How to Disable Copilot in Microsoft Edge and Microsoft 365 Apps

disable Copilot in Microsoft Edge and Microsoft 365 Apps is essential if you want to reclaim your screen space, reduce system resource usage, or maintain strict control over your personal data. Microsoft has aggressively integrated its AI assistant into browser sidebars and word processing interfaces, which can be distracting for users who prefer a traditional workflow. This guide provides exact configurations to turn off these AI features in both your browser and your daily productivity applications.

Turning Off Copilot in the Microsoft Edge Browser

Microsoft Edge displays the Copilot icon prominently in the upper-right corner of the browser and often expands it via the sidebar. You can disable this integration through the browser's native settings without altering your operating system registry.

Step-by-Step Native Method:

1. Open the Microsoft Edge browser on your computer.
2. Click the three-dot menu icon (Settings and more) in the top-right corner of the window.
3. Select Settings from the dropdown menu.
4. In the left-hand navigation pane, click on Sidebar.
5. Under the App and notification settings section, click on Copilot.
6. Toggle the switch next to Show Copilot to the off position.

Once disabled, restart your browser. You can verify the success of this action by checking the top-right corner of the Edge window; the blue Copilot logo will no longer be visible, and the sidebar will not automatically expand with AI prompts.

Registry Method for Enterprise Users:

If your organization manages your browser or you want a system-wide block, modifying the Windows Registry is necessary. This prevents Copilot from being re-enabled by browser updates.

1. Press the Windows Key + R, type regedit, and press Enter to open the Registry Editor.
2. Navigate to the following path: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Edge. (If the Edge folder does not exist, right-click the Microsoft folder, select New > Key, and name it Edge).
3. Right-click the Edge folder, select New > DWORD (32-bit) Value.
4. Name the new value HubsSidebarEnabled.
5. Double-click HubsSidebarEnabled and ensure the Value data is set to 0.
6. Click OK and restart your computer.

Disabling Copilot in Microsoft 365 Applications

Removing the AI assistant from Word, Excel, and PowerPoint requires a different approach. Because Copilot relies on Microsoft's cloud infrastructure to process text and data, you can disable it by turning off the suite's Connected Experiences. Note that this action also disables other cloud-dependent features like translation and cloud templates.

Standard User Privacy Settings Method:

1. Open any Microsoft 365 application, such as Microsoft Word.
2. Click on File in the top-left corner of the ribbon.
3. Select Account from the bottom left menu.
4. Under the Account Privacy section, click the Manage Settings button.
5. Scroll down to the section labeled Connected experiences.
6. Uncheck the box next to Turn on optional connected experiences.
7. Click OK to save the changes.
8. Close and restart all open Microsoft 365 applications.

To verify, open a new blank document in Word. The Copilot button should no longer appear on the Home tab of the ribbon, and AI drafting prompts will not trigger when you highlight text.

Microsoft 365 Admin Center Method:

If you are an IT administrator looking for disable Copilot in Microsoft Edge and Microsoft 365 Apps for your entire workforce, you must remove the assigned licenses via the Admin Center.

1. Log into the Microsoft 365 admin center using your administrator credentials.
2. Navigate to Users and select Active users.
3. Select the user or group of users you want to modify.
4. Click on the Licenses and apps tab.
5. Scroll to the Apps section and uncheck the box for Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365.
6. Click Save changes. The AI features will be removed from the users' applications upon their next software sync.

Transitioning to a Distraction-Free Workspace with WPS Office

WPS Office cannot change your Microsoft account settings or disable Copilot within Microsoft's proprietary software. However, if your primary goal in working to disable Copilot in Microsoft Edge and Microsoft 365 apps is to escape forced AI integrations, high subscription costs, and cluttered interfaces, WPS Office provides a direct alternative for your document workflows.

WPS Office is designed as a standalone, lightweight productivity suite. It handles standard Word, Excel, and PowerPoint file formats natively without requiring constant cloud connectivity or forcing always-on AI assistants into your drafting process. If you want to maintain a traditional, offline-first approach to document editing, follow these steps to manage your files with WPS Office:

1. Install WPS Office and launch the main application interface.
2. Click on Settings (the gear icon) in the upper right corner and select Global Settings.
3. Navigate to the General tab. Here, you can customize your workspace to be completely free of cloud-sync popups, ensuring your document processing remains local to your hard drive.
4. To open your existing Microsoft files, simply drag and drop your .docx, .xlsx, or .pptx files into the WPS workspace. The software will render the documents accurately without triggering Microsoft's cloud-based Connected Experiences.

While WPS Office does offer its own optional AI tools (like PDF summarization or content drafting), these are strictly user-initiated. They do not run passively in the background, ensuring your system resources and data privacy remain under your absolute control.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does disabling connected experiences in Microsoft 365 break other software functions?

Yes. When you disable connected experiences to remove Copilot from Microsoft 365 apps, you also lose access to features that require Microsoft's cloud servers. This includes the Dictation tool, Researcher, real-time translation, and access to online templates. If you rely heavily on these specific tools, you may need to tolerate the presence of Copilot, or rely on IT administrative policies to block the AI specifically without cutting off all cloud access.

Can I uninstall Copilot entirely from my Windows computer?

You cannot completely uninstall Copilot through standard Windows Add/Remove Programs because Microsoft has embedded it at the system level. The methods provided in this guide successfully hide and disable the feature within the Edge browser and Office applications. To remove the Copilot icon from your Windows taskbar, you must right-click the taskbar, select Taskbar settings, and toggle the Copilot switch to off.

Will turning off Copilot in Edge improve my browser's performance?

Disabling the Copilot sidebar can yield a minor but noticeable improvement in browser performance, particularly on older hardware or devices with limited RAM. Because the AI sidebar pre-loads background processes to respond quickly to your prompts, turning it off frees up system memory and reduces unnecessary network polling, resulting in a cleaner, faster browsing experience.

How does WPS Office handle AI privacy compared to Microsoft 365?

For people working on disable Copilot in Microsoft Edge and Microsoft 365 Apps due to privacy concerns, WPS Office offers a different architecture. Microsoft 365's AI is deeply integrated into the ecosystem, often analyzing enterprise graph data. In contrast, WPS Office's AI features are modular and operate on an opt-in basis. If you do not explicitly click the WPS AI button and submit a prompt, your document data is not passively scanned or processed by AI language models.