilot off does not lower your Microsoft 365 price. To move to a plan with fewer features, Microsoft’s Switch between Microsoft 365 subscriptions help page says to sign in at account.microsoft.com/services, select Manage on your subscription, then Cancel subscription. The cancel page lists the plans you can move to, and the change takes effect at renewal, so you are not charged for the new plan until then. Our breakdown of what each Microsoft 365 plan costs with Copilot shows which plan includes what.

Two catches apply. If you pay through Apple, Google or a retailer, Microsoft says that partner manages the subscription and may not offer the switch. And the cheaper “Classic” plans without Copilot, which Microsoft offered existing subscribers in 2025, are no longer promised on that help page.

Treat Classic as something the cancel page might show, not something it will.

If You Still Want AI, Just Not Inside Your Document

Plenty of people switch Copilot off because it interrupts, not because they never want help. If that is you, keep writing in Word and ask for help only when you choose to. Drop the document into Fello AI on your Mac, ask ChatGPT or Claude to tighten it, and get a Word file back. Nothing reads your documents in the background, because Fello AI only sees the files you hand it.

The Verdict

Copilot has no single off switch, and that is the whole problem. The complete cleanup on a Mac is four checkboxes: Enable Copilot in Word, Excel and PowerPoint, then Turn on Copilot in Outlook once. On Windows, add one uninstall and a Copilot key remap. Skip the registry edits older guides recommend.

If the bill is the real issue, the subscription page is the only place that fixes it. And if your laptop belongs to your employer, ask IT, because none of these switches are yours to flip.

Microsoft is not the only company putting an assistant into everything. For the same job elsewhere, here is how to turn off Gemini on Android, Gmail and Chrome, how to turn off Apple Intelligence on iPhone and Mac, and how to turn off Meta AI on Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. If you are deciding whether to keep Copilot after all, our guide to every version of Microsoft Copilot explains which one you have.

Frequently Asked Questions